It is, bullying is a form of dominating someone. Restricting and controlling how they act or how they feel they can act. So when Ryan has little goes at people like David it's a way of trying to establish dominance to reduce the ability of that person to act freely in the environment. There is a judgement placed on them by someone else. In that moment David may suddenly stop what he is doing because someone has made a negative comment about it. Even if there is no value or merit to the comment. Hence domination. Or he / they may in the future, potentially after many comments refrain from acting in certain ways.
It's under the whole, 'joke' banner. But isn't most bullying?
It's why kids tease other kids. It's about trying to establish dominance. If someone is teased for liking something or doing something. It's about limiting the freedom in which that person feels to express themselves. This extends to behavior.
That is the kind of 'ribbing' that Ryan likes to do. Whether it is effective or not, this is the behavior his is displaying.
Look at it this way, if a little kid likes Doctor Who and wears a bow tie to school. And some other kid teases him about it. Why is that? To enforce dominance by trying to get that kid to stop wearing the bow tie. Changing the behavior of the target of the bullying. So yes a little quip like this by Ryan is a softer form of that.
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