Why Are People Bullies?

It seems that there are a lot of bullies these days.  I am sure there have always been bullies.  But, it seems that I am encountering a lot of bullies lately.  Every harassment case involves grown-up bullies.  Bullies are people who put others down to build themselves up.  Bullies are probably people who have been bullied. That does not make the bullying any easier for the victims.

I am working on a case where there was a pack of bullies.  These men are mean and homophobic.  Looking at them, it's hard to see redeeming characteristics.  They use the vilest language to harass my client.  Two of them are supervisors.  I suspect they had bad childhoods and they have issues concerning their manhood.   They seem to be homophobic.  The conduct is sordid and sad.  I feel dirty at the end of the day, having to regale their statements and describe their conduct.

Of course, bullying occurs in a lot more places than the workplace.  Bashar el Assad is a bully.  So are a lot of leaders of countries, in the Mideast and elsewhere.  In fact, bullies are everywhere.  I think some people become lawyers because they have the chance to bully opposing parties and sometimes even opposing counsel.

How do we stop bullies?  We can sometimes derail an individual bully, but how do we obliterate the desire to bully?  How do we deal with insecure and scared people who derive pleasure from putting others down? I wish someone would come up with an anti-bully solution.  I don't have any answers.