Strings of Fear: Social Contagion
In college, I took a course entitled, “Political Reality in Film.” The professor’s use of memorable films was a wonderful, creative approach. One of the films we watched was called “The Incident.” It was the film debut of Martin Sheen as a young hoodlum. In the chilling film, two thugs terrorize a subway train full of people one at a time while the others watch. It is a great study of social contagion. Sadly, it portrays, to some degree, what hundreds of children across the nation must suffer every day on school buses which they are forced to ride on their way to and from school.
For the bus scene in the movie Strings of Fear, I combined two real incidents into one. For one, I actually had the real video from the school bus and reviewed it to tell the actors what to do. Incidentally, two of the perpetrators in the real incident were arrested for murder after they grew up. Incidentally, Olweus’ research has shown that school bullies grow up to be major recidivist criminals at a higher rate than other children.
In the first model bus incident, I believe the provocative victim was picked on because the bullies knew he would react in a big way, and they enjoyed the drama and attention. For them it was entertainment. Leading up to the incident, kids were crawling over the seats and jumping all around. Several boys can be seen planning it in the back. Then one boy tries to take the victim’s backpack but can’t get it away from him. The victim begins screaming threats and almost the whole bus is taunting him. Then a tall boy walks to the front and wrenches the backpack from the victim’s hands. He was charged with a strong arm Robbery. Another boy punches the victim on his arm. Most of the other kids, including the one who yelled out “Aw, he wants his Mommy,” were charged with Harassment and Conspiracy. Some were charged with receiving stolen property for keeping the CDs. The parents of the kids charged were up in arms against the State until they watched the videotape and saw their children’s behavior.
Everyone wanted to know why the bus driver didn’t do anything. On the tape, one boy looks directly at the video camera and asks, “Do you think that thing is on?” To which another responds “No.” At the end of the incident, a 13 year old boy walks up and down the bus aisle pointing to each and every kid sitting in their seats and reminds each one, “You didn’t see anything.” In response, the frightened bystanders just shake their heads in silent agreement. Just like the people in the film, The Incident, they were probably afraid they’d be next if they spoke up. It’s all on tape. Years later, at 26, that 13 year old boy participated in the murder of several bystanders in a shooting incident. He’s now in prison.
The other incident that I combined with this one for the scene in the film involved a passive victim. The middle school boy would sit on the bus and do his homework while the high school kids on the bus would grab his pencils, break them and taunt him. They bullied him almost every day the whole school year. He tried his best to ignore them. Finally, a group of the same kids got together, they borrowed handcuffs from another kid and dragged the victim out of his seat, then handcuffed him in the aisle. Next, they took a screwdriver and a lighter, heated up the screwdriver and then held it to his neck to burn him. It hurt like crazy and left a visible scar. When he got home, his mother noticed the scar and that is when he told her everything that had been going on.
At the sentencing of the lead perpetrator, I will never forget what the victim’s father said. The victim and his parents were in the Courtroom and the Judge asked if they had anything to say. As victims this is their right. The boy’s father had told me that he would like to speak. I advised him that it was best to try to stick to the effect the incident had on his son and family. But, I didn’t know exactly what he planned to say.
When given the opportunity by the Court, the boy’s father politely stood and said, “I would just like to say how proud I am of my son. He endured being treating like this all year. Yet, he went to school every day, he never retaliated and not only that but he was able to achieve A’s in all his classes. Every single day he was tormented but he just kept doing what he knew was right. I am sorry we did not know what was going on and that he had to go through this. But, I just want him to know how proud I am of him.”
I had to fight to keep the tears from welling up in my eyes. I never heard such a wonderful and empowering speech from a victim’s parents. This father focused only on the good and praised his son.
I had occasion, several years later to see the lead defendant when he came to Court for minor charges. After he took a plea in that case, I took a moment to ask him why he had bullied and burned the boy on the bus years ago. I asked him if he had thought of the kid as worthless. He said, “No way. Just the opposite. He was more than me, more than any of us. He was going places. We just did it to entertain everyone.”
In both cases, the perpetrators and those who joined in were cruelly using another human being for their own entertainment. The bystanders and the bus driver did nothing to help the target. They all remained silent or joined in the cruelty.
Cases like these made me wonder. Statistics show that 80% of the kids in a school are not targets or bullies in incidents like these, but are bystanders. If these bystanders knew how badly the bully was harming the victim and were confronted with their own inaction or complicity, how would they react? If they could see themselves, what would they think? Would they empathize with the target, try to get help for the target, or even become defenders?
Recent research shows that only a few kids, usually those who are very young when they begin their criminal behavior, are likely to be criminals for the long term. Most of the other teenage criminals are just following them.
How do we stop the social contagion, or get it to work for our benefit? How do we get the bystanders to do the decent thing? What do you think?
