This one more nasty feature of humankind became especially obvious during last four years when majority of people acted as complete assholes first to the unvaxed and then - to Russians. Both times there was NO solid reason to be mean to both of these groups. Regular Russians are obviously innocent of any Putin's possible war crimes, and unvaxed had a basic right to decline the shot, which decision wasn't threatening anyone's safety. Taking into account the 'vax' was proven to be a Pharma fraud now, there were even LESS reasons to treat unvaxed as shit. Yet majority of people did so. Why?
These people now justify themselves by shifting the blame on government - that is, 'government had conned us, government had turned us against the unvaxed', etc. But that just cowardice and mental masturbation, I'm sorry. Don't you have your OWN AGENCY and your OWN BRAIN? Some of us were smart enough to see through government fraud all along, and decent enough not to project the blame for current shit on our fellow citizens as well. If YOU were dumb enough to swallow all state propaganda whole, and mean enough to blame your smarter fellows for your misery, it was YOUR decision and YOUR choice. So don't try to shift all the blame on government now.
Yeah, majority of governments worldwide are certainly guilty of deliberate fraud and unlawful tyranny during COVID, and of fraudulent money-laundering and Russophobic warmongering propaganda during ongoing Ukrainian war. But that does NOT mean regular people who bought all state propaganda against actual evidence and their own better judgment, and who treated their fellow citizens as shit due to it, are innocent. Nope, they aren't.
Moreover, I do not recall ANY government calling to murder all the unvaccinated or all the Russians - but I saw many regular people online doing just that, though. Also I do not recall governments ordering people to spy and snitch on their friends, neighbors and family members during COVID - that was private, citizens' 'initiative'. So, try as you might, but you can't really shift all the blame on government and whitewash yourselves.
Not that people first time in history began to treat their fellow citizens as shit for no reason. Remember also very recent history when every Trump or Brexit supporter was accused of 'fascism' and treated as shit as well for executing their basic human right to vote for what they believe right. Remember how anyone defending JK Rowling or condemning BLM riots back in 2020 was accused of 'racism' and 'transphobia' and also treated as shit.
Now let's go further back in history. Recall how gay people were treated like shit for two thousand years for their love merely because one passage of over two thousands year old book (the same book which also approves of owning slaves and waging wars!) said so. Recall how Jews were treated like shit for also over thousand years because they had no homeland, and, hence, were strangers whenever they appeared (and now the same people want to take Jewish new home, Israel, away from them - people would NEVER learn!) Recall how Black people were enslaved and treated like shit, how Native Americans were persecuted and genocided...Examples are countless.
The common thing between all of those examples is that one group of people - gays, Jews, Blacks, Russians, unvaxed, etc. - is chosen as a scapegoat and treated as shit by majority of people for naught. Well, ofc, there is an official EXCUSE to treat them like it (either a passage from old immoral book, or false theories of racial 'inferiority', or just unhinged propaganda with no excuse at all), but it's just an excuse, not a real reason for such shitty treatment. What's the real reason then?
The real reason I believe would be very unflattering for many people, especially for those who deem themselves to be 'moral and virtuous'. The point is that majority of people are MEAN by their very nature, but social norms and constraints restrain this meanness. That is, you just can't be mean to your neighbor and treat him like shit for no reason - that would be evil, right? You would be condemned for this behavior and perhaps even imprisoned if you did a real harm to your neighbor.
But now, what if your neighbor is 'heretic' or 'sinner'? Or belongs to 'inferior' race? Or if he's a 'racist' and 'transphobe'? Then being mean to him is totally justified in the eyes of society, and you no longer need to restrain your mean streak, and could freely unleash it upon your neighbor without being judged for that. Profit. In some especially bad cases, you can even murder or torture your neighbor with impunity (recall 'honor killings' of gay men, lynching of Black people, and Holocaust ofc). So, true mean nature of human beings enjoys its triumph.
Yeah, that bitter truth is not flattering for many people, but it's true enough though. It explains human shitty behavior towards marginalized groups during history just perfectly. Mean as they are, majority of people need to have someone to blame for their own misery, and they choose scapegoats for that purpose. Jews, gays, Russians, unvaxed - no matter as long as there's someone out there whom you could blame for YOUR OWN misery. I'm really disgusted with people, and I'm seriously thinking should I keep fighting for the better future for all humankind, or just leave people to their own devices because they'd entirely deserve all the shit which is to come upon them for both their ignorant idiocy and extreme meanness.
Correct. However I’m going to adjust it a bit and say we all have been mean. Including governments. Even though many of us feel our government is a tyrannical monster, we let them have the power. And they are comprised of citizens - which is us. (Albeit many of them are privileged elite citizens it doesn’t change that fact). Remember that we get the government we deserve. By divorcing ourselves of civic and familial duties and responsibilities we the people have permitted this.
But yes. You’re correct. We are cruel. We get to make the choice going forward if we want to persist in this cruelty.
Cruelty and tyranny ebb and flow. Most times in human history we have been cruel. We have been militaristic. We have persecuted “others.” The exception times of us being more democratic and civic minded are the exceptions.
Had a long conversation with my wife about this on our Easter road trip and her POV is correct - it’s all on us as people to organically make better changes. If that happens then government cannot rule us in this fashion.
They were never meant to rule. They were meant to be stewards. By falling asleep at the wheel we’ve let that happen.