People generally want to be high status, and status is relative, so a way of propping your own status is to diminish the status of others. For some it's a need,

People generally want to be high status, and status is relative, so a way of propping your own status is to diminish the status of others. For some it's a need, like a fish with one fin trying desperately to stay afloat. I've met a handful of people like that, and I couldn't stand to hang around them very long, but a few people get along with them quite well, I suppose by buying into their version of reality.