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Lock them up. What the hell. Can someone with a background in psychology please explain why the hell there are people interested in this? Is this clinical sadis

by 55555 3y ago

Lock them up. What the hell. Can someone with a background in psychology please explain why the hell there are people interested in this? Is this clinical sadism? I don’t see how we, or they, are given an evolutionary advantage by being like this. Is it a result of upbringing/life? This is horrible. (I’m aware there’s a literal genocide of chickens and pigs and cows daily but at least there’s a purpose other than deriving pleasure from another’s suffering.)

maxbond 3y ago
Presumably they all lead strange and traumatic lives that lead them to having radically different desires and values. Eg, they interviewed a previously incarcerated former gang member who said they felt it was as ethical as their previous drug dealing - presumably there's truth to that, but it's a view that's necessarily developed from a dark place. I'd like to caution you that trying to use evolutionary psychology to understand the existence of evil in the world is a path to madness. Kindness and empathy are an evolutionary advantage, our success as a species is predicated on our cooperation and mutual understanding. But that doesn't tell you very much about individual people. Most adults in my country are taller than 5 feet/1.5 meters, but I've met a couple adults that were 4 feet/1.2 meters tall. Outliers exist, and with 8 billion people, there are quite a few of them. I think we often feel a temptation to frame evil stuff in a larger context to make it feel smaller and more manageable and explicable. But we can get ourselves into a lot of trouble with narratives like that. Evolutionary psychology in particular is really easy to misuse, it readily leads to some prejudicial or racist lines of reasoning if you aren't very careful about how you define "fitness".
- yawpitch 3y ago
  tl;dr version, as reported by Fox News: Scientist Proves Shorter Adults in [Country] are Evil!
kaycey2022 3y ago
Taking out your frustrations on other things/people is calming in a way. For example, I keep getting these tele marketing calls to take a new credit card or personal loan very frequently. I'm talking once a day. Also lately I've been having a very frustrating time at work. So a couple of days back, when I picked up such a call, initially I just told the person on the other end that I am currently unemployed and don't want to take a new loan. When the marketer persisted, I just let loose on them hurling all sort of abuses. I've always known that these people are low level and are under tremendous pressure to make new sales. But whatever, letting go at this person made me feel great. To be honest, given the context I know I had little justification for my action, but shouting and cursing this person still felt great. I think it's similar for these people. The difference is they need even less justification to behave in even more extreme ways. I guess most people might be similar at a psychological level, it's just some of them behave in more extreme ways than others or need less stimulus to behave in a certain way.
- maxbond 3y ago
  I'm sorry to hear you're under that kind of stress, I hope things get sorted out. I've had several times in my life where I was so stressed about work I couldn't see straight, it's rough. If you're in a place where you are using coping mechanisms that you seem to be ambivalent about, I'd encourage you to take another look at that. I'm particular I'd encourage you to ask yourself; should I be looking for a different position? Should I take a vacation? Should I talk to a therapist? Is there something I can do to make my work situation less stressful? I hope that doesn't come off as patronizing, I only say it because I know I had a hard time taking a moment to ask myself questions like that because there was always something on fire, always a prospective customer we had to move heaven and earth to close, etc. and it never felt like there was time. On the off chance you feel similarly, I just wanna say, it's an illusion, there isn't enough time not to address it.
  - kaycey2022 3y ago
    This feels like good advice. Thanks for it. I am actively looking for another position, but haven't yet gotten a single interview call. I don't know if its my resume, inexperience or just the state of the job market. I think the root of my current problems just lies in the poor time management. I need to figure out a way to do it better.
hulitu 3y ago
> why the hell there are people interested in this? Is this clinical sadism? I don’t see how we, or they, are given an evolutionary advantage by being like this. Some people are doing this for a living. See Guantanamo Bay.

by 55555 3y ago

maxbond 3y ago

Presumably they all lead strange and traumatic lives that lead them to having radically different desires and values. Eg, they interviewed a previously incarcerated former gang member who said they felt it was as ethical as their previous drug dealing - presumably there's truth to that, but it's a view that's necessarily developed from a dark place. I'd like to caution you that trying to use evolutionary psychology to understand the existence of evil in the world is a path to madness. Kindness and empathy are an evolutionary advantage, our success as a species is predicated on our cooperation and mutual understanding. But that doesn't tell you very much about individual people. Most adults in my country are taller than 5 feet/1.5 meters, but I've met a couple adults that were 4 feet/1.2 meters tall. Outliers exist, and with 8 billion people, there are quite a few of them. I think we often feel a temptation to frame evil stuff in a larger context to make it feel smaller and more manageable and explicable. But we can get ourselves into a lot of trouble with narratives like that. Evolutionary psychology in particular is really easy to misuse, it readily leads to some prejudicial or racist lines of reasoning if you aren't very careful about how you define "fitness".

yawpitch 3y ago
tl;dr version, as reported by Fox News: Scientist Proves Shorter Adults in [Country] are Evil!

kaycey2022 3y ago

Taking out your frustrations on other things/people is calming in a way. For example, I keep getting these tele marketing calls to take a new credit card or personal loan very frequently. I'm talking once a day. Also lately I've been having a very frustrating time at work. So a couple of days back, when I picked up such a call, initially I just told the person on the other end that I am currently unemployed and don't want to take a new loan. When the marketer persisted, I just let loose on them hurling all sort of abuses. I've always known that these people are low level and are under tremendous pressure to make new sales. But whatever, letting go at this person made me feel great. To be honest, given the context I know I had little justification for my action, but shouting and cursing this person still felt great. I think it's similar for these people. The difference is they need even less justification to behave in even more extreme ways. I guess most people might be similar at a psychological level, it's just some of them behave in more extreme ways than others or need less stimulus to behave in a certain way.

maxbond 3y ago
I'm sorry to hear you're under that kind of stress, I hope things get sorted out. I've had several times in my life where I was so stressed about work I couldn't see straight, it's rough. If you're in a place where you are using coping mechanisms that you seem to be ambivalent about, I'd encourage you to take another look at that. I'm particular I'd encourage you to ask yourself; should I be looking for a different position? Should I take a vacation? Should I talk to a therapist? Is there something I can do to make my work situation less stressful? I hope that doesn't come off as patronizing, I only say it because I know I had a hard time taking a moment to ask myself questions like that because there was always something on fire, always a prospective customer we had to move heaven and earth to close, etc. and it never felt like there was time. On the off chance you feel similarly, I just wanna say, it's an illusion, there isn't enough time not to address it.
- kaycey2022 3y ago
  This feels like good advice. Thanks for it. I am actively looking for another position, but haven't yet gotten a single interview call. I don't know if its my resume, inexperience or just the state of the job market. I think the root of my current problems just lies in the poor time management. I need to figure out a way to do it better.

hulitu 3y ago

> why the hell there are people interested in this? Is this clinical sadism? I don’t see how we, or they, are given an evolutionary advantage by being like this. Some people are doing this for a living. See Guantanamo Bay.