Bullies’ power rests on weaknesses that victims never think to exploit

Evidence

I had a speech impediment, you see! I couldn’t say my ‘r’s. After having been shown up by me it would have been enough for them to mimic me and I would have been crushed. But they never did. — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 476

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s larger theme of Knausgaard’s vulnerability and self-critique vs. his cruel treatment of others. — connects to: Oppression does not confer virtue but breeds potential violence in victims — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 737; Dehumanization causes perpetrators to perceive victims as nonhuman and therefore not entitled to moral obligation — Dehumanization increases instrumental violence, but not moral violence

Related

• Bullies justify cruelty by insisting conditions are equal for everyone (similarity 0.81)
• Oppression does not confer virtue but breeds potential violence in victims (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Oppression does not confer virtue but breeds potential violence in victims #expands (0.60) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 737