So, considering this is Lemmy I’ll clarify. I’m not talking about your neighbor who voted for Trump or your uncle who’s always been a dick. I’m talking about coming in contact with a deep down evil scary human. I’ve only met one that I can think of. When I was 12 or 13 I spent a ton of time at my best friends house. He lived on a big beautiful rural property with his dad, a few brothers and always one or two random dudes. His dad was a good electrician and a biker. So, he always had friends/associates hanging around. So one day I was staying over for a long weekend and we met a new guy his dad was housing for a week or two. Dude was a real full fledged nazi. Had a swastika under his eye and tats all over most of his body. He was from California I guess. He was “working” with my buddies dad for awhile. Anyway, the main interaction I had with him was when he pulled my friend and I in for a sermon. We were going to go hunt squirrels and do rural kid shit. He stopped us outside and had us sit on the porch. Spent about 20 minutes explaining all the things youd imagine a nazi explains. Moslty about catholics, jews and blacks. My friends dad came out after awhile and told him we didn’t need to hear that shit. He sent us away, but, I never forgot the look this dude had in his eyes. It was like the look of complete bordem mixed with extreme anger all the time.
I see American and Canadian politicians on TV news every day (I’m Canadian by the way)
The epitome of evil to me is in watching a group of wealthy affluent, influential people doing their absolute best day in and day out to keep their money and the money of those with way too much away from those who need it just to have a little bit of a life. They work to make us all miserable in order for them to keep having everything and to take even more from everyone else who have little or nothing.
Watching TV and sitting across from someone are two very different things.
I have sat and met with some mid level regional politicians and provincial politicians in the past. They’re all the same. There is something pathological with wanting to achieve a high office and then regardless of your political affiliation (I’m socially left and I always vote and support the New Democratic Party, left of the top Liberal left party in Canada) they all act in the best interests or influence of money and monied interests. I know they have to survive politically to do anything but at the same time, they’ll support monied interests even if it means the suffering of hundreds or thousands of people.
There is something fundamentally wrong with our modern mentality and social conditioning if our world is entirely based on the accumulation of wealth against everything including human comfort or even the right to life.
And that’s not even talking about the political figures who are conservative, very conservative or ultra conservative … they would rather dump entire segments of society if it meant it would advance their agenda.
It’s not fully evil … but it is a lot closer to evil than anything.
Are Canadian politics dominated by money like American politics are? If they are, that could explain at least some of what you’ve noticed. In a system where money wasn’t such a huge factor needed to win elections, I think we would see a lot more people who genuinely wanted to help people run for office and win. The problem when you introduce money as such a major factor to win is that unless the candidate is already independently wealthy, they will have to kowtow to wealthy people and money interests in order to win. A system like that will select for people who are willing to compromise their principles for money, even if they deep down would genuinely like to help people.
I’ve thought about this occasionally, and feel that it’s a tragedy that there are probably many politicians who get into it for the right reasons but at some point (maybe from the start) compromise that by justifying that they can keep helping people even if in some minor fashion if they go along with this.
Which is why I look at it as a Plutocracy, a government run by money and the wealthy … rather than a democracy, a government run by the people.
It’s democratic (which is still a stretch) during an election.
But for the rest of the time, which is all the time, it’s Plutocratic
We like to play with definitions and we easily are critical of other nations but we never want to admit what our own systems actually represent. We are so blinded by our own status that we never consider that we don’t live in a democratic system ourselves.
Well said. Plutocracy / oligarchy.
that’s like… most people though.
most people are trying to do that. they want to grow their own wealth and are adverse to other people growing theirs. because life is a competition and those who have the most money are winning.
I’d agree in America most people want to grow their own wealth. Im not sure where an adversity to others doing the same comes from though. I do pretty well for myself (always a bigger fish), I’ve never wanted anyone around me to make less though. I don’t understand what mentality would want that. I’m a power plant operator, when I hear XYZ career makes XYZ much Im always like “hell yeah get that bag”. Anyone who wants other people to do poorly is a shitty person.
I mean yes. If youre a normal good person you want other people to succeed.
Until it means them building low income housing directly across the street from your house. Ill admit, I am in the camp that would hate this (i dont want my shit stolen, and i want to be able to walk my dog in peace).
Lemmy will crucify me for this but sorry its the truth. Just like bus stops (in my city) are only used by homeless and drug users and are not safe places to hang around. Thats just how it is, im not saying those people are evil or bad.
Not… really?
The US probably has more people trying to get more money than other places due to cultural issues; but even as many people as do want more money, it seems rare to want others to have less.
Speaking for myself, I just want money to make sure that food, shelter, and medical needs are taken care of for my family. Beyond that, I actually don’t want more than what I have.