RE: Ours is a society that rewards sociopathy
September 11, 2019 at 3:55 am
(This post was last modified: September 11, 2019 at 3:59 am by EgoDeath.)
I have to admit that I tend to view life in quite a Machiavellian sense. I've strategized, put plays on people, manipulated people to get what I want, thwarted people's plans, so on and so forth. I used to live a fast life. Die young, leave a good looking corpse and all that. All in all, it doesn't really make you happy. At least, it didn't make me happy. I found myself chasing money, and not even some exorbitant amount, only to put a hell of a lot of energy into constantly analyzing, playing and working people.
In the end, it isn't worth it. Not to me.
Now, I still use these skills to read people; I'm certainly not immune to being duped or tricked, but I'd like to think I generally have a pretty good grasp of who someone is when I meet them. I've prevented a few bad things from happening to myself and people I know by keeping a close eye on different things. Though, there's still a lot to learn, and I'm always reading.
All that being said, most humans are not, in my opinion, doing what you're talking about in any sort of conscious sense. They're not sociopaths and I think that word is thrown around way too liberally. Some people might like to think of themselves as cunning tricksters; they're usually nothing of the sort.
Most people are too fucking stupid to turn off the television and pick up a goddamned book, let alone know how to truly deceive someone in pursuit of any sort of significant materialistic gain. Basically, I don't think most people do it on purpose; I think most people are just dumb and don't think of anyone beside themselves.
The ones who aren't dumb and only think of themselves are still generally pretty helpless. A lot of people try to be good, or do things to tell themselves that they're good. Maybe they donate to a charity or volunteer at a soup kitchen a couple times a month. And that's cool. There's nothing wrong with that. But still, these people probably mostly don't think about others because they're too busy concocting some narrative of who they are in their own minds.
Then, there are the truly down-to-Earth, decent people. I think, no matter who you are, you meet very few of these people in your life. When you find them, you should make a decent effort to keep them in your life and convince them that you're a good person to. Not to trick them, but honestly, just be a good person to them. They'll return the favor, because they're good. What's the old saying? You're lucky if you have one truly good friend in your entire life... or something like that? I suppose this is mostly true.
What I'm getting at, is I don't think that what you're describing can be escaped by moving thousands of miles across the planet. You'll find that, in general, humans are mostly dumb fucks with precisely zero interesting things to say. Maybe this is a cynical way to look at the world. I've been told as much. But that's my honest opinion. I want to stab my ears with pencils when most people are talking; they talk only about themselves usually, or about things so fucking mundane that it wouldn't be reported in a tabloid newspaper ran by high schoolers.
As you can tell, I'm not a huge fan of people. Seems like maybe you aren't either. But that's beside the point. You put yourself out there, you get some hobbies, do some new things, try some new shit, maybe you'll find someone you can connect with on a deep level. At the very least, you'll make a few friends you can tolerate.
It sounds like maybe you're just lonely. You describe an increasing lack of guilt... but maybe this is just an increasing LACK of connection with others. You need a good friend in your life. If you have one, call them up. Maybe they need to hear from you anyway.
Well, whatever you're going through, good luck to you.
In the end, it isn't worth it. Not to me.
Now, I still use these skills to read people; I'm certainly not immune to being duped or tricked, but I'd like to think I generally have a pretty good grasp of who someone is when I meet them. I've prevented a few bad things from happening to myself and people I know by keeping a close eye on different things. Though, there's still a lot to learn, and I'm always reading.
All that being said, most humans are not, in my opinion, doing what you're talking about in any sort of conscious sense. They're not sociopaths and I think that word is thrown around way too liberally. Some people might like to think of themselves as cunning tricksters; they're usually nothing of the sort.
Most people are too fucking stupid to turn off the television and pick up a goddamned book, let alone know how to truly deceive someone in pursuit of any sort of significant materialistic gain. Basically, I don't think most people do it on purpose; I think most people are just dumb and don't think of anyone beside themselves.
The ones who aren't dumb and only think of themselves are still generally pretty helpless. A lot of people try to be good, or do things to tell themselves that they're good. Maybe they donate to a charity or volunteer at a soup kitchen a couple times a month. And that's cool. There's nothing wrong with that. But still, these people probably mostly don't think about others because they're too busy concocting some narrative of who they are in their own minds.
Then, there are the truly down-to-Earth, decent people. I think, no matter who you are, you meet very few of these people in your life. When you find them, you should make a decent effort to keep them in your life and convince them that you're a good person to. Not to trick them, but honestly, just be a good person to them. They'll return the favor, because they're good. What's the old saying? You're lucky if you have one truly good friend in your entire life... or something like that? I suppose this is mostly true.
What I'm getting at, is I don't think that what you're describing can be escaped by moving thousands of miles across the planet. You'll find that, in general, humans are mostly dumb fucks with precisely zero interesting things to say. Maybe this is a cynical way to look at the world. I've been told as much. But that's my honest opinion. I want to stab my ears with pencils when most people are talking; they talk only about themselves usually, or about things so fucking mundane that it wouldn't be reported in a tabloid newspaper ran by high schoolers.
As you can tell, I'm not a huge fan of people. Seems like maybe you aren't either. But that's beside the point. You put yourself out there, you get some hobbies, do some new things, try some new shit, maybe you'll find someone you can connect with on a deep level. At the very least, you'll make a few friends you can tolerate.
It sounds like maybe you're just lonely. You describe an increasing lack of guilt... but maybe this is just an increasing LACK of connection with others. You need a good friend in your life. If you have one, call them up. Maybe they need to hear from you anyway.
Well, whatever you're going through, good luck to you.
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.
