[kleer001]

It's a pecking order instinct. I'm sure even lobsters do it. The algorithm goes like this: find someone weaker than you, focus on any difference however small or imaginary, initiate pecking, preserve your place in the hierarchy.

[christoph]

So true. My nephew has a small mole on his nose. I never notice it, nobody in my immediate family notices it, but he gets bullied at school over it, to the point he wants it surgically removed. He’s six.

[apk-d]

Worst thing is, the bullies don't care about it either. They just need an excuse. It's hard to believe how ruthless kids can be to each other. School was forever ago, but I still don't miss it.

[katastic]

Yeah. I'm sincerely glad that the majority of people here somehow have never lived in a world where that exists. But I (and many others) were not so fortunate.

I mean, where do people think all those pocket protector nerd jokes came from? Thin air? Or--dare I provoke more downvotes--was it because people were bullied for having them?

I'm not _endorsing_ bullying by simply acknowledging scenarios where it exists. I kind of miss the 90's even more now. Because it was acceptable to talk about, and sing about on the radio; the darker things of life like getting bullied, being a failure, being used in a relationship "I'm just a suck'er with no self-esteeem! ohh wayyy ohhhh", and so on.