Speak up against bullies

A local high school football game was marred recently by a fan’s abusive language toward the opposing team. The young man – who is apparently a recent graduate of the school where the game was played – used language that would be inappropriate to repeat in this space, language that was apparently loud enough to be picked up by listeners on the radio.

Following the game, the player who was the brunt of most of the abuse used an obscene gesture toward the crowd in apparent retaliation for the words he’d been subjected to.

What’s most distressing about this incident is the lack of involvement from other fans in attendance, who could have shut the man’s language down, but didn’t. According to our reporter at the game, the man was allowed to hurl his insults throughout the duration of the contest.

When people act like this in public, it’s surely uncomfortable for everyone. Nobody wants to hear that kind of thing in public, yet few also want to speak out.

Standing up to bullies takes the kind of courage many of us simply do not possess. Whether out of fear for our own safety or a desire not to make a scene, it’s often far easier to sit idly by while this sort of thing happens rather than to say anything.

But when people don’t speak up, it’s the bullies who win the day.

Unfortunately, this kind of behavior doesn’t just reflect on the lout in question. Instead, it gives everyone in attendance – in fact, everyone in the community – a figurative black eye.

Although the football player’s retaliatory obscene gesture was out of bounds, it would not be out of line to expect he and his teammates to return home to Anchorage with some nasty things to say about “Valley people.”

And would they be wrong? After all, anyone in the stands could have stepped up to shut the man down, but nobody did. By allowing him to continue his tirade throughout the duration of the game, other fans implied that his behavior is something that’s tolerated out here.

It should not be.

The next time you hear or see someone acting inappropriately, please stand up for what is right. It will probably take a lot of courage – and might even result in a little embarrassment – but in the long run it’s a lot better than allowing the few jerks in our community to represent the rest of us.