Literature: Why are people mean to each other?

Why are people mean to each other? For instance, we saw in class a news clip about a boy that was set on fire by his "friends" because they stole his father's bike. There is no logical reason for such an act of violence, yet it was done. Why?



I believe man is mean to each other because of two reasons: competition and insecurities. First off, competing for survival is an animal instinct that forces us to be aware of our resources, and figure out ways to get them before other people do. Of course, nowadays, most people don't have to compete as vigorously for resources, but it still exists. So, people bully each other to get want they want. It's like the id we're learning about in social studies. People will do anything to satisfy their needs, and don't care about others. For instance, Jack in Lord of the Flies starts to care about nothing but the "hunt," and feels no responsibility for the fire, or the littluns, or the other things that have to get done that don't get done. Also, people do it to relieve themselves of their insecurities: guilt, doubt, regret, worry, stress, etc. Everyone has them: we all regret things, worry about things, but we can usually handle these things. However, when they start to eat at us, people react differently. Some may find ways to deal with it, others do something about it, while others may have more negative reactions: breakdowns, depression, or putting on to someone else's shoulders: the blame game, violence, etc. This is when humanity starts becoming inhuman. For example, Jack in Lord of the Flies probably knows that he needs to be responsible, listen to Piggy and Ralph's reason, and start thinking about things other than the hunt. However, he doesn't: and he probably feels a bit of doubt about that. He deals with it by hating Piggy because Piggy has reason and is a thinker. We also see in one of the meetings that he starts acting violently, fighting with Piggy and hitting him in the stomach. I think that these reasons are why people are mean to each other. However, we can't stop being mean to each other because it is caused by fundamental flaws in human nature: we will always have insecurities, we will always have to compete for ways to survive, and unless we can find more efficient (and nicer) ways to deal with this problems as a whole, bullying will continue to happen. It's part of humanity today, and it won't disappear unless mankind addresses it as a whole.