Replying to The Problem of A Rotten Apple

Jani Kaaro is a scientific journalist, a researcher and encyclopedist, and he has some of the most insightful columns that I have read, time after time. I'm going to translate a few of his articles, if you have time and interest, check it out.

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The Problem of A Rotten Apple


Politicians often justify their decisions by saying that the messages conveyed to people through those decisions are imperative. That is why I ask - what kind of message is conveyed by the fact that when bullying gets out of control, it's often the victim of bullying who has to change schools. Why doesn't the bully have to change school? Why isn't the bully punished? I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty unreasonable.

"One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel", goes the old saying. So have you ever wondered how our world would be like if we had some way of punishing and dealing with all these bullies, troublemakers, queue-jumpers and overtalkers; the aggressive punks who give themselves rights they would not allow others to have?


Let me give you a taste of that world. An example originating from a Kenyan community of baboons, one that researcher Robert Sapolsky has been following since the 1970s. It began as a very normal baboon community where the males fought for a place at the top of a hierarchy - a road paved with force, aggression and the flashing of fangs.

In the mid-1980s, however, a disaster struck the baboons. Most of the males died after eating spoiled food from a nearby dump of a tourist hotel. These delicacies were only eaten by the most aggressive males, the ones who wouldn't let the more docile males to share the treats. This is how the aggressive males died and only the docile ones were left.

After this event, Sapolsky witnessed something unexpected. When the aggressive males were gone, the whole community calmed down. The docile males werren't motivated to fight each other, instead they found peaceful solutions to any conflicts. The males began spending most of their time grooming and cherishing the females. It became a unique baboon community.

When Sapolsky visited the area in the early 2000s the baboon community still lived in peace, even though the original docile males had already passed away. They had been able create a culture of peace into the community, and when new males joined it later, they also embraced its peaceful ways. Everything had changed simply because the bullies were gone.


The answer heard from schools about removing bullies is always the same - there are too many bullies, so removing one would not solve anything. Allow me to disagree. I was bullied throughout junior high and the first year of high school.

Being bullied was the most important single reason for me to drop out of high school during the first year. I was afraid to go to school on the seniors' celebration day, I would have just gotten my ass kicked. After that day, I never went back. My decision was a mix of fear, shame and pride.

I've found myself returning to those years and I can say that although there were many bullies, there was actually ever only one. One rotten apple, who turned the heads of other bully candidates against me.

If this rotten apple was in school, the air was full of terror and the mocking pack of jackals circled around me. If he wasn't around, no one did anything to me. His presence legitimated that I was free game for even the lesser bullies.


I've often thought about how we people are each others' thermostats. We adjust to and imitate each others' feelings, behaviour and state of mind. When a lively person enters a group, they liven up the whole group. When a happy and joyful person joins a group, the small happiness starts spreading around amongst us all. A sullen person wallowing in self-pity draws everyone down with him.

That's how it goes with bullying. The problem of a victim of bullying is not simply that he is bullied, but the fact that the bully draws everyone else's thermostats into Bullying mode. When a bully is around, bullying suddenly becomes the norm and others start taking part as well. That's why removing one rotten apple would clear up the atmosphere of a whole school, unlike removing a victim.


If a school wants to give a message against bullying, it should remove the bullies. It would show them that actions do have consequences and bad things have bad consequences. Bullying is not always caused by the bully's genes, fate, horoscope, unlucky circumstances or a short circuit in their brains.

Bullying is caused by the thoughts carried in a bully's head - the goals they believe are reached through bullying, the solutions they decide to put into action. There are no excuses for condoning such behaviour.