This was initially going to be a comment for
this thread, but I think it actually belongs here. The idea of "corruption" is something I've pondered a
lot, and though everyone will have their own perception of the concept, I tend to take a more holistic and all-encompassing view about...everything, really.
This is a copy/paste of my comment, in the context of the shooting at the church in Charleston, SC.
Something I've seen a lot of - not just in America, but worldwide - is how far too many people are content to point fingers and blame each other for anything and everything that goes wrong. I see this a lot on the Internet (social media, anyone?), and though it's easy for anyone to make the argument that "you can't gauge a person's intentions through their text on the Internet," uh...I'm sorry, but I actually
can because of how I can connect with the living world on an empathic level.
I've caught quite a few people on the Internet off-guard because of how accurately I can pinpoint their emotional and mental states through their text-based communication alone. I can also see when people's emotions change, and in some cases can even nail the cause of that change.
The reason this is relevant to the topic is because the Internet is the one place where people express themselves
most freely; regarding shootings like this, people aren't shy of expressing themselves - their feelings and perspectives - about it. A lot of what I see is the perpetuation of negativity - people responding to negative circumstances with the "negative aspects of the human psyche." It's easy to harbor feelings of hatred, wrath, animosity, disdain, discontent, bitterness, and other negative aspects of the human psyche toward people who, for example, shoot and kill nine people in a church, and I'd be lying if I said "I don't understand why people would feel that way." Reading that article upset me, as well, and I'm actually an atheist - it's because I care about others that what Dylann Roof did
pisses me off. For me, it doesn't matter what theistic faith (or lack thereof) any of the victims had - from my perspective, this was an act by "someone who is no more or less human that I" taking the lives of "others who are no more or less human than I."
Yet, what is it that drives people to commit these kinds of acts? I've seen a lot of opinions, and many of them are well-thought out, but I've never seen anyone address "the blindness in much of humanity." What I've seen in many people, both online and offline, is how they're veiled by the negative aspects of the human psyche - arrogance, greed, spite, hatred, animosity, apathy, ignorance, intolerance, misanthropy, wrath, vengeance, disdain, discontent, and bitterness, to name a few. These are things all humans have the capacity to feel - I just said that Roof's horrendous act
pisses me off, and I've seen much of these same aspects in the rest of your comments here. On their own, those negative aspects are not an issue and are in fact part of being "human."
The problem is when people are
blinded by them, to where their actions, words, perspectives, and honestly,
every aspect of their being carry that negative taint; the term for this is "corruption" - something that's taken many more people than just the US Government. Right now, I'm thinking about all the bitter Americans who are calling for a "revolution" and advocating violence and bloodshed as a means to "take back the country" - yeah, I understand that things are actually pretty cruddy here, but that "revolution" would just perpetuate all that "cruddiness."
So, Roof had said this as his reasoning: "'You've raped our women, and you are taking over the country ... I have to do what I have to do."
Yeah, I have plenty of black friends who aren't going around "raping women" or trying to "take over the country." Obama may be our president and black, but do his screw-ups speak for
all black people? Nooooooo, I don't think so - hell, I've seen
black people objecting to some of the things Obama's doing, too.
Roof had fallen to the negative aspects of the human psyche - he was
corrupted by them.
I'm going to expand the scope of this topic, though: I've seen this corruption in various hate groups, like the neo-Nazi groups here in US - some of whom are right here in the Northwest US - and the Westboro Baptist Radicals. I've seen it in PETA and a lot of other activism/advocacy groups; I've seen it in a lot of the legislation being passed lately, as well as in a lot of people's reactions to said legislation; I've seen it in a number law enforcement endeavors and judicial procedures; I've seen it in practically every aspect of American society. It's also the drive for terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State, and the reason I see our governments's "war against terror" as an overall perpetuation of negativity. Disagreements are going to happen within humanity - that's just how it is for us...but what else drives people to warfare
and to terrorism than falling to "corruption" by the negative aspects of the human psyche?
The reason things
aren't actually "getting better" in the world is because a lot of humanity is perpetuating negativity with more negativity. It's certainly much easier said than done, but the only way to bring a positive change is to answer negative circumstances in a
positive manner...but here's the thing: just as one can be blinded by darkness, so too can one be blinded by light. If everyone "blinds" themselves with the
positive aspects of the human psyche, things won't really be any better, as people would technically still be "corrupted." In fact, that "blinding light" scenario has happened a number of times in humanity's history.
This part is a subjective statement, but...honestly, I gravitate toward the "light" side. However, I have a "dark side," just as any human does. Seeing all of this stuff going on in the world has been my incentive to assume control of
both sides of my own duality to avoid corruption. This means that although I'm a kind person by nature, I won't allow people to take advantage of my kindness - more than once, I've effectively told people to "get the hell out" because they tried to exploit it, or believe that they could otherwise walk all over me.
Something I've come to realize is that every human has a duality of light and darkness - it's a balance, but it's different for each and every individual human. In order to understand one's duality, one must examine not the "light and dark sides," but their personal "scale" and how it's rigged - something that takes a lot of introspection, as well as hard lessons. Some people's scales are rigged in favor of the "dark" side, but that doesn't automatically make them like Dylann Roof. I've seen a lot of people who no longer see the "light" side of things, and as much as I wish I could help them...I really can't. They are the only ones who can manage their individual scales, and I believe that's as it should be. Everyone here on Furtopia has their own scale, and although some of you may or may not have come to understand how your scales are rigged, the truth is that each of you have the duality of both light and darkness - something that comes as a part of "humanity."
Yet, at the same time, some of you may understand things as I do, but in your own individual ways. Some of you may have already found your own unique way to keep yourselves from falling to "corruption." From what I've seen, every human has the potential to be a "corrupt individual," but at the same time, every human has the capacity to prevent corruption from taking hold...something Dylann Roof, as well as many other people in America and the world in general, could not.