2018
October
11
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

October 11, 2018
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Kim Campbell
Culture & Education Editor

What if we retired the word “bullying”?

It’s a bold suggestion, especially during Bullying Prevention Month. But setting aside a word educators, parents, and students often disagree on is exactly what expert and veteran administrator Jim Dillon suggested in a column last week.

As a former teacher, I understand what he’s getting at: Disputes over whether a behavior constitutes bullying can hamper effectively addressing the underlying problem. More importantly, he notes, a criminal justice framework is often applied in schools to acts that are not always observable.

Mr. Dillon is not implying that bullying doesn’t happen, or that it shouldn’t be dealt with using state laws and policies, when necessary. Parents are most worried about their children being bullied, according to surveys. And the prevalence of social media adds to those concerns. Just this week, Instagram announced new measures to combat such harassment.

Even so, Dillon makes a compelling case for why it’s time to let go. The word is tied to the criminal justice approach, which makes people more self-centered, because of fear of repercussions. That approach also focuses on perpetrators and victims, disempowering bystanders, whom research suggests are a key deterrent. Rather than “merely stopping a negative behavior,” he suggests reframing the problem to make it a positive challenge, where a whole school community (or, potentially, one online) is involved in creating a safe environment. 

That is sometimes easier said than done. But efforts to promote kindness and inclusion, like Unity Day on Oct. 24 and Instagram’s new “kindness camera effect,” offer opportunities to get the conversation started.  

Now here are our five stories for your Thursday.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

With thousands of scientists calling for transformational climate action, many Americans are looking to local governments to lead the climate action charge. How close can regional efforts take us? 

Michael Bonfigli/Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Bernardo Vigil Rendon works at a bicycle shop in Baltimore owned by its employees. The pay isn’t huge, he says, but the job comes with perks that are unusual for such a small shop: a retirement savings plan, no staff cuts in the off-season, and a familial atmosphere. He supports the replacement of capitalism with socialism.

Many Millennials are rebelling at an economic system that they believe puts profits over fairness and equality. Is capitalism too harsh?  

SOURCE:

Gallup poll conducted July 30-Aug. 5

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Jacob Turcotte/Staff
Vahid Salemi/AP/FILE
A woman in Tehran, Iran, drove past a billboard for a Western brand in 2015. Today even well-heeled Iranians complain about how renewed US economic sanctions are causing economic volatility and raising prices.

How does one assess a society's resilience? One measure might be social cohesion. With Iran bracing for tougher US sanctions, resentment is growing against the well-connected who flaunt their wealth.

When does political speech become intimidation and harassment? As the Department of Education begins to use a definition of anti-Semitism that includes certain criticisms of Israel, how will the stormy debates on campuses change?

GDA/AP
Every month, nearly 200 million users around the world search for information on Wikipedia, making the online encyclopedia the fifth-most-used website in the world.

As tech giants like Google and Facebook battle misinformation, one online platform has managed to remain above the fray. What is Wikipedia doing right that Silicon Valley is getting wrong?


The Monitor's View

Until last Sunday, when Brazilians voted in a pivotal election, corruption in Brazil was generally seen as an intrinsic part of the national character. As scholars Heloisa Starling and Lilia Schwarcz put it in a new book, a culture of corruption in the world’s fourth-largest democracy was considered “an unavoidable destiny.”

Yet after the shocking results of the Oct. 7 vote, that destiny is now in doubt.

Voters delivered a strong message to the traditional parties of the left, right, and center. They removed two-thirds of incumbents in Congress. And more than half of politicians charged with corruption, or who are being investigated, were not reelected, including the president of the Senate.

Voters also favored new or lesser political parties, many of which promised to end corruption and promote honest, transparent governance. Brazil’s lower house will now have the highest number of parties in Congress since democracy was restored in 1985.

In addition, voters all but ensured that a little-known legislator, Jair Bolsonaro, would be the next president. He took 46 percent of this first round of voting, handily beating a dozen other candidates in a campaign in which he relied largely on social media. Known as “Brazil’s Donald Trump” for his crude statements, Mr. Bolsonaro nonetheless promises zero tolerance of corruption.

In a runoff election on Oct. 28, the right-wing former Army captain will face off against a leftist candidate, Fernando Haddad, who garnered only 29 percent of the ballots last Sunday.

Brazil was primed for such an election upset. After anti-corruption protests broke out in 2013, the country’s prosecutors and judges were emboldened to go after the political elite, many of whom took bribes with impunity or laundered money taken from the state-run oil firm, Petrobras. Prosecutors were driven by a desire to instill a new culture in Brazil – equality before the law – and end the culture of impunity.

One probe in particular, called Lava Jato (Car Wash), has become the biggest corruption case in the world, felling dozens of elected leaders. In a scene that riveted the nation last April, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose popularity was once 87 percent, was led off to prison for corruption.

One Brazilian columnist summed it up perfectly: “Lava Jato bomb explodes at the polls and sweeps almost everything in its path.” Brazilians used the election to reveal their hope for the kind of clean governance that reflects their values.

Perhaps the “destiny” of political corruption in Latin America’s biggest country may not be “unavoidable” after all.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

In today’s column, a businessman explores how Christ Jesus’ teaching about building a “foundation on a rock” can inspire honesty – and the courage to express it – in our lives.


A message of love

Ajay Verma/Reuters
Schoolgirls in Chandigarh, India, wave during celebrations Oct. 11 to mark International Day of the Girl Child, an annual United Nations initiative. This year’s theme: 'With Her: A Skilled GirlForce,' marks the start of a yearlong effort to boost entrepreneurship and help prepare young women worldwide. The UN estimates that 600 million adolescent girls will start work in the next decade.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. We are following the effects of hurricane Michael. Watch for our coverage in the coming days. 

We also want to leave you with some news from Asia: This story, on Nepal's artists aiding in earthquake restoration efforts, written by Monitor contributor Atul Bhattarai, recently received an award from the South Asian Journalists Association.  

More issues

2018
October
11
Thursday
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