A bully is sick. If you never met one you might have heard stories about bullies. An interesting fact is many people are bullied, we hear the victims but rarely meet the bully or someone who says "I was a bully and I regret it".
The bullies invited for a television show, with the intention to meet their victim and talk over what happened, sit next to each other. Three big women with an emotionless face. At times one of them shows a slight stupid grin. Apart from the three grown-up bullies the victim and teacher are present. It's time to talk about those miserable days at school. Those schooldays one person is still suffering from 30 years later. She cries while she tells her story.
Most likely everyone watching the show loves to grab a baseball bat and teach those three sick monsters a lesson. What is wrong with them? If they finally respond they deny everything. They deny and even give the same high five as they used to years ago.
The "cry baby" doesn't impress them, neither does the teacher who states it did happen. Come on ladies, who are you fooling?
It's a story without an end. The bullies keep silent and the victim can't stop crying and repeating herself. Whoever told her to confront a bully with his acts is wrong. It's a lost case. Talking isn't the answer here. Those three are sick and you cannot talk common sense into a sick mind.
What is wrong with a bully?
The University of California is one of those universities peeping into the brains of children. What makes a bully different from a victim, the rest of the population? Why does a bully act this way?
It all has to do with emotions. In this case a lack of emotions, the inability to recognize them, or define them in the right way.
A part of the brain is involved in emotions. If it comes to bullies this part hardly responds to certain expressions. It's tested with photos of frightened and angry faces. Bullies are hardy - if not at all - able to recognize a frightened face. There's no brain activity in the emotional center. On the other hand, if it comes to angry faces they overreact.
Although further research is needed most likely angry faces (people) are seen by bullies as hostile. A good reason for them to attack (bully).
The dysfunction of the brain makes it impossible to have a good conversation with a bully.
A bully will not understand what the problem is and isn't able to recognize certain emotions and what it understands will only trigger (more) aggression.
The lack of emotions explains why the three bullies didn't show any compassion and even denied what happened, why they just sat there with a blank face.
"If it helps you, my daughter is bullied too", the one with the slight grin on her face ends the meeting with. With those words, she partly proved she has no idea what the whole meeting was about. Not a fraction of empathy is shown for her victim or daughter but the slight grin is there.
this an interesting