My Neighbor--For An Understandable Reason--Just Declared that She "Hates Humans." You too?
Here's my egalitarian take on this very important question.
Who hasn’t ever felt about “people” the same negative (to put it mildly!) way as Sandra P. who posted this message below on my Neighborhood app?
I sympathize with Sandra P. because of something, among other reasons, that I saw on the sidewalk next to the flower bed in front of where I live, the same day I’m writing this post, that makes me know exactly how Sandra P. feels:
And yes, that brown stuff is dog shit. And my friend who lives in the same building I do just recently placed that sign in the flower bed in front of our building. Some person obviously removed the sign and let their dog defecate on it and didn’t clean it up after. Jeeeeeez!
So yes, there are indeed people who are—to use the proper academic terminology—assholes. While most such people have little power in our society, some of them have the power of life and death over billions of us. They are a huge problem, one that we ignore to our great peril!
But here’s where Sandra P. (and a whole lot of other similarly believing people—maybe you too?) are wrong. Good people vastly outnumber the assholes. This is illustrated by the fact that so many people are sports fans and the reasons they are, as I discuss here. This is made even more evident by this book (PDF online about how most people try to shape the world with their positive and implicitly anti-capitalist values, typically without realizing the revolutionary significance of this. The problem is not “people”; the problem is assholes.
Unfortunately, almost all discourse today is based on either the wrong notion that people—virtually all people!—are good, or the wrong notion that people—virtually all people!—are bad. Neither is true.
Those who think that virtually all people are bad are easily persuaded that democracy is not such a great idea: “Why let bad people call the shots?” They don’t understand that, contrary to what we are always told, genuine democracy is not, and cannot be, democracy of ALL the people; it can only be a democracy of people who share fundamental values. I discuss this here and here, and I invite you to read these articles to see what I mean.
Those who, on the other hand, think that virtually all people are good don’t understand the need for good people to do what it takes—and this often requires violence in self-defense—to protect themselves from bad people. Those who believe that virtually all people are good tend to be pacifists, for example (which makes the truly bad people in our world very happy.) Read about this here; you many learn something about pacifism that surprises you.
Then there are those—such as leftists—who think that almost all people are bad but can be changed to be good by the few (the leftists, of course) who are good. I discuss such people here. Read this to see what I mean, OK?
Here’s what I think. The many good people need to do what it takes to make sure the bad ones don’t have the real power in society, as they unfortunately do today despite being a small minority. I write about this here.
Read here how YOU can help build the egalitarian revolutionary movement to make it so the good people are in power and the assholes are not.
Postscript: I received an email response to this post that reads as follows:
John
I think that you are projecting. People agreeing that rich should be taken down does not mean that they are good. All it shows is that they hate those who oppress them. Your assessment that there are more good people than bad needs to be explored more. I don't buy it. I don't think you are anywhere close to being correct. Or your definition of a good person is very lax and generous and allows for bad character. Prove your point. IF you can.
I replied as follows:
I suggest you read my article, "Most People Are Egalitarians" which contains the following (as well as much more you should read):
The Ruling Class Promotes the Big Lie that People Are Selfish and Anti-Egalitarian
Did you ever read William Golding's famous novel, Lord of the Flies? Lots of people have read it. Golding is greatly admired by our ruling class. How come? Because his novel purports to show that when children are left to themselves they naturally create a horrible oppressive anti-egalitarian society, that this is just 'human nature.' Curiously, there was actually a real-life version of the children-shipwrecked-on-an-island story in Lord of the Flies. The Guardian has an interesting article about what the children actually did, and it is the opposite of what Golding wrote that they would do in his horrible novel. Read about the real life version at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months .
Also please read "The Capitalist Big Lie about Human Nature"
Lots of evidence! You just have to be motivated to look at it.
Did you follow the link to my article about why so many people are sports fans? Do you disagree with it or agree with it?
—John