Cyber-bullying – an outsider’s view

Weird or what? No sooner have we crawled out from under the shield of National Anti-Bullying Week than one of the Somerbloggers comes under the cosh from the County Council and the BBC!

He was an obvious target, I suppose, on account of using his real name. But is ILG (aka “Mogg”) really behind all those blogs and videos? He is certainly not one of the regulars down at the Dog n’ Duck. In fact the landlord is adamant that he has never set foot in the place, saying, “We doesn’t allow Politicians in ‘ere, and you lot would be as well as to remember that!”

Talking of Politicians, one of the Councillors said on TV yesterday that “we only have one detractor”. Hah! Reminds me of when they thought that everything must be OK ‘cos they’d only had three complaints in a year! (We may examine that in more detail at some point.)

Anyway, we outsiders reckon that, as usual, it is all down to Excellence and to Jonesy’s War on Organisational Terror. What we see happening is this:

(1) Potential Organisational Terrorists are pressurised by this chap called Their Conscience “… to divulge Council information to others …”
(2) Now, ideally they would like to divulge it to someone like their Councillor, the Audit Commission, the Union, the Police or whatever.
(3) However, advice from colleagues and independents such as the Dog n’ Duck is simple: don’t do it! It is a waste of time and will be bad for your health, and that of your family.
(4) Anyone foolish enough to discuss their troubled conscience with “a senior manager” will find this message quickly reinforced. Possibly with a P45.
(5) Meanwhile, everyone in County Hall knows about ILG and Mogg. You mention either of them to inmates and the response is either a smile or a frown or blathering hysteria, never a blank look.
(6) Therefore the POT reaches a compromise with that Conscience bloke.
(7) This involves leaking the information to Mogg.
(8) He then ducks, closes his eyes, and stick his fingers in his ears.

You see, for Organisational Terrorists, leaking to Mogg is the Nuclear Option. It should be a last resort, but the exigencies of Excellence mean that for many it is their only resort.