Well said. It has also seeped into the law abiding and lawless. Those who abide by the law have become victims of the lawless because the criminals have no incentive to abide by the law. They are rarely prosecuted.
I'm not sure we confuse powerlessness with virtue. But people definitely confuse self-proclaimed victimhood with virtue and by extention, all who support them as virtuous. We also confuse victimhood with merit and this, I think, has far more reaching consequences for all of us, as people end up in places of power they didn't rightfully earn.
But, while it's true that power alone isn't a reliable metric, I feel that many people may tend to judge someone's level of virtue based mainly on his/her power status, because throughout history up till now, there've been endless cases of the powerful and the elite manipulating the system and abusing their power for their own benefit and enrichment, instead of taking care of and giving back to the average people, especially in terms of the political leaders.
Similarly, there are indeed many leaders in top positions of power who've broken laws, such as committing war crimes, engaging in human rights abuses, pilfering funds that were meant for their own people, etc.
So given all this, it is understandable that people tend to generally perceive the powerful as being evil.
Well said. It has also seeped into the law abiding and lawless. Those who abide by the law have become victims of the lawless because the criminals have no incentive to abide by the law. They are rarely prosecuted.
The fact that we can identify the victimizers does not necessarily mean we can identify the victims.
Oh, this is good... this is real good 🫡
I'm not sure we confuse powerlessness with virtue. But people definitely confuse self-proclaimed victimhood with virtue and by extention, all who support them as virtuous. We also confuse victimhood with merit and this, I think, has far more reaching consequences for all of us, as people end up in places of power they didn't rightfully earn.
I understand your point.
But, while it's true that power alone isn't a reliable metric, I feel that many people may tend to judge someone's level of virtue based mainly on his/her power status, because throughout history up till now, there've been endless cases of the powerful and the elite manipulating the system and abusing their power for their own benefit and enrichment, instead of taking care of and giving back to the average people, especially in terms of the political leaders.
Similarly, there are indeed many leaders in top positions of power who've broken laws, such as committing war crimes, engaging in human rights abuses, pilfering funds that were meant for their own people, etc.
So given all this, it is understandable that people tend to generally perceive the powerful as being evil.
Excellent!