Bullying

Re-read the OP. If anything, he's saying the opposite. You misread.

I'm sorry, waitress. People tend to forget that bullies exist in the adult world as well. You're spot-on about why bullies do what they do. They're projecting their feelings about themselves onto people they see as easy targets.

I wasn't bullied until my freshman year of HS and for two years I was gossiped about, called a slut and constantly made to feel like I didn't matter. Luckily I had friends to lean on but those were still some hard times.

You are a very good, kind and sweet person, waitress. You are the last kind of person to be the target of a bully. I was profoundly sad to read that.

All bullies are cowards. They perceive themselves to have an overwhelming advantage over someone else, and they attack. Often they are accompanied by other bullies. I’ve never met a coward who liked himself. I’ve never met an intelligent person who was fearless, because they could foresee consequences to their choices. Bullies don’t seem to foresee consequences. Give them one. Either ignore them and walk away, or stand right up to them. I have never met an intelligent person who was fearless, but I have met MANY who were courageous as hell.

Try not to sympathize with these people. They are just sadists. Insecure or not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93wAqnPQwk

But it seems to have become worse in the digital age. I can't think of a single incident from my childhood and beyond where a classmate committed suicide because of having been bullied. I do, however, have a very vivid memory of a bully in high school who did, not long after graduating. He was very popular, from a prominent family and the world was his oyster at the time.

Thanks for responding. I'm fascinated about whether we are striving to be better or are we doomed to be animals enslaved to our worse impulses.

Extremely well articulated once again, my wise and knowledgeable friend. Some years back, a very smart co-worker and friend talked me into reading Ann Coulter's Demonic about a mob mentality, which he loaned me. I never read the entire book but enough to see she was spot on with some of her observations. It reinforced some of mine because I developed independence at a very young age and evolved into somewhat of a rebel who didn't like to follow a crowd. I had a very negative and stressful experience once with a labor union at a new job because I didn't want to join right away. It was the most hostile, hateful bunch of people I have ever worked with.

This is where I wonder if I've lost contact with reality, or maybe there is some hysterical fringe seeing maladjusted behavior around every corner. And if true, where does this come from? Seems to me, we've made every effort to model good behavior in how we treat each other, and while there are always outliers (cretins), there should be an overwhelming amount of sympathetic types that assure the afflicted They Are Not Alone.
I remember one of the bigger guys at my high school. At one time I thought we were friends, then later felt I had fallen out of favor. Some other bully tried to pull crap on me, and this guy warned him to lay off. Heck that same guy smashed a water polo ball smack into my face! I was game and didn't cry the blues, but it wasn't that bad and overall, I felt I had enough respect that I wasn't there only for someone else's derision and amusement. Not only did I have my own back, but others in some secret corners had it as well.
These days, I would hope if a kid has some odd social quirks, other kids parents would have raised them well enough, they would respond with support and sympathy, not with antipathy for the weirdo outsider.
This is where I wonder if we have better angels we respond to, or if at heart, we're just crappy people.