In the 1960's when I was in grade school, if somebody started being a bully at school or in the neighborhood, they got their butt paddled by the principal and were kicked off the school bus and weren't allowed to ride. More parents were willing to respect a victim's parent who told them what their kid was doing. There was less of parents saying "My child would NEVER do such a thing".
When our own kids were in school in 1990's and forward, bullies were empowered because of the policy that says, "if you hit or punch in self-defence somebody who hits you first, BOTH get suspended" from school.
It left no room for the victim's truthful, witnessed account of being victimized first and that they struck back only because they were attacked and needed to get away somehow. That policy sends the message that telling the truth does not matter....translation: "I'm screwed whether I tell the truth, or whether I lie", and so why should the victim even bother to tell the adults in charge?
The other thing that empowers bullies in recent years is political correctness in training kids in school: "don't JUDGE the person" when an innocent kid reports what they have seen about a bully or lawbreaker.
Well, we all have to make judgement calls in life, when we see somebody becoming a threat to another person or society. But our kids have been raised to "not judge" others when what is really being done is reporting abuse and law breaking.
We spent a lot of time talking with our kids about the difference between identifying wrongdoing and judging/condemning the person. Kids can be taught to condemn the behavior/actions but not condemn the person. But there's been a lot of "making people feel good about themselves" that's gone awry.
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