Almost a decade ago (2011 football season), I remember the Paterno-Sandusky Penn State scandal breaking.
Some of the conversation was interesting; so many were saying how heroically they would have acted had they been that assistant coach walking in with Sandusky engaging in “horse play” with a boy. And these were, well, rather average people who really don’t KNOW how they would have acted.
And so we see stuff like this:
See? All of these students would have been outliers had they lived in that period. And I think the professor really doesn’t go far enough in his thread: how many of the students, were they raised in that culture, even seen slavery for the evil it was?
But in their minds, THEY would have been the risk taking heroes.
My guess is this is how “take down the statues of George Washington” people think.
But this problem works another way too..about stuff in this day and age.
Yes, there is no secret that groups of people living in poverty, as a group, exhibit social pathology. There is evidence that pathological behavior follows poverty and not the other way around.
But those not in poverty will point to the outliers who made it out and, in their minds, assume that if THEY were born into that situation, THEY would have been one of those outliers. Hence they resist backing programs to help those people out…and yes, one CAN higher rates of self destructive behavior in such communities.
The reality: I wasn’t raised in such a community; I had great parents, good schools and a stable place to live..plenty to eat, stuff to do, etc. Many don’t have such advantages.
Anyhow…I think that I gained quite a bit of self awareness that outstanding people in different communities or from different era really were outstanding and it is foolish to compare myself to them.
Life of an old goat 