I have been amazed by the number of gleefully racist people who have come out of the woodwork since Trump rode that escalator down in 2015. It’s as if they felt repressed by not being able to use the “n-“ or “r-“ word, and now they’ve been liberated. (Feeling the need to put other people down is the sign of an insecure loser, but that’s …
I have been amazed by the number of gleefully racist people who have come out of the woodwork since Trump rode that escalator down in 2015. It’s as if they felt repressed by not being able to use the “n-“ or “r-“ word, and now they’ve been liberated. (Feeling the need to put other people down is the sign of an insecure loser, but that’s a whole other topic.) At least now they’ve shown themselves, and we know who they are. And they could always have used whatever words they wanted - they would just have faced disapproval from their communities for it.
Sara - I always said maybe 15% of people were... jerks (or a less civil expletive, depending on the company I was in when I gave my estimation). Obviously I misunderestimated. Badly.
The diminishment of shame as a societal management mechanism hasn't turned out to be the boon we might have imagined in the '60s & '70s
The book The Sociopath Next Door estimates than 4% of the population are sociopaths. (Not all sociopaths are racists, and not all racists are sociopaths, so it isn’t an exact overlap.) 4% doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s one out of 25. So I say, the next time you’re in a group of 25 or more people - at church, maybe, or in a mall or at a sporting event - look around and try to figure out which one(s) is/are the sociopath.
And yes, the decline of shame as an inhibitor has been a loss to society.
I have been amazed by the number of gleefully racist people who have come out of the woodwork since Trump rode that escalator down in 2015. It’s as if they felt repressed by not being able to use the “n-“ or “r-“ word, and now they’ve been liberated. (Feeling the need to put other people down is the sign of an insecure loser, but that’s a whole other topic.) At least now they’ve shown themselves, and we know who they are. And they could always have used whatever words they wanted - they would just have faced disapproval from their communities for it.
Sara - I always said maybe 15% of people were... jerks (or a less civil expletive, depending on the company I was in when I gave my estimation). Obviously I misunderestimated. Badly.
The diminishment of shame as a societal management mechanism hasn't turned out to be the boon we might have imagined in the '60s & '70s
The book The Sociopath Next Door estimates than 4% of the population are sociopaths. (Not all sociopaths are racists, and not all racists are sociopaths, so it isn’t an exact overlap.) 4% doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s one out of 25. So I say, the next time you’re in a group of 25 or more people - at church, maybe, or in a mall or at a sporting event - look around and try to figure out which one(s) is/are the sociopath.
And yes, the decline of shame as an inhibitor has been a loss to society.