Comment on Henry Kissinger died.
toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world 4 weeks agothe overarching question for me, though, has always been “why”?
i do understand that it’s a question that’s only asked by one who’s never held power, though.
Comment on Henry Kissinger died.
toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world 4 weeks agothe overarching question for me, though, has always been “why”?
i do understand that it’s a question that’s only asked by one who’s never held power, though.
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
People respond to power differently. I’m sure you’ve held it at some point. Sure, you’ve never been a captain of industry (I assume) but you’ve probably been asked to watch a child for at least a few moments, or had a pet, or a friendship/romantic relationship where there was an imbalance, if only temporarily
Some people reject that feeling of power for various reasons (avoiding responsibility, the potential to cause harm, etc), some people just are kind of eh about it and see it for what it is (“I will take care of this baby because that is what you are supposed to do”, “I will be a trustworthy partner because that is what is right”, etc), some people realize power is exploitable and gives them potential advantage (I can shape this babies worldview, I can make my friend/partner dependent)
That last category is the type to try and seize more and more power, imo. They will potentially delude themselves with niceties along the way (“I made the baby laugh”, “I did a nice thing for my friend/partner today”, “I have created 800,000 jobs”) but this is always overlooking evil (“my goal is to shape this baby into my worldview rather than allow it to develop its own personality”, “my goal is to manipulate my friend/partner into staying loyal regardless of my behavior”, “the vast majority of the 800,000 jobs I’ve made are exploitative and the empire I’ve built is destructive in many other ways like destroying small businesses that helped create reasonable wealth within communities”)
toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
i don’t disagree with anything you said, but i don’t know if it all really applies when we’re talking about dynasties and bloodlines and heritages and stuff. i’ve worked closely with some of these people, and it’s a different life entirely.
and you’re missing a category. but we don’t talk about that category.
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 weeks ago
Well even within nepotism and privilege there are people who reject it but there are far more who do not, it seems
That’s where we start to get to the nature vs nurture debate I suppose.