From: Phil Osborn (philosborn2001@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jun 23 2002 - 23:22:28 MDT
For a good current example of a bully at work, check
out the siteexperts.com and look for a thread with
about 50+ entries, mostly discussing the obnoxious
behavior of one "holophrastic", entitled "Unprovoked
abuse in Forums."
I observe that most people will indeed attempt to
placate a bully, out of fear of being the next victim,
I think, in most cases. Often, in fact, the bully
will be the most popular guy or gal in the crowd. I
personally judge people by their willingness to stand
up to bullies and to judge people by their behavior,
regardless of whether it is aimed at onesself.
I have been in several long-term situations in which a
real sociopath was running loose and trashing people's
lives right and left with impunity and glee. When I
identified what was happening and stood up to the
jerk, the response on the part of most people was to
ostracize me, not the bully. The sociopath usually
already has vast experience in dealing with opposition
and organizing a gang behind him or her. Eventually,
after great grief was caused for many people, in every
situation I encountered, the sociopath was finally
recognized for what he or she was, and then things got
rather difficult for the jerk, but only after a long
time. At that point, a sociopath generally just moves
on to greener pastures and begins feeding on his or
her new chums.
This happened several times thru the '80's to a local
child molester who was feeding off the libertarian
scene. Eventually people figured out what he was up
to and then he simply moved on and targeted new
victims. Finally, however, it all caught up with him,
and, last I heard, he was permanently incarcerated in
a state mental prison, and even the local
anarcho-capitalists have not raised a word of protest,
everyone being so very glad he was out of circulation.
He was kind of an exception, however. I've met other
life-time sociopaths who ended up well-off and
destined to die at an extended old age, with their
victims often writing the eulogies. There are a whole
set of techniques that such people use systematically
to cloak what they are up to and psychologically
disarm their victimes. See Ayn Rand's portrayal of
one such - Ellsworth Toohey - in "The Fountainhead."
It's true to life.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:59 MST