The Root of All Evil

The root of all evil is circular thinking.

I've studied these things. I've studied the way systems break down... for example, the way people get killed during disasters or war. I've been paid to do this and to create simulations that reflect this sort of thing.

Until a person has done their detective work and tried to understand something, they should keep their opinions to themselves.

ESPECIALLY if one is giving people "inspirational sayings", advice, or anything else where they're pushing a rule-of-thumb worldview onto someone else without appreciating the others' specific circumstances. The purpose of the "inspirational saying" is not to help anyone. It is to reinforce the speaker's own view that the world is safe and orderly - with the corollary that the victim of bad circumstances or evil is entirely to blame for what has been visited on them (see also "Just World Syndrome").

Rule-of-thumb thinking is two-dimensional. But the real world is much more complex.

To this I will add: black swans happen (and I would consider evil events... such as rape, murder, fraud, etc... as black swan events). These are anomaly events where things went wrong DESPITE everyone doing the best they could! Look at the news on any given day: it's full of black swans! They're real.

Our rules-of-thumb and "inspirational sayings" don't account for black swans. Which is why thinking solely in terms of rules-of-thumb can be worse than useless during a specific crisis.

Communication is what is needed... this includes listening.

Courage also helps.

--- 23 June 2015