Editorial
Neil gives the following insight into the story of the article: “ I wrote the article for the IATEFL Global Issues SIG Newsletter, but the editor there seemed to think the rather nebulous idea of Peace Education was more important than shining a light on a problem that teachers can actually DO something about. Developingteachers.com did not want it, because they try to focus on the more positive side of things.”

The TEFL Teacher, The Cyber-bully, The Closet Racist

Neil McBeath, Oman

Neil McBeath served as a uniformed education officer in the Royal Air Force of Oman from 1981 to 2005. During that time, he took two Masters degrees and was awarded the Omani Distinguished Service Medal. Refusing to renew contract, he taught at the Technical Service Institute in Saudi Arabia for two years. He has now returned to Oman and is teaching at the Sultan Qaboos University. E-mail: neilmcbeath@yahoo.com

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Introduction
Dave’s ESL Café
The Cyber Bully
Closet Racism
References

Introduction

In June 2008, the Times Education Supplement teachers’ website posted two threads about cyber-bullying. The first (Berry 2008) stressed that this was an area where schools should have a firm policy, and where, if the law were being broken, then the police should be called in. The second advertised a book on the issue (Shariff 2008).

This paper, however, is not concerned with student-instigated cyber-bullying. It will not discuss student websites where teachers are publicly denigrated by their pupils, nor is it concerned with students who send gratuitously insulting and hurtful e-mails or texts to their peers.

This paper is concerned with the behaviour of teachers themselves. It is particularly concerned with the behaviour of a small minority of EFL teachers who use, or rather abuse, the anonymity of cyber communities to pontificate de haut en bas about other members of the profession, and who air their opinionated ignorance in ways that are intended to be hostile, offensive and deeply disrespectful to their targets. I am referring, specifically, to posts which appear on Dave’s EFL Café website; and specifically in the sub-sections involving the Middle East – Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Dave’s ESL Café

Dave’s ESL Café claims to be an on-line community, but it has become a victim of its own success. With a membership of 62851, this community is four times the size of the university city of St. Andrews. For this reason, it has effectively split into smaller, regional communities Africa; Asia; Caribbean; Europe; Latin America; The Middle East; North America; and Oceania. Most of these regional headings sub-divided into individual, country-specific lists which attract daily postings.

As in most on-line communities, many people join, lurk, post once or twice and then leave. I would suggest, however, that many of those who leave the Middle East site do so because they have been publicly attacked by long established members; “members of the club” who are openly unwelcoming to anyone moving into “their” territory.

Five people in particular stand out in this respect, and their posting histories are given below (Figures correct on 16/11/2009.)

Two things are immediately obvious. Firstly, only John Slattery is prepared to give his real name; all the others hide behind pseudonyms or, as they are rather pretentiously called, atavars. Secondly, and more importantly, from this table we can see that while Dave’s ESL Café has received, to date, 777803 posts, 3.43 % of those have come from FIVE out of the 93870 registered users.

Veiled Sentiments, in particular, has been sending an AVERAGE of three posts a day, every day, for over six years. She, alone, is responsible for 1.17% of the traffic on the site. As the woman admits that she has been retired since 2001, and is living in the United States – NOT the Middle East – it is difficult to interpret her incessant posting as anything other than a borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder, but she is not alone.

The Cyber Bully

Scot 47, who works at the King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals at Dammam, is almost as enthusiastic a contributor, and his posts can be marked by a degree of malevolence that would be disturbing in any adult, far less a teacher.

In June 2008, the following exchange occurred. It began with a straightforward request for information from someone calling himself Middleastman.

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone knows who recruits for BAE in Saudi and how to contact them- im in the UK at the moment. Are there any jobs going there at present? Is it a reasonable gig?

Many Thanks

Middleastman’s request received the following, none too helpful response from Scot 47.

BAE Systems in Preston, Lancashire.

Lots of money.

At this point 007 decided to add his unsolicited and irrelevant opinion.

... and lots of corruption!

This drew a further response from Scot 47.

Oh Naughty Numerical

Mere teachers are not offered bribes.

Scot 47’s reply brought out John Slattery.

Dear scot47,
My - you seem to have led a sheltered life.
Regards,
John

By this time, Middleastman was showing signs of impatience.

Hey, thanks for the really useful answers. Not wanting to be overly negative some of you guys must be REALLY bored making posts to questions that you really have no useful knowledge on. I now know that BAe systems is based in Preson, Lancashire. Wow. Thanks to 007 I know that there is 'lots of corruption'. Wow. and johnslat thinks scot lives a sheltered life. OOh. What a source of useless information from obviously bored and lonely people this has become. Ill look elsewhere if i want any info in the future. Yaaaawwn.

Quote:

Ill look elsewhere if i want any info in the future.

With that attitude, you'd be doing everyone here a favour.

Scot 47 replied again, taking his cue from Cleopatra.

Try the SEARCH function.

A new poster, Never Ceased To Be Amazed, egged them on.

Woo Hoo!!!!!!

Scot, realizing that he had attracted an audience, expressed insincere remorse.

This nasty man has made me CRY !

Middleastman retired with some dignity.

Hi guys! Thanks for the further replies!- Point proved i think!

There are several “moves” in this exchange. A “move” is defined by Mirador (2000;47) as “the logical maneuver adopted by the communicator/s in written or spoken discourse. Such a maneuver is evident in the unified functional meaning of a sentence or group of sentences in written or spoken text. The sentence or group of sentences has a unifying purpose in relation to the context in which it occurs.”

In this instance, however, the context is important. Middleastman is new to the forum. He has only posted 34 times, and so he is regarded as fair game by the “old hands”. Having asked a perfectly sensible question, Middleastman is entitled to an equally sensible answer, but Scot 47’s curt “BAE Systems in Preston, Lancashire” violates Grice’s (1975; 1978) Maxim of Quantity.

Probably intentionally – Scot 47 has frequently made it clear that he detests BAE systems – he gives too little information for it to be of any real use to the questioner.

007’s intervention is even less helpful. He offers no answer to the original question, but rather gives an opinion with no supporting evidence.

Scot 47 now ignores the original thread, allowing himself to be sidetracked into a digression, which, by its use of the term “mere teachers” diminishes the status of the original questioner.

At this point John Slattery intervenes, again ignoring the original question. His post suggests, if it suggests anything, the corruption referred to be 007 is actually endemic throughout the entire company, and that Scot is naïve not to have recognized this fact.

Midleastman, having been ignored on the sidelines while this in-group debate takes place, intervenes with some heat, but makes what the impartial observer might regard as perfectly apposite points about the previous three posters. His statement that “I’ll look elsewhere if i (sic) want any info in the future” is an open statement of frustration., and one with which the impartial observer can sympathise.

Cleopatra, however, violates every maxim of politeness (Brown and Levinson 1999) by suggesting that Middleastman’s absence would be no loss. If he were not present, asking impertinent questions, then the in-group would be able to get on with having a good time together.

At this point, Scot 47 returns to the debate, adding cyber-insult to pragmatic insult with the instruction “Use the SEARCH facility”. “SEARCH” is spelled out so that everyone accessing the thread will see that, in Scot’s opinion, Middleastman is someone who is none too bright, and must be addressed simp-ly and slow-ly.

Never Ceased To Be Amazed’s “Woo Hoo!!!” is difficult to categorise. It could be either an incredulous whoop of delighted horror that Cleopatra and Scot have been so openly contemptuous of Middleastman. On the other hand, it could be interpreted as a cheerleading cry, urging them on to further rudeness.

Scot 47 certainly interprets it the second way. “That nasty man has made me CRY!” is the gleeful shout of a bully who has had a visible effect on his victim. It shows no remorse, and indeed, later on, in the same exchange, Scott continues to scatter insults

“For the d i m w i t s who can’t use the SEARCH function there is a tit-bit right here. Of course working for the military does not usual (sic) take a very high measured IQ”

In the meantime, Middleastman breaks off the exchange, refusing to expose himself to further ridicule.

Now, I do not suggest that those responsible for Dave’s ESL Café necessarily condone this type of behaviour. Indeed, their terms of use are explicit to the point of rudeness:-

This forum is not any one member’s personal playground. It is not an open forum where you are free to express whatever opinion you hold. It is absolutely not a place where racism, personal attacks, insults, trolling, demeaning others or flaming will be tolerated. Inappropriate threads and postings will be deleted without warning and sanctions applied, as appropriate.

Threads or posts that contain racist statements or that aim only to bash a group or person will be deleted without warning or explanation. This includes threads that are racist but that try to be passed off as “healthy” venting”. It is acceptable to vent. It is not acceptable to use your frustrations to bash an entire group or nation of people (any group or any nation). In short, racism is not acceptable on this site.

Thomas (1995; 170) gives an interesting example of similar “bald” imperatives “You are to stand to attention in the center of your room every time the door is opened. You are to obey all orders given you by any member of the remand staff at all times” but her data is taken from a military detention center. Whether the same approach is entirely appropriate on a website designed to attract EFL teachers is, I would suggest, at best a moot point.

Secondly, despite the directness of the conditions quoted above, it is clear from the earlier examples that “personal attacks, insults, demeaning others….bash/ing/ an entire group” (BAE Systems) goes on. The website has a number of moderators – described as being “experienced teachers with several years of both teaching and moderating experience” – but that is no more than registered users should expect. A website of this nature would have limited authority if it were to appoint moderators who had very little experience of teaching or moderating.

Whether the moderators are entirely impartial, however, is another point. There is a definite suggestion that some of the most frequent posters have an undisclosed, symbiotic relationship with certain moderators, and that they are allowed to suggest that certain posts and threads be edited, or deleted entirely. It is still entirely possible that some posters have had far more distinguished careers than these cyber-cops.

Above all else, while the website officially discourages cyber-bullying, it also provides an atmosphere in which cyber-bullying can flourish. At the start of the International Job Forums, there is a special section, labeled, “Newbie Forum”.

And that is the give-away. The mask slips. Newly registered users, regardless of their academic background, are regarded as less accomplished that the longer established. “Newbies” is not an appropriate term of reference for other members of the same profession. It is, I would suggest, the language of a third-rate prep school of the type satirized as “St. Custards” (Willans 1953) where the school bullies lurk, ready to attack anyone perceived as being weaker than themselves.

This explains Scot 47’s jeering “That nasty man has made me CRY!”, and his pompous later judgment that
“I would say that someone who loses it on a forum like this could have MAJOR problems with the daily difficulties in Saudi Arabia.”

“Losing it” has nothing to do with this matter. Middleastman asked a civil question. He was entitled to a civil answer. Instead, he received replies which, if given face-to-face in a staff room, would lead to a complete severing of all relations, or even physical violence. Middleastman was the victim of cyber-bullying. And that is unacceptable.

Closet Racism

It is equally unacceptable for posters to display contempt for members of other races or religions. An example here was a now deleted thread, in which Cleopatra contemptuously dismissed a core narrative from the Valmiki Ramayana as a “fairytale”. Again, this raises the question of presumed register and power; in this instance, the idea that a female academic, sheltering behind her atavar, has no need to pay even passing deference to religious beliefs that she, herself, does not hold.

On this occasion, I sent the original poster a personal message, deploring Cleopatra’s behaviour, and received the following reply.

I agree with you that she has been crassly dismissive of the entire community of followers of Hinduism with that statement of hers.

She is, unfortunately, supported by a few posters of (ostensibly) her age, skin-colour and marital status.

Thanks for the words of support.

In this case, Berry’s comment about “the inability to capture tone in a quick-fire email” does not apply. The tone here is one of resignation. A man of considerable learning and culture has been publicly slapped down by a strident white ur-feminist. She is able to do this without public rebuke, simply because her (ab)use of her pseudonym renders her anonymous.

And this is what I refer to when I speak of closet racism. Veiled Sentiments offered this gem in the course of a discussion of the alcohol intake among Omanis.

I can only say that it is a good thing if they are keeping the young Omanis away from these places. I found that Omanis have the same problem with alcohol that the Native Americans have in the US. The ability to drink alcohol seems to be something that there is a genetic tolerance for in some cultures. Those in cultures that haven't used it regularly seem unable to control it. While only a relatively small number of people of European genetic background drink to excess regularly, those Omanis who drank seemed unable to sit down to a relaxed drink or two. I would watch the Omanis at our table drink 5-6 drinks for every one of the rest of the drinkers... and most of these were pretty hard-drinking Brits. The Omanis would be falling down drunk in an hour or so... as they headed to their cars. I was struck by the similarities on the reservations in the US.

The racial intolerance of this post is quite staggering. The suggestion that “only a relatively small number of people of European genetic background drink to excess regularly” will come as a surprise to health workers in Russia, where alcohol abuse is so prevalent that most men die before they retire. It will also surprise the health authorities in Britain, who are trying to stem a rising tide of “binge drinking.”

I should also point out at this stage that, while there is documented evidence that alcohol abuse is a social problem among some Native Americans, Veiled Sentiment’s “evidence” from Oman is based on ONE visit to a club on a camp belonging to the Royal Army of Oman. When pressed for details, she was unable to remember either its location or the year of her visit, but I now suspect that she might have visited a place called the Concorde Club, which was a licenced facility open only to expatriate employees of Airworks Ltd.

That is not to say that no Omani officers drink, but in the twenty four and half years that I served as a uniformed education officer in the Royal Air Force of Oman, I can recall only three Omani officers who drank to the point that it affected their ability to do the job. In the same period, at least twice that number of civilian EFL teachers had their contracts terminated because of severe alcohol abuse.

In short, Veiled Sentiments’ caricature of alcoholic Omani Arabs and drunken Injuns happily stereotypes some twenty two million people, and that is as unacceptable as any other racial stereotyping.

Indeed, reading her comments, it is hard to escape the conclusion that on Dave’s ESL café website, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. On that point, I am reminded of something from Skidelsky’s (1975) biography of Sir Oswald Moseley. Following the racial disturbances in Notting Hill in the mid 1950s, Sir Oswald’s son, Nicholas, sent his father a letter, in which he accused him of using one hand to point at the stars, while the other hand let rats out into the gutter.

Davenport (2002) has pointed out that websites where identity can be hidden loosen normal social controls and permit antisocial behaviour. Graber (2008) claims that this “anonymity also opens the door to the truly pathological personalities, lurking in the shadows to take advantage of any trusting person.” It is alarming to think that some of those pathological personalities are members of the teaching profession.

References

Berry, Jon. (2008) Snip away at cyber bullying. The TES Magazine. www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id+2622975downloaded 25/6/2008.

Brown. P and Levinson S.C. (1999.) “Politeness, some universals in language usage.” In A Jaworski and N. Coupland (eds) The Discourse Reader London Routledge Pp. 321-335.

Davenport, D. (2002.) Anonymity on the Internet; Why the price may be too high. Communications of the ACM. Vol. 45.

Fairclough, Norman. (1988) Register, power and socio-semantic change. In D. Birch and M. O’Toole (eds) Functions of Style. London. Pinter Press. Pp. 111-125

Fairclough, Norman. (1989) Language and Power London. Longman

Graber, Gordon. (2008.) The Difficulties of Education Technology and the Quandary of Risk. In Peter Davidson; Justin Sherwell and William J. Moore (eds) Educational Technology in the Arabian Gulf; Theory, Research and Pedagogy. Dubai; UAE TESOL Arabia. Pp. 3-12.

Grice, H.P. 1975. “Logic and Conversation.” In P. Cole and J. Morgan (eds) Syntax and Semantics Vol. 3; Speech Acts New York Academic Press

Grice, H.P. 1978. “Further notes on logic and conversation” In P. Cole (ed) Syntax and Semantics 9; Pragmatics New York Academic Press.

Mey, Jacob. (2001) Pragmatics; An Introduction. Oxford. Blackwell (2nd ed)

Mirador, Josefine F. (2000) A Move Analysis of Written Feedback in Higher Education. RELC Journal 31/1. Pp. 45-60

Shariff, Shaheen. (2008) Cyber-bullying; Issues and Solutions for the School, the Classroom and the Home. London. Routledge

Skidelsky, Robert. (1975) Oswald Moseley London Macmillan

Thomas, Jenny. (1995) Meaning in Interaction; An Introduction to Pragmatics. London. Longman.

Willans, Geoffrey (1953) Down with Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and Their Parents London. Max Parrish

Please check the How to Use Technology in the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.