To think there's something wrong with bullies?

[chicaguapa]

Just reading today another story of a child who's died due to bullying. It's so sad and it's making me wonder how bullies just don't seem to care that could be the consequence of their bullying.

Is this because they have a personality disorder like sociopathy? Is it immaturity? Surely trying to understand why they do it would go some way to controlling it in schools, instead of lukewarm bullying policies which are in the main ineffective.

Of course we can understand that bullying is unacceptable, that's how anti-bullying campaigns etc are started. But people who are bullying do it for a variety of reasons, so we can't say that it will never happen. How will you know that someone will bully? As creatures who know right from wrong we can then act to stop bullying once it happens, and do preventative work to reduce the likelihood of it - but I don't think we can ever wipe it out unfortunately.

No we can't wipe it out and I am not saying we can. I agree that people who bully do it because there is a part of their life that is dysfunctional (family, emotional issues, anxiety etc). I have an issue with the argument that likens bullying to an animal finding its place in the pecking order and accepts it as a given human behaviour needed to get to the top. No. It is perfectly common and feasible to get to the 'top' by being compassionate and empathetic. I would say that bullying is rather a behaviour that stems from an emotional difficulty which must be identified and addressed and ultimately stopped as it is extremely damaging. I worry that there are people who seem to trivialise it in this way.

I was a bully, and my past behaviour makes me horrified now.
I had no empathy as a child, and I didn't consider other people to have many feelings, if that makes sense? Took a lot of work as an adult to put myself in another persons shoes and consider their views.

I was also bullied at home by siblings, and felt ignored by parents.
NONE of that excuses what I did of course, but yeah, there was something wrong with me, and something wrong with my family unit.