One of the great mysteries in life is: How do so many good people do so many bad things?
It is so easy to write off anyone we do not want to address in a meaningful way as being evil and point out their misdeeds negate the good that they might have done. The sad truth is that there is not a soul on earth that could not be so dismissed.
So the question becomes how is that the same humans can on one hand be committed to doing the right thing and still find themselves doing so many things that are hurtful?
I live in the Deep South, the land of churches and southern hospitality and Jim Crow. The people of the Jim Crow world were on one hand generally honest, hardworking, generous and committed to living a Christian life. Yet, they perpetuated an abhorrent system of repression and dehumanizing behavior. My 88 year old mother-in-law is of that generation. Sure, the good church people were not usually the ones that actually committed the lynchings and terror, but they provided cover for those who did. A number of years ago I asked my mother-in-law how she and her peers, after WW2, had justified denying the vote to the black vets returning from fighting the same war their brothers and husbands had been fighting. She did not have to look for an answer, right off she said “Well our blacks just weren’t smart enough to vote.”
Her answer to my question gives me the answer to the question I am asking in this essay. Why do good people do evil things? I propose that fear supported by man’s uncanny ability to engage in self-delusion allows good people to do evil things. Continue reading “How do so many good people do so many bad things.”
I am actually ambivalent about the Georgia law that would allow religious groups to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. I don’t think I would vote for it I were in the Georgia legislature, but I understand the concerns of the Christian community.
However according to this article in the Daily Beast “Disney released a statement saying the entertainment juggernaut would cease all film production in the state if HB 757 is signed into law. The boycott includes its subsidiary movie studio, Marvel.At least 20 Fortune 500 companies, including Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, The Home Depot, UPS, and The Coca-Cola Company, have lined up to urge the governor to veto the bill. The coalition includes Google, IBM, Marriott, Microsoft, AMC, Viacom, Nordstrom, Dow Chemical, and Verizon. Time Warner, which owns Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting and CNN, also joined the effort.”
Even if I were vehemently opposed to the law, it should give me concern that major American corporations have decided it is legitimate to use their financial clout to effectively blackmail the state legislature to pass/not pass laws they want or don’t want. What would the left say if the same approach was used to stop environmental laws or other laws they want. Isn’t this the same corporate influence in government that Bernie Sanders rails against?
We have courts to decide what is the balance between the power of the majority and the protection of rights guaranteed by the constitution or other laws. To let corporations use their power over people’s jobs and livelihood to coerce elected representatives to vote for or against a bill should frighten anyone who believes in liberal democracy.
When we open the door to corporate giants to make their clout felt in causes we like, you can bet that they will not stop with altruistic goals. You can bet the power we so willingly given these giants today will be used, sooner rather than later, to more brazen profit driven schemes.
The ends do not justify the means. We can never trade the fair value of people’s votes just for a political win in the short run. We should ask ourselves what will be tomorrow’s cost for today’s victory.
The Cognitive Dissident 
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