and not for nice caring people. People who care the most, people who have empathy, sympathy and feelings- generally tend to be way more depressed and suicidal.
1- Genuinely nice and good ppl get taken advantaged of.
2- Genuinely nice and good ppl (real ones, not the phony ass fake “nice” ppl that’s rampant) are the ones that are bothered by the news, by the state of the world, by actions taken by their local/state/country leaders, other world leaders, hell, even by local Karens and Kens.
The ppl not bothered by anything in the news, not bothered by the suffering of fellow human beings, not bothered by the general state of the economy and lack of jobs, homelessness, poverty, hardships, war, innocent ppl getting killed, destruction of the environment, pollution, etc and can peacefully sleep like a baby and not give a shit about anyone other than themselves or a few ppl in their life- they’re the ones who are the most happiest. The most depressed are the ppl who care the most, ppl who can’t help but get pissed off at injustice.
Most ppl just stick their head in the sand and pretend not to notice. Or maybe they do notice but just don’t give a fuck.
If you actually CARE and GIVE A SHIT, you’re in for a lifetime of depression. -_-
That’s the reality of life on Earth.
13 comments
I think throughout the history of our species there has been a need for people with low emotional range. That need is probably overstated, and the problem is we only need the high performing ones. I’m going to try and explain. It takes someone with low emotional range to be a prison guard as an example. Cruelty is part of the job (in the US at least). It takes someone with low emotional range to be a CEO.
Now there’s a moral argument to be made, maybe we reform society so we don’t need these low emotional range jobs, that’s what the rest of the wealthy world has done, but they just end up exporting it to other countries so did they really get rid of it?
As long as we require cruelty for our economy to function, I don’t see psychopaths ceasing to getting a free pass. Geez, I was going to go into a sociological or psychological thing but it really does go back to follow the money. Cheap labor, suffering is essential to the modern economy, someone has to see it, and that person needs to have flattened affect to not kill themselves.
Then the people that wash out end up elsewhere, and you can’t get rid of them because that would mean digging up the source.
Since the birth of homo sapiens, those who were the most psychopathic survived and prospered. Same as now. The biggest assholes, those who care the least for others, are the ones who make the most money and have the most power. It’s not that society has a “need” for these ppl- it’s darwinism- survival of the “fittest”- whereby fittest means being the most assholish and least caring.
In modern times, since we don’t have to outright kill animals/other humans to survive, those who are wolves in sheep’s clothing are the most successful- all the selfish and self-serving liars and manipulators, assholes who care the least about others and have the least qualms screwing others over for their gain are the ones who are the most successful in modern society, with modern society being since the start of “civilization.” So over generations, humans have just become worse and worse, not better.
see, and that was kind of the angle I was meaning to go at it from, but then ended up getting sucked down the economic necessity tangent. I think a lot of it, I mean most to all is about removal from consequences. The behaviors we’re talking about, lieing, cruelty, and general assholishness, it’s debateable how much society can tolerate.
But the thing is that during the time period that our brains evolved, when the hardware was developed to be the computer nerd I am, it was a tribal system. There were some definite counterbalances to psychopathic behaviors. There was only so bad a person could behave, else they were ejected, and back then being ejected meant dying of exposure, or being eaten by wolves. That was the NICE version of tribal justice.
What they did to chiefs that screwed up? They killed them in the most painful way they could come up with, and usually it was pretty F-ing brutal. That’s a pretty effective counter to psychopathic behavior, because even a psychopath can think “Hmmmm, hoard all the food, but get my toes ripped off one by one? not such a good idea” They’d do these things in the town square, mob justice.
So it wasn’t until the bronze age, 80,000 years on that people managed to hoard enough wealth, invent efficient enough religions and weapons that they could actually be serious assholes, and even then they couldn’t get away with it for more than a few decades, and nowhere near on the scale of where we are today.
The Romans really blazed the trail, followed by their successors the Roman Catholic Church, The Holy Roman Empire (which wasn’t Holy, Roman or an Empire), and eventually the decentralized Western world. Each successive authority got better at centralizing wealth, insulating it away from the poverty it required, and from consequences.
Sorry, would have been a history teacher, if the world needed them. It didn’t………. which is something that causes me great sadness. Would have been a historian, if the world even remotely wanted them….. Tried to be a philosopher, ended up a psychologist, and eventually a social worker…… which is apparently all the world wants anymore.
the difference between then and now is that ppl can be assholes and dick ppl over and face very little consequences, bc everything is done either online or at a distance, or hidden behind a shell corporation.
People are dicks online making asshole comments bc they can get away with it. 90% of these ppl wouldn’t have the guts to say it to the person IRL. Those who do, the Karens and Kens- they need to get the shit beat out of them. Before the age of social media, if you acted like that, you’d get your ass beaten. But bc of cameras and social media, you can’t just hit those mf’ers, and they know it, which is why they continue to be Karens and Kens.
In the past, if the village leaders screwed them over, you know where their hut is. Now, if our leaders screw us over, what can we do? They live thousands of miles away, in gated guarded mansions. We cannot touch them. Law prevent the masses from doing anything to them. They loot our treasury, our money, giving it to themselves and their cronies, and what can we now do? It’s not like the olden days where you can see how much goods they have in their hut, or find their hut and know they are embezzling the village’s funds.
“The behaviors we’re talking about, lieing, cruelty, and general assholishness, it’s debateable how much society can tolerate.”
>>oh society can tolerate A LOT. why? bc most ppl just don’t care enough to do anything about it. head in sand approach. also, they “tolerate” it bc they themselves are part of the assholish ppl.
What’s odd about the things you bring up is how it’s gotten to the point that we are on the cusp on another technological revolution, that tech’s advanced so far and that there are a few corpos with fuck you money and some individuals (Elon Musk for example, richest dude in the world) who literally are saying the quiet parts out loud, using platforms they own to be assholes to millions of people for them to have some people basically just defend them constantly for being assholes. It’s really stupid. With AI in the picture, corporations see us as even more expendable now and it’ll continue to worsen.
I’m interested in the technology but it saddens me that corporations are just going to straight up use it incorrectly and fuck over the people who actually could find or create a better use case for it. With the internet, it’s a lot easier to see who assholes are, and yet it’s so much easier to be anonymous…
As Viking shows, this could be a broad discussion…but I’m also of the view that if everyone was a sociopath then society would cease to function. Sociologists have pointed out for any community or civilization to survive, you need to share the resources and create people who are more cooperative and not selfish.
This was even more critical in more primitive societies were they could easily die off if people didn’t play their part for the collective survival of their group.
But yes nowadays selfish/narcissistic, sociopathic people have way more opportunities to manipulate others/game the system to their own benefit and like you said, they could form their own cabals in govt away from public scrutiny and loot the system and avoid having to suffer any consequences.
However regarding opportunity….there’s some people in my circle who would definitely be considered one of these selfish types…but they have the same chances for success as I did…they were able to take advantage and get ahead.
Kind-hearted people have access to those opportunities too…but might not take them for some reason.
But I think it boils down to doing the right thing when nobody is watching. Does this mean nice guys/girls finish last? Not necessarily…I think there’s winning and losing on both sides.
However when you are a good person and treat others well, you have a clear conscience knowing you haven’t trodden on anyone to get ahead. Additionally, when you’re kind to someone I think that sentiment can spread to others…even if it’s rare and they’ll be good to others.
Conversely bad people taking advantage of people can cause them to be less nice. So in general it’s better for society and individuals to be ‘good’ for its own sake.
Also I used to be that typical ‘nice guy’ but I realized people just take advantage of you…so I learned to be nice to those who deserve it and an azzhole to those who didn’t.
We need both to survive in our capitalist system. You might also want to check out Richard Dawkins talk (on youtube) about ‘suckers, cheaters and grudgers.’ Really good message.
And to your point Eternal, yes us nice people maybe have it harder because we care about the suffering of others and wish to make the world better.
It is true that selfish people probably sleep well at night because they’re not bothered by these things they cannot change and so are more focused on their own goals and personal enrichment.
What’s worse now is, unlike living in a village where it’s easy to root out the bad guys and make them suffer for harming their community, it’s much harder to do in modern society, esp. with the huge numbers we have to deal with.
Not to mention the bad people, esp. if they’re rich can hire lawyers, pay for rent-a-mobs to back their causes or advance evil agendas and convince the masses that what they want is best for everyone…meanwhile they’re ofc out to only benefit themselves.
Additionally there are groups of people scamming social programs for example…there was a huge scandal of a certain community, claiming to run thousands of day care centers and were bilking public money until they were investigated and found to be lying….there are charities that are set up to raise funds for terrorist groups as well.
So ya there’s a lot of evil and corruption going on under the radar…which sometimes gets caught and exposed.
There are certain religions today that are working feverishly through manipulating politicians to make it illegal to criticize their evil beliefs and they seek to replace freedom with their fascist ideology.
Ofc we also know about Christians seeking to ban women’s right to an abortion and also to ban euthanasia because they think some make man in the sky thinks it’s wrong/bad.
That’s just scratching the surface, now multiply that with problems in every country and it’s overwhelming to try to fix it all…you’d also need thousands maybe millions of people to work together to try to fix many of these issues…let alone trying to deal with personal problems.
exactly. which is why i find life so fucking depression. it’s bc i know all this shit exists- all this corruption everywhere, from our dentist office down to our drinking water- we can’t get away from all this fuckery. and yes, i know individual ppl can’t do shit about it either. and those who DO or TRY, they tend to get bought out really quick or they somehow have some kind of “accident.” Just yesterday I watched news talking of the youngest Ecuadorian mayor who got shot/murdered. She helped the local population get clean drinking water, and was on her way to clean up other areas. And OFC they couldn’t let her live. They shot her and her communications director in their rental car.
Now this shit OFC also occurs in the US/UK/Canada/etc. We just do it in a slicker way. Outright murder is too obvious, so for 1st world countries, we usually bribe or have backdoor deals that the public never sees or hears about.
All the good ppl- be it our own politicians or journalists or whistleblowers- either get bought off or killed. So whoever remains are the worst of the worst- the greediest ppl who don’t gaf about screwing over the population- bc all the good ppl have been run out or corrupted. And these assholes are the ones that run our country. Everyone in our government. 99% of our presidents. The few good ones get assassinated. Message is clear- either play ball, or get killed. Or have family members suddenly have “bad things” happen to them. 99% of ppl learn to play ball real quick.
“you’d also need thousands maybe millions of people to work together to try to fix many of these issues”
>>And THAT is precisely WHY it’ll never fucking happen in the USA- bc Americans are too damn selfish to gaf about anyone else other than themselves. I can’t speak for other countries, bc Americans will never unite bc every group here hates every other group. We bicker and fight amongst ourselves, which is exactly what the elites are purposely orchestrating, and Americans are dumb-ass lemmings who fall for it, and continue to hate each other instead of hating on the elites who are doing this to us.
And corrupt political leaders aside, my rant is on the regular every day ppl. They’re also shit. Again, I can’t speak for other countries- I hear ppl are SO much nicer/better in other countries, hence my desire to leave this fucking country- but in the USA- ppl are dicks to each other. Karens and Kens are not an anomaly- they are the standard. I can’t stand the ppl here. IDK if ppl are just as assholish the world over, or it’s especially worse in the USA. I hear American expats and tourist who go to other countries say “OMG the ppl are SO much better at …(insert any other country)…
Ofc not every human is a sociopath- the crux of my problem is that the few good ppl out there get taken advantaged of by these assholes, and the older someone gets, the less “good” ppl are left. Think of how many guys/girls were nice/sweet in college. Now fast forward 10 years, 20 years. The “good” ppl get bitter and distrustful with time. Why? Bc eventually most genuinely good ppl get screwed enough and get fed up and are no longer super sweet and nice. Now I’m not saying they turn assholes but they’re not as genuinely nice and sweet as they used to be. I’ve seen it happen to so many genuinely good ppl over the years. Eventually there’s that person, that straw, that breaks them, and they turn apathetic themselves.
Do we “need” psychopaths to survive? My whole point is that assholes do the best in life- now and in the past. Think back to cavemen times- our ancestors who outright murdered our other competing homo species (which they did do)- is what led homo sapiens to take over the Earth.
I hate this world bc the way the world is structured, biologically and societally, benefits ppl to be assholes, apathetic, uncaring, pretenders, liars, smooth manipulators, etc. So humans just become worse and worse with each generation, bc that is the trait that is selected for. And in modern times, it’s those assholes who pretend to be so sweet and nice who are the most successful. Those are the ppl I hate the most. I actually “appreciate” it when a dick or a jerk or a **** actually shows who they are and don’t hide it so you know who to avoid.
The sociopaths- the fake nice ppl- they are way more insidious and do a lot more harm, bc ppl don’t realize who they really are and get conned/manipulated by them. I see that IRL so often. And it’s SO hard to expose those assholes, bc they’re so good at lying and covering up who they are to everyone.
Ya we’re effed in so many ways in life it’s not even funny. That’s why the one thing which all humans should agree on is the right to end your life any time you want and for the medical system to help you.
As a child if one has had a lucky childhood like me….then you’re cocooned from the evils of the world and you think it’s a good place, until you grow up and have to stand on your own two feet…then the reality of evil people hit you…but ofc that also starts in grade school, we knew who the bad kids were.
Evil (sociopaths) learn to be ‘nice’ to fit into society…but once they see an avenue to use/bully/manipulate others they will.
Everyone knows the basic social skills and to pose as ‘good people.’ I’ve dealt with some personally, like scummy landlords…like the situation I’m in now.
They’re nice at the beginning, promise you the moon, once you’re caught in their spider’s web, it’s hard to escape. I’m hoping to move to a condo this year…but they are expensive and harder to get, so we’ll see.
And I agree, nice people who get used themselves become angry/bitter…and more selfish in their behavior.
It’s the rotten world we live in. Mostly it’s the capitalist system we live in that causes this. If for instance everyone got the same pay, then there wouldn’t be stabbing each other in the back for a few extra dollars.
If everyone made the same amount, but also had nice houses and all our needs were met…we’d have no reason to hate, cheat, steal or screw over others.
I think such a world is possible but it takes will power and political power as well to implement such ideas. Also I think there should also be a universal basic income.
Why do we need an economic system that grants a handful of lucky people the ability to buy yachts and mega-companies…while millions are homeless or living in tent cities? That is directly due to the rich skewing the system to serve themselves instead of the masses.
Just imagine the opposite where the rich were kept in line while most of the money went to us…we’d all have happier lives. But ofc it goes back to massive change requiring millions to act in unison.