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Alicorn comments on A Suite of Pragmatic Considerations in Favor of Niceness - Less Wrong
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I want to ask, why are people mean in the first place? I think before we try to "fix" some behavior we should make sure we understand it first. Otherwise we might be like the social reformers who try to fix "broken" institutions without understanding their reasons for existing.
To a first approximation, meanness seems to be the deliberate cause of offense. (Although I wonder if I'm suffering from the man-with-a-hammer syndrome here.) Anyone have other ideas?
Some hypotheses (I suspect actual cases of meanness are more complex than any of these):
It signals power and a lack of fear of repercussions (both to the person one is being mean to and to witnesses).
It is efficient at achieving certain results, like making people for whom the interaction is optional go away.
It can serve aesthetic or intellectual purposes, especially in the form of things like sarcasm.
It is sometimes employed as a defense mechanism to prevent unwanted closeness with others.