citationsneededpodcast

Episde 199: The Golden Age of Crybullyism

Added 2024-03-20 15:21:48 +0000 UTC

"Ex-officer Amber Guyger testifies in wrong-apartment murder trial: 'I was scared to death,'" a " story reported in 2019. "Starbucks Files Complaints with Labor Board, Accuses Union Organizers of Bullying and Harassment," reported Food & Wine Magazine in April 2022. "Labour MPs fear for safety as pro-Palestine protesters target offices," The Guardian warned in November 2023.

Within the last decade, we’ve seen the rise of a phenomenon we’ll refer to as “elite crybullying," in which people in power engage in political manipulation in order to portray themselves as victims. Routinely, we hear that armed American police fear for their safety around unarmed civilians, lawmakers feel for the their safety after there's a sit in protest and corporate executives are being unfairly intimated by union organizers.

It's a sleazy, manipulative tactic that not only flattens, but flips, power dynamics. By claiming to have been bullied or traumatized by those who oppose them, wealthy and influential figures suddenly transform themselves from victimizers into victims. Meanwhile, by this same perverse logic, they characterize their actual victims–be they organizing workers and peace activists, who merely seek to stand up for themselves, or people killed by military and police violence – as victimizers.

On this episode, we explore the rise of ruling-class crybullyism, how elites increasingly traffic in the language of anti-bullying and therapy-speak to indemnify themselves from criticism, examine how cynical distortions of power relations recast the upholders of colonialism, labor abuses, and police violence as the oppressed, and the people who dare to object as the oppressors, all in an effort to silence dissent from the justifiably angry masses.

Our guests are Mari Cohen and Saree Makdisi.

Guests

Mari Cohen (@maricohen95) is Associate Editor at Jewish Currents.

Dr. Saree Makdisi (@sareemakdisi) is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA. A scholar of British Romanticism, imperial and urban culture, and colonial and postcolonial theory, Prof. Makdisi’s writing has appeared in academic journals as well as many publications such as The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, N+1, and the London Review of Books. The author of six books, his latest is Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial, published in 2022 by University of California Press. He also co-hosts the podcast Makdisi Street.

Show Notes

We Live in a Golden Age of Crybullyism

Adam Johnson | January 17, 2024 | The Nation

J Street’s Pro-War Stance Prompts Staff Departures

Mari Cohen | February 9, 2024 | Jewish Currents

A Context Dependent Decision

Saree Makdisi | December 22, 2023 | n+1

Why the Anti-Defamation League Loves Certain Bigots

Jeet Heer | November 20, 2023 | The Nation

Labour MP Jo Stevens 'frightened' after graffiti sprayed on office following Gaza ceasefire vote

Alexandra Rogers | November 17, 2023 | Sky News

Labour MPs fear for safety as pro-Palestine protesters target offices

Kiran Stacey and Ben Quinn | November 17, 2023 | The Guardian

No Human Being Can Exist

Saree Makdisi | October 25, 2023 | n+1

Starbucks Is Racking Up Labor Law Violations as Rulings Roll in

Robert Iafolla and Parker Purifoy | June 2, 2023 | Bloomberg Law

The ADL’s Antisemitism Findings, Explained

Mari Cohen | April 4, 2023 | Jewish Currents

The ADL Goes Full Bully

Joshua Leifer | May 6, 2022 | The Nation

The ADL Doubles Down on Opposing the Anti-Zionist Left

Mari Cohen and Isaac Scher | May 1, 2022 | Jewish Currents

A Closer Look at the ‘Uptick’ in Antisemitism

Mari Cohen | May 27, 2021 | Jewish Currents

Starbucks Corporate Workers Doubt Company Values in Internal Poll

Josh Eidelson | October 20, 2020 | Bloomberg News

The Anti-Defamation League Is Not What It Seems

Emmaia Gelman | May 23, 2019 | Boston Review

Into the Fray: Israel’s crybullies

Martin Sherman | February 4, 2016 | Jerusalem Post

Meet the Cry-Bully: a hideous hybrid of victim and victor

Julie Burchill | April 21, 2015 | The Spectator (UK)

ADL’s Spy Ring

Al Miskin | July/August 1993 | Middle East Research and Information Project

***

Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can find transcripts of past episodes, interviews and News Briefs here.

****

Citations Merch

Remember that the Citations Needed merch store is open! Please consider further supporting the show by picking up a t-shirt, tank top, sweatshirt, tote or coffee mug for yourself or your favorite Citations fan (or everyone you know!).

*****