Quote Originally Posted by Renton View Post
I never said that the state is overwhelmingly sociopathic. I said that it is a mechanism that attracts sociopathic alphas into a position that they're able to cause maximum damage. Evil-doers are a pretty tiny percentage of the population regardless if there is a state or not, and their lack of empathy for others all but ensures that they'll thrive. The only difference is that arbitrary authority allows them to leverage their mayhem on a larger scale than would be otherwise possible, and the state usually shields them from much of the liability for their behavior. Police officers are an excellent example of this.
I tend to think no "evil" or "good" exists in the traditional sense. Pretty much all sane, whatever that means, people tend to want good things for the people they care about, and are indifferent to a varying degree to all others. From what I've read there's no strong genetic component to this, it's mostly all caused by social factors, such as poverty, inequality, personal tragedy.

I'd argue that looking into the actions and aims of everyone, you would see they're working towards what they think is "good" and just, according to their own moral frame of reference. Terrorists are trying to avenge their loved ones and fight the (perceived or real) oppression. Hitler was trying to make the world better according to his own set of ideals that we're (need I say it?) obviously twisted. The circle of friends you care about may vary people to people, but it seems our tribal past makes this circle usually pretty small, from tens to hundreds of people, out of the 7 billion.

If you're not related to someone, not born in the same country/state/city/neighborhood, share the same core beliefs or root for the same causes or soccer teams, chances are they don't give a shit about you. They may not be actively trying to harm you, but might do that in a blink of an eye if they feel you're threatening their circle, or at least won't necessarily lift a finger even if they see you being wronged. There's no evil, just indifference and conflicting goals. My point being, potential evil-doers aren't a tiny percentage of the population, but the vast majority, arguably everyone.