RE: Human Nature
May 2, 2025 at 6:43 am
(This post was last modified: May 2, 2025 at 6:55 am by Alan V.)
Humans possess a very wide range of possible behaviors in our toolbox, and we call up different responses depending on the different situations we face.
Many of those behaviors were developed during our evolutionary history, and may no longer be applicable to most modern situations.
Nevertheless, demagogues in positions of authority who routinely lie to people can push some of us into behaviors that under ordinary situations we would reject.
Such demagogues typically want more and more power due to their own specific mental health issues, so they don't mind lying to get it.
This is why democracies can be so fragile, and why factual honesty is so important to maintaining them.
So I do not inhabit a worldview in which everything, no matter what, can be blamed on politicians. As Thump said above, voters are also to blame for their own naivety and dishonesty.
Human nature is therefore another important aspect of our present problems with climate change, immigration, our economy, and our political structure.
Many of those behaviors were developed during our evolutionary history, and may no longer be applicable to most modern situations.
Nevertheless, demagogues in positions of authority who routinely lie to people can push some of us into behaviors that under ordinary situations we would reject.
Such demagogues typically want more and more power due to their own specific mental health issues, so they don't mind lying to get it.
This is why democracies can be so fragile, and why factual honesty is so important to maintaining them.
So I do not inhabit a worldview in which everything, no matter what, can be blamed on politicians. As Thump said above, voters are also to blame for their own naivety and dishonesty.
Human nature is therefore another important aspect of our present problems with climate change, immigration, our economy, and our political structure.
