Exactly. It’s not some cosmic battle or any of the other shit some people will use to grift, but some people are liars who more or less don’t give half a shit who they hurt to get what they want (or maybe they do, some might, just not enough to not do it). And I’m not calling for cruelty or anything to them (many of them will be the first to advocate cruelty to “bad people”), just awareness, caution, and caring for your fellow humans.
There are other types of evil out there too. The banal variety has been made famous, but there’s an evil made of fear, an evil made of self righteousness without reflection, an evil made of tribalism… I also think distance from the consequences of one’s actions is a contributer. Power makes you a less moral person and all that.
Also, your father’s life sounds miserable and exhausting. I bet he thought people who did things honest and built community were fools despite us often being happier than folks like him
I bet he thought people who did things honest and built community were fools despite us often being happier than folks like him
I see you’ve met him (or his archetype) because yes, his favorite past-time was condemning the “sheep” for living their lives in suburbia, paycheck to paycheck, how useless education was, how worthless so many kinds of people are, how miserable life would be living like so, so many people in the world who are happy and loving with their families. He railed against the “spoils of babylon” while sipping champagne and brandy from his private restaurant booth.
He was crushingly miserable and blamed everyone and everything else for it and became physically violent at anyone who dared to challenge his assertions that he was the perpetual victim. He drank himself to death alone and broke because he had burned every bridge in his life and squandered a fortune.
Exactly. It’s not some cosmic battle or any of the other shit some people will use to grift, but some people are liars who more or less don’t give half a shit who they hurt to get what they want (or maybe they do, some might, just not enough to not do it). And I’m not calling for cruelty or anything to them (many of them will be the first to advocate cruelty to “bad people”), just awareness, caution, and caring for your fellow humans.
There are other types of evil out there too. The banal variety has been made famous, but there’s an evil made of fear, an evil made of self righteousness without reflection, an evil made of tribalism… I also think distance from the consequences of one’s actions is a contributer. Power makes you a less moral person and all that.
Also, your father’s life sounds miserable and exhausting. I bet he thought people who did things honest and built community were fools despite us often being happier than folks like him
I see you’ve met him (or his archetype) because yes, his favorite past-time was condemning the “sheep” for living their lives in suburbia, paycheck to paycheck, how useless education was, how worthless so many kinds of people are, how miserable life would be living like so, so many people in the world who are happy and loving with their families. He railed against the “spoils of babylon” while sipping champagne and brandy from his private restaurant booth.
He was crushingly miserable and blamed everyone and everything else for it and became physically violent at anyone who dared to challenge his assertions that he was the perpetual victim. He drank himself to death alone and broke because he had burned every bridge in his life and squandered a fortune.
I was worried there wasn’t going to be a happy ending.