Recently, I mentioned that politics usually follow one’s idea of mankind. In order for socialism to work, people need to be good, or otherwise the socialist’s state’s head will exploit the people – something witnessed in every socialist state so far. Conservative politics assume a morally deficient humanity, and therefore people need to be restrained.
So the question for everyone remains: what do you believe? Do you think people are essentially good, or do you think they need harness?
Personally, I don’t subscribe to the idea of essentially good people. I do believe that every person has some goodness, that everyone has wonderful attributes in some degree; in some people, these seem more cultivated than in others. Nevertheless, I don’t think that anyone is essentially good. Every person also has a negative side, and in some it prevails quite obviously – as in murderers and such. So is a murderer a bad person but others are good people? This distinction falls short of reality. Some say: “there are a few bad ones, but the rest is good”. In order to find an honest answer to this, I suggest a look at history.
Think of the Third Reich. A whole people became guilty of the murder of 6 million Jews. Yes, not everyone pulled the trigger, but nearly everyone was accessory to the crime, since the proceedings in work camps were well-known. The German people elected Hitler in full awareness of his propaganda, as he had not sought to mask his intentions. Of course there were German resistance fighters, but the majority chose to accept Hitler’s plans and supported it.
Are Germans a particularly bad people? Again, I don’t think so. Ever heard of the Turkish genocide against the Armenians? The difference isn’t that big to the German crime – death marches, work camps, mass killings, poison, about 1,5 million dead. (Less people dead, but unfortunately the Germans are always very efficient.) Or think of the Japanese vs. the Chinese and the Koreans. Or think of China vs. Tibet, or simply the Chinese cultural revolution, which was no less brutal in China itself. Think of Burma. North Korea. Remember Stalin, remember Ceauşescu. Think of the brutal system of slavery in the USA, but also the colonization history of Europe in Africa (no less brutal). Think of the cruel past of the Aztecs, or remember the Hutu and Tutsi.
I’ll stop here for two reasons: a) the list would go on and on and on and on and….!, b) it’s really depressing. But I challenge anyone who believes in an essential goodness of humanity to look up the keywords above, and you’ll see ever the same: baseness, cruelty, so-called “inhuman” behavior that, unfortunately, animals rarely ever stoop to, sheer hatred and evil. For some reason, evil mostly looks the same – the methods/proceedings in all those different countries I mentioned are shockingly similar.
I believe the German crime is the most horrifying because it produced so terribly many victims. And because of the unbelievable death toll, the Holocaust has a singular position in history. Nevertheless, the Germans aren’t the only ones who committed horrible crimes against humanity; it happens all over the globe. John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton,
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
first Baron Acton also feared the dark side of humanity and assumed this general problem would surface once you give a person power: “Power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” Why do people abuse power if not because of a moral deficiency?
I’ll conclude with this very old quote:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Romans 3:10-18, the Bible, ESV)
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