The evil is growing

The moral arc does NOT always bend toward justice

Bad (people) need nothing more to compass their ends than that good (people) should look on and do nothing.  —  John Stuart Mill

Liberal democracies, once in ascendancy, are failing or faltering around the world. Dictators and their fascist enablers are undermining the courts and legislatures in pursuit of absolute power.

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2021/democracy-under-siege

---

How can we understand this rising tide of authoritarian domination, malice and cruelty? What can the good people do?

Human Nature

Consider these three human phenotypes:

• People who have an internalized character/values orientation based on justice and fairness. They are “good” to others in just about every situation. They make up about 15% of the human population. Let’s call them the Saints (e.g. Jesus, Buddha, St. Francis, Abraham Lincoln, John Lewis). Preferred action mode: charity and compassion.

• People who view other beings as a commodity to consume. They seek power to use and abuse others with little shame or guilt in most situations. They also make up about 15% of the human population. Let’s call them the Psychopaths (e.g. Hitler, Stalin, Putin, Mao, Pinochet, Pol Pot, John D. Rockefeller, Trump). Preferred action mode: domination and extraction.

• People who are equally capable of both kindness and cruelty. Their actions largely depend on the ambient cultural norms and conditions and their calculations about what gives them a competitive advantage. They make up the remaining ~70% of the population. Let’s call them The Majority. Preferred action mode: play the game.

From an evolutionary viewpoint, it makes sense that most people practice what is called situational morality, meaning that their definition of what is “good” morphs from situation to situation based on what is in their self-interest. This flexible strategy increases the odds of surviving and reproducing, so most humans have this type of moral paradigm encoded in their genes. So far so good.

It’s Tribal

Humans are group members. Being part of a larger group increases the odds of surviving childhood or an attack by another group. Group cohesion and stability is based on its members’ ability to get/stay with the program of whatever norms and values and cultural practices are embraced by the majority. Again, about 70% of members (The Majority) will play the game to win when/how they can. The two more internally driven minorities (Saints and Psychopaths) will dance to their own tune regardless of the zeitgeist and deal with the varying consequences of being out of step.

Throughout human history, the relative proportion of Saints, Psychopaths and The Majority has probably remained fairly stable due to the reproductive algorithm of natural selection. It’s more adaptive to go along to get along than to rigidly give or take regardless of the local game being played (look up iterative game theory for details). So the Saints and Psychopaths will survive/reproduce in smaller numbers than The Majority type.

It’s Chemical

Imagine putting one teaspoon of poison in a teacup and in a swimming pool. Same poison, different danger. Human personalities like the Saint and the Psychopath, being minorities, will always be diluted by The Majority style in most groups. The Psychopaths will get push back (shaming, shunning, expulsion, incarceration) from The Majority when they do too much damage (you’ll see this dynamic play out in non-human groups too) which puts some limits on the amount of harm they generally do. The Saints will enact the “higher values” of the group, serve as group superegos, and be alternatively respected, modeled, ignored or rejected as determined by the composition of the majority culture.

From time to time throughout human history, a Psychopath has managed to break through and capture the imagination of enough members of The Majority to poison the larger pool. How can we account for this failure of the dilution and push-back processes that generally limit the power of the Psychopath to harm their whole tribe? There are several factors to consider, the most important being

• a shared sense of grievance among The Majority

• a human grievance resonator/transmitter

• effective mass communication technology

The Grievance

Life is hard and involves plenty of pain and suffering. We all carry feelings of sadness and fear and anger and have to do something with them. Most of us get some relief from sharing our pain with others (misery loves company).

Once upon a time, people could only speak about their sense of grievance with others in their immediate tribe. With each tech innovation (printing press, telegraph, telephone, radio, TV, internet), the ability to share one’s anger expanded to wider and wider circles. Now a tribe of shared grievance can encompass millions of people around the world, amplifying their rage to a deafening and eventually disruptive scream.

The Transmitter

“Trust me. Only I can fix this.”

Millions of angry people do not a movement make. People need a leader who can embody their concerns and then focus those back at them and make them feel heard, understood and valued. A person who can do this can bring people along to their own aims and interests.

If you have ever watched videos of Hitler’s speeches and mass rallies, you will witness a kind of group madness descend upon the crowd. Hitler rages about the economic and cultural victimization of the “good” people (volk), identifies a common enemy/scapegoat, seduces the crowd with praise for their virtue and innocence, and invites them into his vision for a greater Germany under his leadership. All they have to do is give him power, remove any obstacles to its exercise, and all will be well.

Many Germans and media outlets and elites mocked the “little paper hanger” with the silly mustache. For years they viewed him as a joke, uncouth, not worthy of concern or opposition, until it was too late and they were all caught up in the demonic whirlwind of fascism. Recognizing the evil geniuses who can channel the grievance of a people and direct it like a laser at the organs of democracy is a critical step in preventing the rise of a dictator.

Mass Communication

One of the first things dictators have done after a coup is to take over the channels of mass communication (TV, radio, newspapers). By shutting down any opposing facts or viewpoints, they can effectively brainwash the population to believe and support them. As Hitler’s propaganda minister famously observed, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will take it to be the truth.

Mass communication channels can enlarge the circle of shared grievance to encompass millions of people across geographical (local, state, national) boundaries. Mobilizing an angry tribe, filling their heads with thoughts and beliefs that serve the rising dictator’s interests, and enthralling them with tales of evil enemies and personal glory and paradise just around the corner has been the communications playbook of the wannabe dictator throughout history.

The modern internet and its “social media” platforms with elements of truly universal access, fact-free culture (people are saying …), self-serving “influencers” and sophisticated algorithms designed to manipulate attention and opinion is different from any previous mass communication technology. It is the printing press and wireless (radio) and television on steroids. It has the capacity to educate and enlighten the entire human population or drive them mad, depending on who is doing the messaging and the nature of their aims.

The danger of the present moment

Modern mass communication technologies (cable TV, radio, internet) now enable a minority of dedicated Psychopaths to impinge on The Majority with their ruthless will to power. Over time, they can pull ever more of those situational moralists into their sphere of influence.

As their adherents grow in number and volume and stridency, the power to attract and acculturate ever more people increases exponentially. While they will never attract members of The Saints tribe or even a significant plurality of The Majority, there is a tipping point where the essential Psychopaths and their newly engaged partners in shared grievance and mythology will become a functional majority force in the political space.

At that point it’s game over and lights out for democracy and the rule of law and the vote and protection of minority rights in a constitutional order. That is the clear and present danger of this moment.

Because Psychopaths have only ONE aim (power and domination) and never hesitate to use every tool at their disposal to achieve it, they tend to be very focused and persistent operators. The Saints, with their values of deference, freedom and respectful accommodation, tend to be more reluctant and episodic broadcasters of their views and programs and priorities. Their messaging is designed more to enlighten and liberate than to inflame and manipulate.

People might pay lip service to the goodness of Saints, but in their hearts they’re always a little uncomfortable and suspicious around them. Due to their pride in their sense of moral superiority, Saints tend to suffer from a strain of smug complacency and fail to take seriously enough the need to be EFFECTIVE as well as good/right in the harsh zero-sum world of competitive politics and the work of governance. They are therefore at real risk of losing the war of persuasion and the battle for the hearts and minds of The Majority. Effective strategy is not just preaching to the converted but more like good social work and organizing and messaging around the real and urgent needs of all the people who make up The Majority.

Conclusion

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion. — Abraham Lincoln

The votes of the Majority are always up for grabs, not only during formal election cycles, but during the long and (on the surface) sleepy run-ups to and interregnums between those elections. That is when people hear (sometimes only subliminally) the daily siren songs of the Saints and the Psychopaths as they broadcast their messages and seek to expand their minority to majority rule.

This is the eternal campaign for the literal soul of a people that will determine whether their common future is one of an enlightened and just democracy or the nightmare of tyrants and their slaves.

---