Bullying....now more than ever

Is it just me? or does it seem that bullying has gotten everywhere?
I'm not talking about the normal school bullying that goes on (I don't think there will ever really be a way to totally curb it). I'm talking about the way adults act, even when they know better. And some of the biggest abusers have been to so-called "Sensitivity Training" (which tends to offend me more than help).
I've been watching it grow....both in the amount of places I see it, and the meanness of it. I can be in many different "worlds", if you will, as I spend a lot of time in public places as well as private. I don't remember it being this bad, even five years ago.
I watch bosses bully their employees; employees bully other employees; groups bullying others; even groups bullying among themselves!
What happened to us? When did we get so insecure about ourselves that we stoop to this behavior. Because all it really is, is our own insecurity...so we put on the bravado and tear every one else down so we look better than they are. The meanness of it only relates to our own cowardice. Yeah, that's right.....bullies are basically cowards. They rarely "fight" one on one. And they are just sooooo proud that they have swung that bat as hard as they can on someone else.
I've seen bosses/supervisors that harangue employees and literally threaten to fire emplyees that don't go along with whatever it is the supervisor wants. I've watched people who have been passed over strike out at someone who had nothing to do with their situation.....except one thing......that victim is what the bully fears that he really is. I hear people make snide comments about some poor soul (OK, we ALL do that to some extent, me included)but then blind-side the victim because they feel comfortable with the group they are with to do so. Or maybe they talk big when their victims aren't around, then try to back-peddle when confronted (or, even funnier is when they make statements around their victim that just prove what they've been saying behind their backs).
I'm used to seeing/hearing a lot of verbal abuse.....you can't do what I do for a living and not see/hear it. Lots of smack-talking and big talk. But now it seems that it's gotten much more mean. Mean to the point of being right on that edge of reaching out and physically hitting someone. And that's scary.
I know I've felt the same about them. There have been times when I see what is happening and wanting to go beyond confrontation and just clock them upside the head....of being so angry with what I see that I want to strike them. It would be easy for me.....I'm not a little person. What stops me is knowing that such an action would make me the same as them....that I would be the bully; even though I might consider myself more like an avenging angel. Avenging Angel.....what an oxymoron. Angels aren't supposed to be like that.....except maybe Michael.
It just seems that the bullies are everywhere you turn, where before there were not as many of them. Or maybe they just weren't so bold.
I wonder if all our technology hasn't, in many ways, made us so socially isolated that we are insecure in our dealings with others....even if those dealings are limited....that we are so worried that we will not measure up. So we knock them down so we look better. The sad thing is, we really don't look better. We just look stupid. And we're too stupid to see it.