Emma and Brit are going through a rough patch in their friendship, as all friends do; however, according to “Is it Rude, Is it Mean, or is it Bullying? Why we all must learn to distinguish between rude, mean, and bullying behaviors”, by Signe Whitson L.S.W., their situation is not bullying nor being rude. Instead, this scenario falls under the category of being mean to one another. Some may say that according to Signe Whitson, this would fall under the category of being rude. In the article, rude is defined as “inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else”, and further explains it as happening, “usually spontaneous, unplanned inconsideration, based on thoughtlessness, poor manners, or narcissism, but not meant to actually hurt someone.” In the scenario being examined, Emma may or maynot have meant to actually hurt Brit when calling her a nasty name in the hallway, but she purposely called her a nasty name for whatever reason. Brit responded by sending a mean text that was actually trying to actually hurt Emma. This text to Emma helps cross out the option of the category rude. …show more content…
Usually when feelings are hurt it’s automatically called bullying. However, in the article, we learn the exact definition of bullying. Bullying is “intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power.” Also, “bullying entails three key elements: an intent to harm, a power imbalance, and repeated acts or threats of aggressive behavior.” Both Brit and Emma are intending to hurt one another, that is undeniable, but just because they have been arguing for three days doesn’t make it repeated acts of treats or aggressive behavior. This is one occurrence of Emma calling Brit a nasty name, and Brit sending a mean text to Emma. There is no power imbalance or intent to try to gain power over another. This evidence, along with the definition of bullying, eliminate bullying of being the category Brit and Emma fall