Rude behavior is ubiquitous these days. Healthcare personnel have to defend themselves almost daily against threats and name-calling. Boas, firefighters and ambulance workers are frequently treated aggressively in their work. Just like police officers, teachers and journalists.
Aggression at work has become a serious threat to employees in the Netherlands. And the trouble is that aggression is a great way to get things done. Threatening and intimidating helps, for example to get what you want at the counter. And so aggression has become rampant in our society and manners have hardened.
What should we do to stop the vandalism of the Netherlands? In 2020, a bill was passed that stipulates that any form of physical violence against, for example, police officers, employees of the fire brigade or ambulance and boas, leads to imprisonment. Violence against “people with a public task in the context of maintaining order or security” must be tackled firmly, according to politicians. Those offenses are too serious for community service alone.
But what about bullying, name calling, threatening and intimidating? That is not punishable in the Netherlands. In France, on the other hand, a bill was recently passed that would criminalize bullying around schools. What do you think? Should we legislate that name-calling, threats and intimidation are just as punishable as physical violence? So that we are better able to put people who misbehave in their place?
Verbal aggression (swearing, threatening, intimidating) against service providers and the police is just as bad as physical violence and should be punished in the same way.
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