In the buses taking deportees from detention to the Afghanistan borders, women also say they are subjected to verbal abuse, bribes demanded for basic services and no air conditioning in extreme heat. “They said it’s a waste for you Afghans. My child cried from the heat, but the driver laughed and mocked us,” says Zahra*.
[From the Guardian]

When you read something like that, you wonder why would someone in a position of power laugh and mock those who are suffering in front of them.

It could be sadism. Some people sometimes think they get a kick out of the suffering of others.

Revenge sounds unlikely. What possible grudge could an Iranian border patroller hold against powerless Afghan refugees?

I think that, in this case, cruelty is a form of anesthesia. If you are commanded to expel civilians from your country in horrible conditions of heat, forcing them to go back to a very uncertain future, wouldn’t you feel even a bit sad and powerless? There’s little you can do, personally. You could try to be as kind to them as possible, but that’s difficult, and it may exacerbate your sadness and your feeling of powerlessness. However, if you decide to become cruel, you can numb yourself to the plight of those who suffer in front of you. You can fool yourself into not feeling for them, not thinking that you are like them. Then, you may even feel powerful.

I wonder if the will to numb oneself turns out to be the main driver of anesthesia.