Bullying vs. truth
The two main components of bullying are intentional and repeating. It leads to injury, discomfort, embarrassment, and humiliation. Bully shows dominance and power. Bully knows his actions are harmful, yet he does not care for the victim.
Bullying can be classified in many ways and can be verbal, physical, social, via gestures, or online.
Verball- Making fun or giving threat, etc.
Social- Excluding victim from groups, silent treatment, spreading rumors, etc..
Cyber bullying in the form of texts, voice messages, social media comments, etc..
It can happen among peers as well as in institutions and families. Victim may become bully for someone else in secondary bullying.
The 2019 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) indicates that, Nationwide, about 22% of students ages 12–18 experienced bullying.
The 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC) indicates that, nationwide, 15.0% of students in grades 9–12 reported bullying on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.
https://www.stopbullying.gov/ is a federal government website for bullying related issues managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
If someone states a fact, will it be considered bullying?
In my humble opinion, this depends on the intention, relationship between two people, situation, context, and tone of speech.
If intention is to belittle someone and show the superiority, it can be classified as bullying.
Truth can be stated in a humble, polite way, considering other person's emotions and mental state, showing genuine reasons and thought processes and giving due love and respect. Here, the person is expressing true innate feelings. They do not repeatedly convey it if the other person already understood it and if other person feels bullied.
Honestly speaking the truth in a polite way is a value. It is for self as well as for others.
ऐसी वाणी बोलिए, मन का आपा खोये।
औरन को शीतल करे, आपहुं शीतल होए।।
रहिमन धागा प्रेम का , मत तोरो चटकाय |
टूटे पे फिर ना जुरे , जुरे गाँठ परी जाय ||
आवत गारी एक है, उलटत होत अनेक |
कहे कबीर न उलटिए, बनी एक को एक ||
कबीरा गर्व ना कीजिये, ऊंचा देख आवास |
काल पड़ो भू लेटना, ऊपर जमसी घास ||
Ahimsa applies to physical actions as well as spoken words and thoughts.
Expressing opinion about someone vs denigrate/criticize/deplore:
If person A is saying something about person B, on his back or in his absence then it is denigrating or Ninda karna निंदा करना.
If person A can say the same thing in front of person B then it is expressing the opinion or stating the facts as per person A.
What should one speak ideally:
One should speak truth, facts, statements with which other person agrees दूसरा सहमत हो, karnpriya कर्णप्रिय , and hitkari हितकारी vachans.
Do not speak non truth, non factual, non beneficial, unpleasant, and unagreeable words or sentences.
Bharti Raizada