Those who can harm others to get ahead, and have that opportunity, do.
This isn’t true on an individual level, and individuals make decisions for countries. Why would it be true on a state level?
Not taking advantage of others (either other individuals or other states) isn’t even some idealistic pursuit, either. There are costs and risks to doing so, and there are benefits (e.g., peace and cooperation) to dealing with others honestly.
Nobody is talking about bootlicking. Power is not a supernatural corruptive force. Administration does not turn people evil. What’s important is class analysis, as people do act in their class interests generally.
Yeah that’s why train drivers derail on purpose all the time, the raw power they hold over peoples lives just corrodes their immortal soul. They’re just like cops when you think about it.
What’s the strawman? Being a train driver imbues you with enormous power over peoples lives, and everyone knows power corrupts. Do you disagree with either of these things?
Class isn’t supernatural, correct. It’s a material relation. Capitalists are interested as a class in retaining private ownership, workers are materially interested in collectivizing production. This isn’t a corruptive force, but pure class interest. As for power supernaturally corrupting, no, it is not well-studied by psychology.
People have definitely tried to prove it, but it doesn’t work that way. People act in their self-interest, but what’s dominant is class outlook and how that fits into the mode of production. False positives.
Exactly. Idealists know, that when they engage with material evidence that doesn’t fit their narrative, their worldview will get weakened in their own brain. So they have to terminate their thoughts.
And the more material evidence is on an instance, the more thought-termination per idealist there will be. An approximate formula would be:
amount of thought termination on a particular instance = amount of facts on that instance that idealists disagree with * amount of idealists (including federated ones browsing on all-sort)
Honestly I think the biggest predictor of a country doing harm is just the amount of geopolitical power they wield.
Those who can harm others to get ahead, and have that opportunity, do. The British did. And they sure as fuck did an incredible amount of harm
For a hot minute the US has been in a position to do a great deal of harm, and thats exactly what we’ve done :(
This isn’t true on an individual level, and individuals make decisions for countries. Why would it be true on a state level?
Not taking advantage of others (either other individuals or other states) isn’t even some idealistic pursuit, either. There are costs and risks to doing so, and there are benefits (e.g., peace and cooperation) to dealing with others honestly.
Projection
Curious what you think the biggest predictor would be, then?
The mode of production and distribution.
“Hot minute,” my ass. We’ve done some good, but a fuck-ton more evil - albeit a lot of it in more subtle ways than of late.
Power corrupts. It’s true for individuals and for organizations and states.
Power is not a supernatural corruptive force, this narrative is spread to prevent people from organizing.
Or we could try to organize while taking this fact into account. Bootlicking is not necessary to organization.
Haha, I remember being 15 and just throwing Matrix Thoughts around with no structure to cohere them
And you still do that, apparently.
12 year old response
Nobody is talking about bootlicking. Power is not a supernatural corruptive force. Administration does not turn people evil. What’s important is class analysis, as people do act in their class interests generally.
Class is not supernatural either. But as i said in another message, the corrupting effect of power is well-studied by psychology.
Yeah that’s why train drivers derail on purpose all the time, the raw power they hold over peoples lives just corrodes their immortal soul. They’re just like cops when you think about it.
I still wait for one of you to answer to the message were I post actual scientific papers. It would be more constructive than designing strawmen.
What’s the strawman? Being a train driver imbues you with enormous power over peoples lives, and everyone knows power corrupts. Do you disagree with either of these things?
Class isn’t supernatural, correct. It’s a material relation. Capitalists are interested as a class in retaining private ownership, workers are materially interested in collectivizing production. This isn’t a corruptive force, but pure class interest. As for power supernaturally corrupting, no, it is not well-studied by psychology.
It is studied and no, it’s not supernatural.
People have definitely tried to prove it, but it doesn’t work that way. People act in their self-interest, but what’s dominant is class outlook and how that fits into the mode of production. False positives.
Power is not the one ring, it’s not magical.
It’s true. But my sentence was true too.
No it isn’t, for either. Unexamined thought terminating cliches are worthless.
It’s not an unexamined thought. It’s a scientifically analyzed phenomenon.
Living up to both the name AND the instance’s rep - a twofer! I’m impressed.
Go back to reddit you insufferable dork
Thoughts: terminated
Yeah, seems to be an extremely common occurrence here.
Exactly. Idealists know, that when they engage with material evidence that doesn’t fit their narrative, their worldview will get weakened in their own brain. So they have to terminate their thoughts.
And the more material evidence is on an instance, the more thought-termination per idealist there will be. An approximate formula would be:
amount of thought termination on a particular instance = amount of facts on that instance that idealists disagree with * amount of idealists (including federated ones browsing on all-sort)
which I’d assume makes lemmy the number one.
Shut up nerd, you all sound the same
Well, that’s a well-reasoned and unassailable rebuttal if I’ve ever read one.
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