this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Sorry, on re-reading your comment I can see you were talking about elected officials, not the people who elect them.
Unfortunately, democracy is a popularity contest. When the voters don't value evidence-based policy, they vote in representatives that also don't value it. And even if the representatives don't believe in what they are selling, if they don't do what they voters want them to do then they don't get voted in. Something about "you can't make someone believe something when their job depends on them not believing".
When I said they aren't bad guys, what I meant is that no one goes out trying to make things worse. There are very few evil villains in the world, and many more unintentional villians. You can be sure Luxon believes that he will make the country a better place through his party's policies, and he will justify his lies with his belief it's all for the greater good (the greater good). I don't think this means he's a "good guy", but I think it comes down to the discussion the other day about whether there are truly "bad" people, or if people are just a product of their environment.
Yeah, I think it does. You and I had somewhat different positions on that issue.
The greater good... the Sandford Neighbourhood Watch Alliance are a perfect example of what I would see as people deliberately choosing to lean into their APD traits.
Crusty jugglers aside, the idea that the ends justify the means has been responsible for many of the world's most horrific massacres. Arendt's observations on the banality of "evil" are relevant here.
I think I probably comes down to definition. A person you might see as a fundamentally "bad" person I see as a product of their environment. They didn't independently decide to do those bad things, or culture their personality that way. If their role models had been better, their opportunities, if they had been born in a different time or place; they may have been a completely different person. Does the string of events outside their control make them bad? Sure. Does it make them a "fundamentally bad person", well we're gonna have to define that what that means because at their core they weren't bad, it was their experiences and opportunities that shaped them.
I don't think there's any such thing as "fundamentally" anything in the sense of it being inate. I think there is only "effectively", based on what actually happens. I am a huge believer in environment and experiences shaping people. Brain chemistry also plays a bigger role than people realise.
But take my example in that thread of the guy who was telling me evil is more "interesting". Who literally did decide to choose it, as it turned out. There's a certain point at which we are capable of making choices.
You're a parent. You know there's an instinctive level of looking after your kids, there's a knowledge level that feeds into your actions... but you also know there's another conscious level that actually takes hard work in the form of dozens of conscious decisions where for the most part you put their wellbeing ahead of your short-term pleasure.
I think we don't disagree. At a certain point someone has become a bad person, even an evil person.
I like to hope that there are things we can do to prevent future kids from turning into bad people, rather than thinking they were always going to turn out that way.
You briefly mentioned brain chemistry, would you mind expanding on that? I'm always keen to learn.
Yes I think we do agree.
It's been a long time since I read up on it but I was thinking about things like how people respond to a car accident. For people who tend to stay calm and focused, the people who go to pieces may seem weird, but it's not their fault and it's not a conscious choice.
And then, there are environmental effects on brain chemistry too, for example measurably higher cortisol levels in the brains of children who grow up with food insecurity have a detrimental effect on cognition.