A moving self reflection. We all have the capacity to be cruel- it’s part of human nature. And having good parents can, paradoxically, make it more likely for a human to act cruelly; it’s easy not to know how your victim is feeling because you were never victimized.
When I was dating after my first marriage, I was sometimes callous. I would end a date after five minutes and walk away for no other reason than I was not attracted to the guy or I was bored with the conversation. And I would be cold about it instead of thanking him for meeting me.
I cringe when I think about it now.
But all we can do as Homo sapiens is to use our outsized brains to reflect on our behavior and try not to let the monkey brain layer take over too much.
You have done that admirably. It shows you are a good human being.
Always a work in progress. We all do have the capacity for evil, and sometimes it just takes the right circumstances to draw out the very worst in us. Trump has drawn out the worst in some conservatives as has the now utterly morally bankrupt 'social justice movement' and especially the trans movement on the left. Now it's perfectly acceptable to let your pro-terrorist, racist, misogynist, homophobic freak flag fly. I am disappointed at how many of my friends have moved toward hateful extremism (moreso on the left, but my friends tend to be lopsidedly liberal - I'm trying to change that. Had a very interesting convo with a Trump defender on Sunday). I read 'Hitler's Willing Executioners' several years ago because I find the 'good little Germans' far more interesting than the Hitler Cabal. I *never* thought I would become the person I did but the 'right' circumstances were in place and I gave in to impulses I knew were wrong, even as I can look back compassionately and think, "You didn't know what you didn't know, and in some cases, you *couldn't* know it because we didn't understand this or that about how the brain works." Post-mortems: Take responsibility for what you can correctly be held responsible for, recognize where you made honest mistakes and resolve never to let that shit happen again.
A moving self reflection. We all have the capacity to be cruel- it’s part of human nature. And having good parents can, paradoxically, make it more likely for a human to act cruelly; it’s easy not to know how your victim is feeling because you were never victimized.
When I was dating after my first marriage, I was sometimes callous. I would end a date after five minutes and walk away for no other reason than I was not attracted to the guy or I was bored with the conversation. And I would be cold about it instead of thanking him for meeting me.
I cringe when I think about it now.
But all we can do as Homo sapiens is to use our outsized brains to reflect on our behavior and try not to let the monkey brain layer take over too much.
You have done that admirably. It shows you are a good human being.
Always a work in progress. We all do have the capacity for evil, and sometimes it just takes the right circumstances to draw out the very worst in us. Trump has drawn out the worst in some conservatives as has the now utterly morally bankrupt 'social justice movement' and especially the trans movement on the left. Now it's perfectly acceptable to let your pro-terrorist, racist, misogynist, homophobic freak flag fly. I am disappointed at how many of my friends have moved toward hateful extremism (moreso on the left, but my friends tend to be lopsidedly liberal - I'm trying to change that. Had a very interesting convo with a Trump defender on Sunday). I read 'Hitler's Willing Executioners' several years ago because I find the 'good little Germans' far more interesting than the Hitler Cabal. I *never* thought I would become the person I did but the 'right' circumstances were in place and I gave in to impulses I knew were wrong, even as I can look back compassionately and think, "You didn't know what you didn't know, and in some cases, you *couldn't* know it because we didn't understand this or that about how the brain works." Post-mortems: Take responsibility for what you can correctly be held responsible for, recognize where you made honest mistakes and resolve never to let that shit happen again.