this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
14 points (85.0% liked)

Political Discussion and Commentary

1488 readers
4 users here now

A place to discuss politics and offer political commentary. Self posts are preferred, but links to current events and news are allowed. Opinion pieces are welcome on a case by case basis, and discussion of and disagreement about issues is encouraged!

The intent is for this community to be an area for open & respectful discussion on current political issues, news & events, and that means we all have a responsibility to be open, honest, and sincere. We place as much emphasis on good content as good behavior, but the latter is more important if we want to ensure this community remains healthy and vibrant.

Content Rules:

  1. Self posts preferred.
  2. Opinion pieces and editorials are allowed on a case by case basis.
  3. No spam or self promotion.
  4. Do not post grievances about other communities or their moderators.

Commentary Rules

  1. Don’t be a jerk or do anything to prevent honest discussion.
  2. Stay on topic.
  3. Don’t criticize the person, criticize the argument.
  4. Provide credible sources whenever possible.
  5. Report bad behavior, please don’t retaliate. Reciprocal bad behavior will reflect poorly on both parties.
  6. Seek rule enforcement clarification via private message, not in comment threads.
  7. Abide by Lemmy's terms of service (attacks on other users, privacy, discrimination, etc).

Please try to up/downvote based on contribution to discussion, not on whether you agree or disagree with the commenter.

Partnered Communities:

• Politics

• Science

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
laverabe@lemmy.world
laverabe@lemmy.zip
14
Showerthought: I think one of the many reasons why the brazenly corrupt and cheats are worshipped and even elected, is because the supporters low key want to cheat and get away with it themselves. (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 days ago by TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world to c/politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A theory as to why hero worshipping is a phenomenon, is that someone who is deemed to be innovative and useful could pass on the know how to the group in order to collectively survive and thrive. And from my observation, a dark parallel applies to "villain" worshipping. Like, someone who is already brazenly and unashamedly corrupt is still fawned over upon. Deep down, the supporters must be thinking "Impressive. How are they getting away with it? What are they doing that I could also do, to get away with such shameless act?"

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Paragone@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Spot-on.

It took me nearly 60y of living to FINALLY clue-in that "humans are basically good" is gaslighting: the truth is that humans are basically prone to maintaining niceness-appearances, NOT to being actually-good.

The phrase I encountered years-ago "it takes a village, to molest a child", pointing-out complicity throughout establishment is normal in abuse .. I obviously didn't connect properly into its implications.

1 thing to watch-out for, though: ideology always holds that it is "better" than other-ideology.

But .. as the saying goes .. "the revolutionaries, once they have won, instantly become hard-line conservatives, who won't tolerate any violation of THEIR rule" .. there's profound truth in that.

It's all the same scam: unconscious-mind playing games, holding that responsibility only is on others, that accountability has no right to even threaten one, that rightness is one's own, not others', etc.. all games/scam by unconscious-mind & its identity ( skeleton ) & ego ( musculature-on-identity ).

Notice that celebrity is automagically superior, more-valid, more-worthy..

that's wired right into our pack-animal limbic-system, from what I can see.

The whole ignoring-wrong-values for celebrities.. ( MANY years ago I read somebody saying that Bill Cosby's protection from rape-charges was something that the entire entertainment-industry was complicit with .. then a decade or 2 later, he was charged.. 1 truth-teller in the entire industry? typical of our race )

it's significant.

Chomsky's dearest friend was Epstein, apparently..

don't see the left talking about that, much, do we?

Human-nature isn't as "pristine" as we pretend.

& denial isn't improving that.

The only way to improve is to get & be honest with oneself about one's actual-condition, right?

& to get intolerant of one's non-evolution.

Good luck getting that to happen with humankind: ideological-rampaging would be MUCH preferred to self-correction, by nearly-all of humankind.

_ /\ _

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago

[–] Curious_Canid@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago

I think you are basically right. They will put up with almost anything, as long as their leaders tell them they are inherently superior to {fill in the blank}. And that the only reason they aren't treated that way is because the opposition is keeping them from their rightful place. They don't want to earn it. They think they deserve it, just for being {fill in the blank}.

It mostly comes down to racism, but it can also include misogyny, homophobia, religious fanaticism, nationalism, and almost anything else that can be used to differentiate between them and groups of others. The key is that they don't have to do anything to feel superior. They just are. That makes it seem obtainable, no matter how ridiculous that looks from outside.

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Or they don't care, so long as their single issue is taken care of.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They didn't care so long as their team "wins" and the other team "loses". Issues that affect them are secondary.

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

They want what they are told to want.

This is the weakness that we were warned was a foundational component of democracy itself. The citizenry must be educated, or it becomes vulnerable.

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 2 points 5 days ago

Sometimes I think it's a backlash against what we see as stupid rules that are imposed on us for no reason. We legitimately do want to be able to dispense with the bullshit, and admire people who can.