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Humans BY DEFAULT do not want to commit violence towards other humans, otherwise things like Killer's Remorse and PTSD would not exist. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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People constantly say that humans are terrible by default, selfish, and violent, but BY DEFAULT, if you ARE a well adjusted human being with empathy, you will ALWAYS feel conflicted about committing violence towards another human, even if they 100% deserve it. In fact, if you kill or severely maim someone, you'll always feel conflicted about it if you are a good human, and doing it several times (or hell, even ONCE if it's traumatizing enough) will give you severe PTSD. The problem of humans being terrible to each other is always created by indocrination, propaganda, and the fact that being a selfish idiot is rewarded in capitalist society. This is one of the reasons why I think humanity is inherently good, and that evil people are the ACTUAL deviants, who just happen to be rewarded by the way society has been structured for a very long time (even before capitalism).

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[–] [S] 33 points 1 year ago* (8 children)

TBH I think this is more of a conditioning thing. Like, very young toddlers (up to like, 5-6 years old) literally cannot understand racism. This is actually lampshaded in Wolfenstein II, when BJ just talks to a black girl and tells her about all the shit his father says about her race but he straight up says he doesn't understand his reasons at all.

Again, I do not think people are evil by default. Hate is something that is taught, not inherent.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    (I'm replying to you and the post you're replying to, if that makes sense.)

    Racism is a single aspect of in and out groups. We didn't evolve to work in groups of more than 150, maybe 200 individuals max. People of any skin tone can be in my Monkeysphere, but if they're outside of it, they're somewhat less than human, less real. No one is above this.

    I'm sure I'll get comments from people who think they are above it. "Fuck you, you inhuman monster! I value ALL human life equally!" Nah, no one does.

    It's like this: which would upset you more, your best friend dying, or a dozen kids across town getting killed because their bus collided with a truck hauling killer bees? Which would hit you harder, your Mom dying, or seeing on the news that 15,000 people died in an earthquake in Iran?

    https://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html

    Plenty of research out there, aside from what's included in the article. The author is mostly explaining Dunbar's Number.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    You make valid points, but I feel the truth lies somewhere in between your comment and the people in the chain that you are responding to.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    If the truth is in between, it's because we're arguing different things. I think everyone in this chain gets "it", but we're meandering a bit. Great conversation!

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    If the truth is in between, it’s because we’re arguing different things.

    Not necessarily! Sometimes the truth or a greater understanding can emerge even from two or more seemingly paradoxical or conflicting statements or ideas.

    i.e. Dialectical reasoning

    Thesis + antithesis = synthesis (which is likely still an inkling of the total truth, but nonetheless)

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This video does a good job breaking down the core of the truth of why and how altruism arises, and why not everyone is altruistic:

    https://youtu.be/XX7PdJIGiCw

    The reality is that evolution and the natural world does not care about individuals, or groups, or species. It is selecting for genes and genes dont give one flying fuck about anything other than whether they help more copies of themselves exist in the world. Sometimes that's altruistic, sometimes it's not.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Out of time for a video than long, but you can bet I saved it! Love examining how we hominids came to be, how we came to behave. So many arguments as to how we "should" act clash with how we "evolved" to act. Untangling "should" vs. "is" would take us farther than arguing about ideal behavior.

    Aim for a better world keeping in mind as it is, not how it should be. Am drunk. Making sense?

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Some hate, at least reactionary hate to circumstances, is inherent in humans, otherwise it wouldn't be here.

    Who taught us hate if not us?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago*

    Recharacterize hate and anger as fear, human behavior makes more sense.

    Yeah, racism is taught, as OP's talking about, but fear of the other, the other outside our tribe, is genetic.

    People take that opinion to mean racism is natural. Nope. It's not skin color, it's "other". It's a big world now, too big for us to easily parse, so we try to break each other into manageable chunks we can understand, skin color is an easy shortcut.

    For example; I'm a middle-aged, American white guy. I understand, and am far closer, to my black friend down the street than I could be to any European, even one who looks exactly like me. My friend is in my tribe, my Monkeysphere, the European is not. Despite wildly different backgrounds, I share more in common with my friend than a random Spaniard. And if nothing else, he's close, literally and figuratively, part of my tribe. Does that make sense?

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