Sy Borg wrote: ↑October 14th, 2024, 3:44 am
LuckyR wrote: ↑October 14th, 2024, 2:31 am
Pattern-chaser wrote: ↑October 13th, 2024, 9:05 am
LuckyR wrote: ↑October 12th, 2024, 5:44 pm
Huh? Those who compete seek to win. That's normal. It's baked into the nature of competition. As is seeking the weakest possible opponent, as it maximizes the statistical chance of winning.
Bullying isn't a strategy, it's a subset of all possible competitive endeavors. Specifically in cases where there is an expectation of social cohesion, say as between classmates or coworkers (and within animal species) which is then violated, hence bullying. No one would describe a soldier "bullying" the enemy, since there is no social expectation of cooperative behavior. No, soldiers defeat, annihilate and decimate enemies. Senior soldiers bully underlings ON THEIR OWN SIDE, but not the enemy. Because of the social expectation of cooperation between soldiers on the same side.
That's an illuminating illustration. And it also offers an indication that bullying is associated (at the least) with competition. "Bullying is a subset of all possible competitive endeavors" tells us that bullying is one (of several) tools at the disposal of the competitor. I would agree with that. Those who compete seek to win, as you observe, and they use whatever tools they need to, to achieve their aims. But it's all a bit sociopathic, isn't it? Goal attainment, indifferent to the cost to others.
Yes, bullying is sociopathic as it occurs in violation of social norms and expectations. Competition is not generally sociopathic since in the majority of cases it occurs in socially designated areas of legitimate competition.
I would say bullying is more usually psychologically predatory than sociopathic. It isn't necessarily sadistic. Often it's a means to an end - fighting dirty to gain an unfair edge in competition. One doesn't need to be a sociopath to bully, just an immature or cynical human. It's one of many nasty possible behaviours that we humans manage to perpetrate in the argy bargy of life.
I guess in my wsy of understanding fighting "clean", fighting "dirty" and bullying are three separate entities. In the first two the goal is winning the prize that goes to the victor, they differentiate in the technique used to obtain the win. In the third (bullying), there may or may not even be a prize, the bully isn't so interested in that, he's more interested in violating the victim's understanding of "fairness" in how the game is supposed to be played, than winning the victory. In summary, it's more abouy the victim losing, than the bully winning. It's about humiliation.
"As usual... it depends."