In general, I agree with this wholeheartedly. However, it’s not entirely accurate regarding the motivation of bullies. Many of them might be abuse victims, but many more are children of privilege whose parents regularly told them they’re the best. Few bullies can be considered content and at peace during the act of bullying but that doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying themselves. Sadists exist!

In my experience, the unhappy abuse victims with low self-esteem are far more likely to keep getting kicked around or eventually either lash out in revenge. Or alternatively seek help and overcome their difficult past and heal. They’re unlikely to turn into bullies in turn, although it can happen, especially if they end up in power over their abusers or someone like them.

But by far the most common form of bullying is entrenched privilege defending itself. The problem is people doing just fine out of a system based on exploitation fighting to preserve it. The problem is not low self-esteem, it is high self-esteem. The worst bullies are the ones with an overvalued sense of esteem. And you can predict who will do it.

People with an accurate sense of self-worth? Not a problem, be it high or low. They know what they’re capable of and likely to receive, they won’t bother blaming anything on anyone else. They may campaign against systemic injustice but they won’t target the undeserving.

People who undervalue themselves? Also not a problem, they won’t think to start a fight they don’t think they will win.

People who have been told all their lives they deserve to be the ones in charge but don’t actually have much in the way of talent? These are the problem. While things are going their way, all is well. But as soon as they see someone from lower down the hierarchy doing better than them, then the trouble starts. It’s where MRAs come from. They see women doing better than them at something they were told was the natural preserve of men and they lose it.

No antibullying campaign will work until we acknowledge that bullies aren’t usually victims of life and they often get a great deal of satisfaction from bullying. We won’t stop bullying until we acknowledge it is not the preserve of losers but in fact a tactic often employed by winners.

Simply put, we need to identify individuals where self-worth is being derived from something other than their actual abilities and tell them in no uncertain terms to not sabotage the opposition when reality intervenes. We need to teach them how to lose with grace, and most importantly, we need to remove the penalties for losing. If the price of failure is the utter destitution that can face America’s underclass, no wonder threatened members of the privileged classes will go to any lengths to keep a barrier of the less fortunate safely between them and the void.