When bullying isn't bullying in The Bully

Further to my earlier posts on how the bullying issues gets dealt with in the press (e.g. here and here), we see today in The Bulletin, the tragic death of Pte Benjamin Pape at Lavarack Barracks in 2008 dealt with in a very sympathetic and non judgmental way – as it should be.

However their “Soldier's final goodbye” headline clearly ignored the import of the final paragraphs in Emily Macdonald’s piece:

“Fellow Coral Platoon member Pte Samuel Frood, who lived below Pte Pape and reported hearing the 'thud and vibration of metal' around the time he died, agreed there were comments made about members of the platoon but said they were mostly delivered in a ''friendly way''.

However he admitted they had a negative effect on some soldiers.

''At times it did feel like you were being targeted. They sort of shame you,'' he said.”

Sounds awfully like institutionalised bullying to me – just like the case of this soldier earlier in the month that The Bulletin reported as being “attacked by his mates” and “his comrades”

If it’s good enough for the Bulletin to describe instances of apparent bullying in our schools as symptoms of a “FAILED” system (their caps) and “Educating against era of violence”, why isn’t the increasing number of DEATHS (my caps) in our Armed forces as a result of apparent culture of bullying dealt in the same way.

I won’t even start on how they deal with bullying in the private school system