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CK's take on low-level evil
Aug. 5th, 2004 03:07 pmPeople can be appalling, and will say the most appalling things.
I used to be shocked a lot of the time at the things people would say to each other, and I often still am. (Though having worked for lawyers so long, I have become quite jaded.)
When I was in school, I used to think it was ignorance, that people just didn't understand what they were saying, but they could eventually realize it and if they did they would stop.
But over time, I have become more and more convinced that it is a sort of widespread, low-key version of autism.
Basically decent, intelligent, well-informed people who don't seem to have any real evil intentions, but who seem to have both a lack of awareness of self and a lack of awareness of the self in others.
Most people who say these things seem to be willing to say the first hurtful, nasty, viscious thing that comes into their heads without any self-control or apparent understanding that what they are saying is just horrible. They know and understand full well what they are saying. But you listen to them and think their mouths are just opening and letting out whatever is in their brain, with no intervention by a higher, controlling thought process.
On top of that, they seem to not comprehend that they are actually saying the horrible nasty thing to *another person.* No awareness that the other person is thinking and has feelings and a life and a history and a self. It's like they are talking into space, then get angry and upset when the person they spoke to has a reaction and expresses self.
I know there is true evil in the world, and that there are people who use words deliberatley to hurt others. But I have truly started to believe that most of the time there just a failing of most people's ability to use their high level human intelligence and communication abilities effectively in a social context.
And that's just face-to-face behavior. I think the effect is magnified a hundred times in the written context, where the person is typing to a blank computer screen or writing a letter to the editor. It's the reason I don't read editorial pages anymore. And it's one of the reasons I stay away from venues where people can just spout whatever crap comes into their heads print.
I could recommend some excellent political science texts on the decision-making process that seems to apply here, as good decision-making has a lot to do with understanding the self in others. Jervis, for instance.
End transmission.
I used to be shocked a lot of the time at the things people would say to each other, and I often still am. (Though having worked for lawyers so long, I have become quite jaded.)
When I was in school, I used to think it was ignorance, that people just didn't understand what they were saying, but they could eventually realize it and if they did they would stop.
But over time, I have become more and more convinced that it is a sort of widespread, low-key version of autism.
Basically decent, intelligent, well-informed people who don't seem to have any real evil intentions, but who seem to have both a lack of awareness of self and a lack of awareness of the self in others.
Most people who say these things seem to be willing to say the first hurtful, nasty, viscious thing that comes into their heads without any self-control or apparent understanding that what they are saying is just horrible. They know and understand full well what they are saying. But you listen to them and think their mouths are just opening and letting out whatever is in their brain, with no intervention by a higher, controlling thought process.
On top of that, they seem to not comprehend that they are actually saying the horrible nasty thing to *another person.* No awareness that the other person is thinking and has feelings and a life and a history and a self. It's like they are talking into space, then get angry and upset when the person they spoke to has a reaction and expresses self.
I know there is true evil in the world, and that there are people who use words deliberatley to hurt others. But I have truly started to believe that most of the time there just a failing of most people's ability to use their high level human intelligence and communication abilities effectively in a social context.
And that's just face-to-face behavior. I think the effect is magnified a hundred times in the written context, where the person is typing to a blank computer screen or writing a letter to the editor. It's the reason I don't read editorial pages anymore. And it's one of the reasons I stay away from venues where people can just spout whatever crap comes into their heads print.
I could recommend some excellent political science texts on the decision-making process that seems to apply here, as good decision-making has a lot to do with understanding the self in others. Jervis, for instance.
End transmission.
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