Forestqueen
How do I know that Jacinda is a bully? I researched the bullying literature to see whether this is in fact the case and quickly confirmed that, yes, I am being bullied by Ardern and her government.
I do not feel free to express my opinions. I do not trust what her bought-and-paid-for media spouts on a daily basis. I feel neither safe, nor protected. I feel threatened and isolated; imprisoned at home to be let out on parole as long as I have the correct papers and the mobile tracking device through which I can be located at all times. So this is freedom? Democracy? Caring? I think not. This is control.
The Target-Bully pathological “relationship” is different because the target is swept into that relationship involuntarily. The bully controls every aspect of the relationship – when to attack, when to withdraw, the place and the audience. Mutual benefit or gain is not the goal, control is.
Ardern attacks any person opposing her point of view and infantilises them in order to control them (reporters who question her decisions or methods are routinely interrupted and lectured to disapprovingly as if they were children).
She carefully chooses when to be publicly present and whom the audience will be and hence, although she has, at last, come to Auckland, the event is carefully orchestrated; her audiences pre-selected. Her favourite bought-and-paid-for reporters will be strategically placed to ask soft questions during press conferences. As soon as the going gets a little rough and when she sees she cannot absolutely control the narrative and the audience, she will exit, choosing to ignore or employing bullying tactics to intimidate any nay-sayers.
Ardern sees a path and is impatient to clear that path, notwithstanding any human impediment such as a public crying out to be heard. For her, the end justifies the means.
The great intimidator Ardern is here to stay, it seems. Intimidators crowd personal space, move close, hover, lean forward and constantly interrupt whilst simultaneously discounting the target’s thoughts or feelings.
Another hallmark of intimidation is to make aggressive eye contact while speaking to the target but averting her eyes and interrupting when the target begins to reply – a tactic I have often observed during Ardern’s press conferences.
Ardern also continually belittles her targets through self-grooming while ignoring or signifying disapproval of the target by looking in the other direction with a frown, or by pointing aggressively at the target while speaking with a downward-turning mouth. She stands above, at a ‘podium of truth’, whilst the targets are seated below, making it easy for her to attack. These are all bullying tactics.
Ardern, you are a bully – you are ruining New Zealand by using the poisoned arrow of your bullying methods to target and divide our people in order to control them and satisfy your voracious, insatiable thirst for power.
Sources:
- The Psychology of Interpersonal Behaviour (Argyle, 1994);
- The Bully at Work (Namie & Namie, 2009);
- The Definitive Book of Body Language (Pease & Pease, 2004);