People forget that humans are also animals who compete for status and a place in hierarchy. People generally pick on the poor and defenseless because they want to keep them in a lower status to protect their own limited place and status. It is in part instinctual. Humans beign animals still have animal instincts from our past that still influence our current behaviors. The less a person thinks or uses their brain the more they resort to their base animal instinctual impulses It isn't a lack of intelligence, but rather more of a kind of laziness in thinking.

The wealthy often use our instinctual needs for status against us by having those of relatively equal status fight with each other by convincing us by making relatively helpless persons scapegoats for situations created by the wealthy.