I think the question isn't why people are selfish assholes, the question is why they aren't.

[howard112211]

In the aftermath of the Tucson shooting, there has been a lot of heated debate, a lot of speculations, a lot of accusations being thrown around. While the mental health of the shooter apparently is factually an issue here, people have also speculated about the mental health of Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and have once again engaged in extensive considerations of what drives people to be selfish assholes, crooks or murderers.

I think this question is to a large degree irrelevant, and in most cases also posesses a trivial answer: "Humans are assholes because that is what we evolved to be.". For millenia, it was in the interest of the survival of the species that we be driven primarily by instincts that make us eat, sleep, fuck and kill. And I think this fact is sufficient to explain the majority of "negative" properties of humans. It explains greed, our desire for power, and our capicity for cruelty and jealousness. It explains why people are xenophobic and selfish and driven by fear and irrationality. Take a look at that chimpanzee who ripped off the woman's face with his bare hands. That is, to a certain degree, what we are in our fully functional healthy state. Because this is so, is why we need laws in the first place for society to function. To automatically try and attribute a person's instinct to rape, steal and kill (or be a selfish Libertarian/Republican) to any form of functional impairment (e.g. "mental illness") is in my opinion not only a gross ignorance of a large part of human nature, it also downplays the achievement of society and the individual to suppress these instincts for the benefit of all.

I think the more interesting question is where our capacity for good comes from. Aside from being savage apes, we are also social creatures with a sense of empathy and a desire to be part of a community. While this is also a part of our genetic heritage, there are also distinctive personal values and societal boundary conditions that further this aspect of human nature. Also, to a large degree, it is simply a matter of choice. Or as Captain Kirk once said, because we are human, with a free will, we can also simply say "I think I am not going to kill today.".

I think it would be more interesting to, instead of placing an emphasis on studying the motivation behind the negative impulses in humans, study "good people" and find out what makes them good. Perhaps we will find that often it is simply a personal choice. A person is good because that is their decision. Then there will no longer be any excuse for anti-social behavior.

[stray cat]

1. There are heroes all around each us but instead many seem to focus on the basest elements

Instead of the everyday people who hold within them a heroic heart when they have a chance to act

[bigmonkey]

2. Secularized "Original Sin"

That's what your theory seems like to me. Not even all Christians believe in original sin. The overwhelming proportion of human activity is cooperative and positive. Negative behavior is noteworthy because it's unusual.

[blindpig]

3. In a society where such behavior is rewarded it ain't suprising.

The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.

Karl Marx

There ya are...