I would sack the morons who preach about equality but go back on that once certain groups asks for that equality.
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^^
It's too bad the idealists can't really get into power because most people are out for themselves, and that's especially true when you get into the political & financial elites who determine the leadership (essentially democracy in our world is where we get to choose what color the drapes are, but we get about the same drapes otherwise regardless). Even when this isn't so overt it still takes money to rise far which means the elites still hold a lot of power and the ones who rise are likely to be elite (in the inherited than truly talented or gifted sense) themselves.
Oh, and many people don't like change. I actually believe this is why many stay with abusers if abuse is what they've known their entire life, they feel too uncomfortable without it, and that strikes me true of people who put up with oppressive governments & ideologies as well, or lifestyles that seem unsustainable when you think about it.
The corrupt are also much more inclined to play dirty, and the dirty fighting wins more often than not, including for political office. Furthermore the corrupt are also more willing to lie, and the sad truth is most people WANT to be lied to (it's why con-artists prosper so well).
And it's a rare idealist who can think things through as well as feel which means even if he were to gain power AND he's not stymied (which is extremely rare) then he's "bad at being good" if that makes sense which not only makes the reforms fail but also disillusion many who don't want to "go down that path again."
And then there are the idealists who are also cold realists...and these people tend to scare me, I tend to prefer the corrupt to the zealots. As for why, I'll leave a couple of quotes behind:
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --CS Lewis
"A paladin may well be the finest, purest example of what a man can be — the epitome of all that is noble. And a paladin mounted for battle on his war charger, filled with holy zeal and absolute courage, might well be the most inspiring sight that many mortals could hope to see. He can, and does, accomplish much good. But a hundred paladins, a thousand? United in purpose, single-minded and driven by their sense of duty? I tell you truly, Uncle, I can think of no better definition of terror." --Danilo Thann in the novel Thornhold by Elaine Cunningham.
"Those who fear the dark have never seen what the light can do." --Magic: The Gathering
Btw, I'm NOT saying THEREFORE I prefer the corrupt, just that the idealists tend to be ineffective, and those that don't can be frightening as they become monsters to fight monsters and thus a cure worse than the disease. (Plus, I don't believe in saints, even Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. had plenty of faults though they are among the few idealists that managed to do more good than harm.)
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04-19-2013, 10:25 AM
(Edited 04-19-2013, 11:24 AM by Genersis.)
Meh, I'm one of those naive peeps who think the government is made of people like you and I; not scum of the earth.
From privileged backgrounds normally, yes, but not pure evil so-and-sos.
Dumb like us.
Corruptible like us.
Just...like us in general.
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