fiddlewheelx
4860
309
5
And then society starts becoming cold, inhumane, and cruel.
Feb 17, 2026 4:01 AM
fiddlewheelx
4860
309
5
And then society starts becoming cold, inhumane, and cruel.
housev1l
cjandstuff
Good people will not hurt others to get ahead. Sociopaths will do anything to win.
Guess who wins.
lonelyrangerofthedreams
Power attracts selfish and greedy too.
Chicagorooftop
Capitalism is supposed to create efficient markets,but Teddy Roosevelt (a wealthy Republican) saw that it was creating huge massive winners that would concentrate power too much and rival government etc. Then it was railroads etc. Massive wealth makes us less free as a people. Less healthy, fewer effective rights, LESS chance to help better ourselves. Now we need to muzzzle it rein it in.
Truthandjustice2035
This sums up the Democratic Party.
SquirrelWithATophat
I saw a term the other day that seems very fitting for this day and age. It's "pathocracy".
It refers to a government ruled by individuals with profound personality disorders—specifically psychopaths and narcissists—who exploit a society of normal people.
Sound familiar, anyone?
doctorId
Yes, history books are packed with them
Baconlovesyoutoo
It's been a decade or so, but there was a study put the number of psychopathic CEO's in the US at about 20%.
Allrighty
I thought we already had a word for it - "capitalism"
KibouSRX
1/2 “The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
KibouSRX
2/2 To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
[deleted]
[deleted]
Gryah
Not sure if this is a typo or an amazing pun
titoitoi
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is a famous quote but I prefer OP's version. Yes, power can corrupt an honest person, but more frequently in my view it attracts those who are *already* corrupt. Those who already have a "love of money" and the power that comes with it.
TChallaVanDam
Social behaviorists are actually aware of this as a phenomenon that I believe they refer to as “the power paradox”. They just don’t know how to fix it. I think it was Sam Harris that suggested that we should actually choose the president by a lottery pick. He said both that we’d be more likely to get a “good” person, and they’d be more likely to weigh the different arguments of experts and try to pick what they believe is right, with no agenda of trying to stay in power. An interesting thought.
Allrighty
Power is so corruptive that even the promise - even the potential promise - of wielding it tends to corrupt.
somerandomusernamething
While I don't think it's a valid system, I'm under the impression that if the last 10 presidents were chosen by random draw from the population, we would very likely be in a better place as a society.
Kbantar
The greatest fault in our species is that we keep letting monsters lead us. We all say that we value morality, but our societies and governments prove that to be a self delusion, IMO.
Etherealvalentine
Apathy is evil
Allrighty
Maybe to an extent, but consider also that the current system does not allow us to exert as much influence as it would have us believe.
HandFireWeapon
I disagree, some leaders are actually in it to make things better for the general population. These simplistic dumfuck memes feels like Russian propaganda telling people to not vote. We ALL know the fascists always vote so why the hell are you trying to discourage the non-fascists from voting unless you ARE a fascist?
Raikupath
Because this is about the system in which the votes happen. When you can only vote between two right wing parties with one being fascist and the other one keeping rich sociopaths in power, it isn't democracy.
DemonKysho
"Because of who we are, we must be cautious trusting strangers... We cannot hide from the world. We must live in it. We must search for allies.... To do otherwise is to remain forever alone."
Bathroomboy
Gargoyles! I fucking loved that show growing up when it was showing in germany in the 90s. <3
Rivalyn
It's still pretty good, the nostalgia doesn't lie, much anyway. There's still some of that early 90's on it yeah, but the voice acting is generally very good and goes a long way to offset the limitations of the labour-intensive animation style and the shortcuts that required to finish on time.
JaceCameron
Capitalism 101. We get it. Direct social democracy is the only real counter.
Allrighty
Fought for and defended by a revolutionary vanguard.
HandFireWeapon
I've always been a social democrat but I don't think Americans know what that means. We're still liberals.
JaceCameron
No. I specifically mean DIRECT social democracy. We thr people create the power. We the people should retain the power.
HandFireWeapon
I don't know what your talking points would result in in reality, could you explain the system in more detail to me?
JaceCameron
Chile in the late 60s had direct social democracy. Basically qe the people decide on every major choice. The government is elected to choose idea to put forth towards the people and then qe the people have time to discuss and research things ourselves before having a vote on it. If we vote no. They have to come up with something else. It wouldnt be for everything but for many things wr should be in control including their pay raises.
HandFireWeapon
Under Eduardo Frei Montalva? Is this a joke? They didn't get a vote on ANYTHING, people were driven from their homes if they couldn't afford the extreme taxes and very few could except for the richest people who acquired a LOT of real estate during that time. What are you even talking about? Direct democracy doesn't work, never did, not once because people are not informed enough to make the decisions. Just take a look at the UK voting for BREXIT.