When failure is the norm, who is to blame?
What is success? Well, success depends from person to person. For me, is me being happy. Having the time, energy, resources to do what I want and when I want. And I am not talking here about yachts, a Rolex and billions of dollars. I am talking a big enough house so if I have kids, each person in the house can have their own room. And money so I can afford at least two vacations a year, to afford the games I want to play, and the gadgets to play those games on. I’d say that is reasonable. As long as I am loved, I can love, and there’s a safe space where I can express myself, I would call all this a success. Some, might look at that and not agree. Some might be more ambitious. Some might want more. But that is why I said that success depends on each person. Thus I have no real problem with success, I am as close to the success I wish for myself as I ever was. But if you look closely at my success, I never mention that I want that success to come at the price of someone else’s failure, suffering or by taking part in this system that rewards hyper-individualism and violence. Nor do you see me look at others that want less than me, or that have never gotten their success, and say that they are less. A reality of ours that we keep forgetting is that 99% of us are going to lose in this system. And that is by default how the system is set up. And as much as I do not know what you’d call such a system, I’d call that system evil. So, what happens when you are successful in such a system? But before that, I have another question…
What makes one evil? Well, the disregard of suffering, meaning the lack of empathy. Most evil starts there. The moment one turn towards themselves and disregards anyone and everyone else, that person becomes selfish. And there is a big difference between someone needing to heal and protecting their core values, as long as those core values do not infringe on someone else’s rights, but when someone that turns inwards in order to fit into a system that rewards selfishness and hyper-individualism. And when you do that, and you rid yourself of empathy, evil takes root. And when you are successful in such a violent and evil system, then success is a poisonous pill you are ingesting. And it is a pill that blinds you. As any criticism of the system that made you successful, or of your actions, or of who you’ve become turns in your head into a personal attack, rather than a concerned and accurate observation. And we all know when you are too huffed up on your own fumes, and you feel attacked, you turn even more inwards, build even more walls, and the finger comes out behind the wall to point and deflect from your own shame.
So, at least for me, it is rather hard to see how bragging about success and then pointing to those that failed is anything but evil. What you are showing is that instead of an empathic response, what you do, is indulge yourself with that poisonous pill. Hamming fist after fist in your mouth, drooling at the thought of your money, houses, jobs, fame, or whatever you deem your success. Pushing people away that do not feed into your now over inflated ego, calling them envious bastards for not appreciating your success when you kept mocking their failures without any hint of empathy or delicacy in your approach towards those that were vulnerable. And then you wonder, ‘Why won’t they talk to me anymore?’ Well, not that you care, you have better things to do than to have any sort of self-reflection. Now poisoned, all that matters is that you do whatever you want, and the rest are sore losers that couldn’t be fucked and we shouldn’t care about, because if they wanted to, they could have… It doesn’t matter now, that the wealth inequality is bigger than it was during the French revolution, or that we are three generations in where the younger generations are less wealthy than their predecessors. What matters is that you are doing well, and the rest are losers because they’re not as good as you. Doesn’t matter the context, the nuance, the place, poisoned blind and with an inflated ego, you tell yourself that if you managed it, everyone should have.
It is at this point, that a good person dies. There is no more good in such a person. No matter the charity, no matter the intention, no matter what they think. A person that attacks those they deem lesser because they have less success or other types of success, lack empathy. A person that think they know better without taking into account the real situation of the person suffering and giving them “advice”, all they do is nothing but self-serving theater, because they’re selfish. They have no time, no energy, nor any empathy for you. Why? Because they’re self-serving, shallow and selfish. But these types of persons are mostly immature and have a lot of unresolved issues that they have never worked through. Thus they lie to themselves, so they expect you to do the same and accept the sweet lies they tell you in order for them to remain in a somewhat good looking light. And you can see these people now being wildly popular since forever. Whether on social media, or on tv, or in the white house, they are everywhere. And they’re all successfully evil…