Yes this comes from Wicked. But think about it for a minute. Not only does society abhor a bully, it tells the bully that his view of the world is absolutely correct.
How many of us have been "victims" of bullies? And how many of us internalized the message that we were inferior? Hopefully we learned (or are still learning) that we aren't inferior. We may have come to believe once that the world is a cruel place where people will get you if you don't watch out. But now we know that most people are really good at heart and the worst they'll do is simply leave us alone. (Yes, some are out to get us but hopefully we see that they're in the minority.)
Now consider the case of the bully. He grew up getting kicked around. He learned that you'd better be tough because there is always somebody out there who would love to take you down. People are cruel and if you're going to survive then you have to be so mean and tough that nobody will dare mess with you.
As he gets older his former victims stand up to him. Some will try to take him down a notch. Oh sure, he thinks, they may be all nicey nice to their little clique but they certainly would never be nice to him. So he keeps up his tough exterior to keep the pain away. And the tougher he acts the more he's proven right.
So while we learn that the world is actually a nice place, the bully still sees the world as hostile and antagonistic. So what? Don't forget that the classic bully was a victim himself. The coping skills he learned ultimately put him in a position where he learns that his worldview is correct.
"Well, he should know how the world really works." But the only way we know the worldf actually works differently than we thought is we saw it work differently. We saw it again and again. All the bully sees is exactly what he knows.
I mourn the wicked, or in this case I have compassion for the bully. Can you imagine what it must be like to be stuck in a virtual hell not really of your own making and see day in and day out that this is simply how the world is?
