Now to my point, what is all of this about? Sadly this unacceptable behavior is happening in this room. A small group or "clique" is targeting certain individuals that have learning disabilities, some who do not and a few that may be new to the group and are not quite sure of the way of things.Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets. Rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of social class, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, appearance, behavior, body language, personality, reputation, lineage, strength, size or ability.[1][2] If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing.[3]
They act in the absence of moderators and with the backing of friends, the usual typical behaviour is one of them will say something mean or derogatory towards somebody, then the rest of the "clique� chimes in with witty snide remarks, so what you end up with one person being the target of several other people!
The situation has become so blatant and obvious other members are speaking out in defence of those being targeted, they have been asked and told to stop by the targets themselves and other people, and it continues, even if you think you are joking, when something is unwanted, and it continues, this becomes harassment!
Now the other part of this is, in general things are going well, but we have had a large influx of new people lately, and many of them have seen all of this behaviour and have been discouraged, we have already lost some of these members, one of them in particular was said to be a, and I quote "breath of fresh air" whom frequently contributed intelligent and meaningful conversation, they have now left and it's not going to happen anymore!
I'm tired of writing these posts where certain members thinking that they are untouchable, it can no longer continue, , if you find this post applies to you I suggest you take note, you just might find yourself or the entire "clique" being removed if this behaviour continues!
The problem is isolated to the morning, the problem is isolated to a few individuals, I will be asking the moderators to clamp down hard on these behaviours but if they continue people will be removed, remember it is your choice, and remember you were forewarned!
This is a last chance!
Comments and opinions welcome...