Quote from: CasinoBit on May 22, 2013, 08:26:08 PM

I think most people underestimate how closely politics and psychology are linked, every time the taxes are raised more people are hurt and more sick people are produced, the very same sick people that loom the streets looking for trouble, the same sick people that become mass murderers or find ways to gain advantage by exploiting the system in a horrific manner. Even such monstrous characters such as Ed Gein are merely a result of even bigger monsters that either failed him through ignorance, greed or lack of knowledge, the very same teachers that turned their head the other way when he was bullied, the neighbors that had heard things but decided not to report, the politicians that rolled in the dirt like pigs seeking total control, when you realize all of that you pity the person rather than being angry at him.

I don't think any person is bad for acting in a bad way, there must have been a buildup of going through a rough life and then it is simply a question of being susceptible. Not everyone can afford treatment or access to a therapeutic environment.

But those are just my thoughts....

Its really a classic nature vs nurture debate. How do you determine (or is it possible to determine) how much influence someones personality/genetics/inborn characteristics have on their actions as opposed to the environment in which they were raised. It seems like you lean more towards the John Locke/Ibn Tufail school of thought, which would make sense for someone interested in a decentralized (and essentially libertarian) currency. I would think that most of those on this forum with a philosophical bent would agree with you. But I digress...

Its hard to argue that society has 0 impact on a persons actions (just like its hard to argue that society is the only determining factor). I think that our society and global culture definitely leads to more "bad" people but that some people would be "bad" even in an idealistic utopia (an impossible point to prove but an interesting thought experiment). Some people. despite being given all the love and support in the world still hurt others or seek to impose their thought systems forcibly on society. Are greed, envy, lust, and hate natural human emotions or are they something we have created because of the royally messed up way that we live our lives as a species? Personally I think all of these things exist as part of human nature, we just exacerbate them through the eviornment we create for ourselves.

But that's just my 2 cents...a pretty interesting conversation while I wait in purgatory for my 4 hours to be up...And one deserving of several hugs!