This is a great article and so true, there is good in almost everyone, except for the psychopaths, they are a different breed entirely. The problem is that in order to be a leader or a CEO you have to have some psychopathic tendencies, but these are the people we follow, the influencers, the politicians, the union leaders and so on. So unless you have the intelligence to see through the BS then many people will follow mindlessly and even commit stupid acts because of it. You mention the Nazis as a great example, they were ordinary humans who followed psychopathic leaders. Maybe the answer is to try to reach across the many divides in our society and find common ground but we will always ultimately, be battling and competing with the psychopaths that have the loudest voices.
I don't think it *has* to be that way though...the psychopaths got to where they are because society rewards them when they make enough money or commit the acts of the powerful the rest of the company (or society) approved of. Many followers are simply clueless, misinformed, or just plain ignorant--like the college campus students blindly following their Islamofascist masters. I mean, when you support Hamas you're really over the top!
This is what I try to do...get people to bridge the divide. We may not be able to do anything about the psychopaths (I'm not talking about the violent, criminal kind) but we can sure as hell make their opinions a lot less popular. Like, listening to them less and ESPECIALLY stop letting them run the show. Campus administrators need to be the grownups and put an end to the violent, racist nonsense we see now. You can state your offensive opinions without terrorizing the outgroup you don't like. We can pressure corporations to stop caving to a bunch of anonymous work cyberterrorists ruining lives and careers over piddling, First World complaints. We can challenge the racism, sexism, and queerism inherent in the DEI bigotry factory. And we've got to stop demonizing the Other. I am so sick of hearing about how Donald Trump will destroy democracy--remember when we said that eight years ago and it didn't happen? The right is saying the same about Kamala Harris - and she's not gonna do it either, although she's got her own dangerous authoritarian leanings. We have to start out-louding the extremists. Even as we remember they're not *all* bad people.
We can see the goodness in everyone, but when someone acts in a way that’s a danger to others, we need to act to protect people. It’s not a contradiction, really.
My approach to those with different perspectives than mine is to treat them as allies in pursuit of truth and using reason as our guide. I’ve made many friends of differing political and religious persuasions (and sports fans) by observing this policy. I’ve even been permitted to discuss religion, politics, and history in the pub lol
Your comments about not being the same as you were when you were younger hit hard. I feel the same and hope those who knew me then would be considerate enough to allow for the possibility we've all changed, our hard edges softened and the immature opinions and behaviors of our youth hopefully outgrown.
Yes, at some point we're all young, dumb, and full of..................rum ;) Or in George's & my crowd's case, rather a lot of beer, which surprised me when I ran across my old freshman year journal! Holy crap did we drink a lot of beer :)
This is a great article and so true, there is good in almost everyone, except for the psychopaths, they are a different breed entirely. The problem is that in order to be a leader or a CEO you have to have some psychopathic tendencies, but these are the people we follow, the influencers, the politicians, the union leaders and so on. So unless you have the intelligence to see through the BS then many people will follow mindlessly and even commit stupid acts because of it. You mention the Nazis as a great example, they were ordinary humans who followed psychopathic leaders. Maybe the answer is to try to reach across the many divides in our society and find common ground but we will always ultimately, be battling and competing with the psychopaths that have the loudest voices.
I don't think it *has* to be that way though...the psychopaths got to where they are because society rewards them when they make enough money or commit the acts of the powerful the rest of the company (or society) approved of. Many followers are simply clueless, misinformed, or just plain ignorant--like the college campus students blindly following their Islamofascist masters. I mean, when you support Hamas you're really over the top!
This is what I try to do...get people to bridge the divide. We may not be able to do anything about the psychopaths (I'm not talking about the violent, criminal kind) but we can sure as hell make their opinions a lot less popular. Like, listening to them less and ESPECIALLY stop letting them run the show. Campus administrators need to be the grownups and put an end to the violent, racist nonsense we see now. You can state your offensive opinions without terrorizing the outgroup you don't like. We can pressure corporations to stop caving to a bunch of anonymous work cyberterrorists ruining lives and careers over piddling, First World complaints. We can challenge the racism, sexism, and queerism inherent in the DEI bigotry factory. And we've got to stop demonizing the Other. I am so sick of hearing about how Donald Trump will destroy democracy--remember when we said that eight years ago and it didn't happen? The right is saying the same about Kamala Harris - and she's not gonna do it either, although she's got her own dangerous authoritarian leanings. We have to start out-louding the extremists. Even as we remember they're not *all* bad people.
We can see the goodness in everyone, but when someone acts in a way that’s a danger to others, we need to act to protect people. It’s not a contradiction, really.
My approach to those with different perspectives than mine is to treat them as allies in pursuit of truth and using reason as our guide. I’ve made many friends of differing political and religious persuasions (and sports fans) by observing this policy. I’ve even been permitted to discuss religion, politics, and history in the pub lol
Your comments about not being the same as you were when you were younger hit hard. I feel the same and hope those who knew me then would be considerate enough to allow for the possibility we've all changed, our hard edges softened and the immature opinions and behaviors of our youth hopefully outgrown.
Yes, at some point we're all young, dumb, and full of..................rum ;) Or in George's & my crowd's case, rather a lot of beer, which surprised me when I ran across my old freshman year journal! Holy crap did we drink a lot of beer :)
Your words speak against evil but are so full of hate, why?
Why do you think that? What do you find hateful?
I mean, apart from my confessed extreme disagreement with Christian fundamentalists of yore...
I don’t see the hate you refer to. Can you be more specific?
There's just something that comes with age. I forget what they call it...
LOL!