The Bullied Bus Monitor Karen Klein Evoked Widespread Sympathy
After the bullying video of the 68-year-old bust monitor Karen Klein went public, people have given overwhelming emotional support to her. However, the truth is she was not the first one who had been the victim of bullying from some poster children but her sufferings somehow touched the emotion of public.
On the Monday afternoon, June 18, Karen was riding on the Bus 784 that was going through the roads of Greece, New York. At that time, four middle-aged schoolchildren flaunted verbal abuse at her, made fun of her bulkiness, made disgraceful comments about her family, and chuckled when they made aggressive and explicit threats to her. She tried to protect her with a few retorts but except that she remained quiet, sweated, and apparently waited for her hellish ride to end.
Like thousands of same bullying incidents, her distress might also have gone unobserved had not one of the boys published a 10-minute long pestering video on the YouTube. The video was able to attract the attention of people the effect of which can be seen on Police’s interviewing Klein and her suspected verbal abusers.
Her suffering and torment has actually mirrored the wrong with modern-day parenting, children, and more. It not only instigates public anger but also evokes sympathy, as an apparently helpless and defenseless older woman had to suffer pranks and flaunts for no good reason.
In an online post, one woman called Marykate commented that she could not even tolerate watching the whole video let alone thinking of living through it. She called Klein as her ‘hero’.
While abuse, both verbal and physical, murder, and other crimes are rife in today’s world, it may be a surprising matter as thousands of people become sympathetic for an older woman they had never met, prompt to issue police case against the abusers, and donate dollars for the victim.
However, a social psychology professor Sara Hodges, working at the University of Oregon, explained the matter as quite normal. She opined that the attacks were do brutal and pointed and the lady’s distress was so obvious that people had no problem to identify themselves with her. In addition, the braveness with which she upheld and fought those torrents of verbal attacks might surely impress a lot of people. She also added that the bullying was so clear and vicious and the fact that the lady had no allies, made the video so compelling.
Klein herself could not expect to get so much empathy from people all around. The CNN’s Anderson Cooper offered her, along with other nine people, a paid air trip to Disneyland. Klein said it to be ‘awesome’ but at the same time could not believe as it was actually happening to her.
While the public feelings have gone against the boys and demanded punishment, Klein herself did not want police to pursue criminal charges. However, she would like to see them banned from bus and athletic activities and want them not to bully anybody else.