[Imc-chicago-audio] AVAIL. FOR INTERVIEW: Lakshmi Chaudhry on the power of bullying

[Erin Polgreen]

MEDIA ALERT November 28, 2005 | For Immediate Release

The Power of Mean

Who hasn’t been bullied before? In “The Power of Mean,” In These  
Times Senior Editor Lakshmi Chaudhry maps the dark history of  
“rankism”—also known as bullying.

Rankism, Chaudhry contends, is so pervasive that everyone is sure to  
have experienced it at some point. But how, she asks, can we turn a  
universally negative experience into a positive change?

Using the central argument of Robert W. Fuller’s new book, All Rise:  
Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity, Chaudhry also  
examines the roots of rankism and how the concept fits into society.  
While Fuller claims that we can use our identification with the  
bullied to create a “dignitarian society where ‘the dignity of all  
people is honored and protected,’” Chaudhry argues that the reality  
of human existence is much more complicated.

By exploring our responses to reality TV, bullying on the playground  
or in the workplace, and the rankism-dynamic of our own government,  
Chaudhry shows what bullying really confers: Status. This means  
popularity for the school-age bullies, invisibility for victims, high  
productivity for bosses, and a growing acceptance of bullying itself.

“The underlying causes of rankism are rooted in the ancient  
hardwiring of our brain that associates aggression with status,”  
Chaundry writes. We can break this cycle of cruelty, “but we first  
have to be willing to acknowledge the power of mean.”
For the full text of this article, visit: http://www.inthesetimes.com/ 
site/main/article/2901



For more information, or to interview Lakshmi Chaudhry, please contact:

Erin Polgreen, Advertising and Marketing Coordinator

erin at inthesetimes.com

773/772.0100 Ext. 225
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