My general assumption for the lowest I can expect a person to behave is basically always looking for their own absolute gain, and any attitude towards other people comes secondary to that. So while a person living by this standard wouldn’t donate to charity without some other motive, they would have basically the same answer to something like the trolley problem as anyone else.

Am I wrong thinking of this as a “minimum reasonable behavior”, or is there something people actually gain from the suffering of other people?

This question was born out of seeing how people are being treated by the US government at the moment, but I’m asking about more than just that. People like abusive partners/family, hostile cops, or just bullies in general.

  • PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    16·
    2 days ago

    Plenty of people get joy or even sexual pleasure from watching others suffer or die. Its not common, but even one person who acts on this can cause huge amounts of harm to dozens or hundreds of others. A lot of the most fucked up crimes are the result of this sort of thing. Unfortunately, these are also exactly the sort of people badly regulated police and military also select for (IE police in the US, the military in most developing nations)