Lead the way

I already knew that a non-negligible chunk of the human population has extremely questionable judgement and is self-serving but it was only the amount that was in question. It turns out that the number is larger than I had anticipated or dared imagine. 

Trumpism has made that clear to me and brought a blunt truth to the foreground as we watch sycophants turn themselves into pretzels to support heinous behaviour. Some people operate on hatred of the other as reparation for their own trauma and life frustration and lead entire lives that way. 

When times are good there is less ammunition for them but as conditions worsen economically they come out of the woodwork facilitated by leaders who use hyperbolic language to victimize people. Hitler used the terminology of "vermin" to describe Jews which then made his master plan more digestible. 

It has been disappointing to watch the US so quickly descend into chaos but then the conditions were ripe for it. It was lighting a match on dried kindling. The same tactic of blaming strawmen is being used here and as Arkansas farmers complain about loss of livelihood one questions their voting heavily for someone who helped derail it. 

The world will never work properly specifically because our worst instincts are baked in to our fundamental natures and without working against them surfacing, stupidity and self-centered attitudes will flourish. 

People will use all kinds of justifications to do bad things if it serves their objectives. To help them along there will always be plenty of sheep who will follow them.