Atrocious Behavior

You won't always understand why...

It occurred to me this week one of the reasons that people may dislike psychopathy and psychopaths so much. I think that this has to do with the dark side of the human soul. The dark side of the human soul is one that can present itself without warning, and it may shift how you see those that you thought you knew. When someone suddenly appears to be a different person than who you believed them to be, it is a natural instinct to have an explanation for that break in your reality. It messes with your equilibrium.

I have mentioned previously why the darkness within is so difficult for people to confront and admit that they have. They live an unexamined life and never acknowledge, let alone embrace, their own potential for brutality. When people are confronted with their own darkness, it typically occurs when there is some emotional reason for it to appear.

This comes to mind because of the recent events in the world that have caused a pretty steep divide among humans. I am not remotely interested in debating about sides, as that is not what this post is about. Instead, it is about seeing firsthand that it takes very little to cause the normative human to commit atrocities or to celebrate those atrocities. Some people might think, well, they are only celebrating what they think is going on, but if they saw the actual images, they would change their minds.

Ah, but this is where we go back to the post I made a while ago about, not everyone thinks like you do. This is a very hard thing for humans to learn and appreciate. It’s time for another anime example. Aren’t you excited? Well, for those of you groaning, don’t worry, it won’t be a long one, as I didn’t stick with this anime. I found it annoying. For those of you who have watched it past the fourth episode and liked it, if you want to make an argument as to why I should give it a better chance, by all means, do so in the comments.

This anime is called, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. No, you aren’t going to get a great deal of background information on this one from me because it is woefully lacking in the first four episodes. They just sort of expect you to go along with the plot which so far is this:

There is a dude who wakes up to a talking lizard on his chest telling him that he has to save the world by serving some princess that has the power to stop this “golem” thing from destroying it.

At first, he’s like, “Nah man, get bent,” and tries to throw the lizard out the window. He tries this multiple times and fails every single one. Then he meets the lesser golem weapons that weirdly look like deformed beached fish, and they try to kill him. He narrowly avoids being straight-up murdered by deformed fishmen because the princess shows up and saves his life.

As it turns out, the princess chick is his next-door neighbor. What is she the princess of? Who the f*ck knows. Who is trying to destroy the world? Someone with a giant hammer. Why? Again, who the f*ck knows. He does ask about this whole “world-ending” thing he’s supposed to be doing something about, and she points to the sky. There is the shadow of this massive hammer that is poised above the earth waiting to fall and cause a strike that will make what the dinosaurs experienced seem like a fall soiree. This is called the “biscuit hammer”. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it’s made out of cookies, but as far as I got into the show they do literally nothing to explain this nonsense.

So our main character dude decided, for seemingly no reason, to join up with the princess and serve her. To me, I’m thinking that I need more information. Sure, you’ve got a talking lizard, you have a giant hammer, and weird golems, but what the actual hell are you a princess of, and why should any of this be my problem? As far as I can tell, none of these golem things tried to kill me prior to y’all showing up in my room yesterday and downloading this nonsense into my skull. I am not biting until I get more information.

Apparently, whoever has the hammer wants to destroy the world for… reasons, and the princess is the only one that can stop that, and you, brave sir knight, have to facilitate that happening… right. Now, here’s the kicker. The princess, who is apparently named Lucifer for no reason whatsoever, and no, they do not explain this at all, has confided in the dude whom the lizard is harassing, that she is going to destroy the world anyway. Why? Because the world is “hers” in her mind, and no one can destroy what is hers, thus the reason why she will stop whoever has the hammer. However, if the world continues on past her life then it was never really “hers”, and she can’t have that.

If you’re like me, you’re like, what now you crazy b*tch? You would think that the dude would think that too, but no… You see, he had a mean grandpa and that mean grandpa abused him so he thinks the world should end too. I’m sorry… what?

These are the main characters of the anime. They do not provide background to the force that they are apparently fighting against, nor do they provide anything that would make anyone want to bother with either of these two characters. Their motivations are ridiculous and so self-involved that you will likely find yourself thinking that the golems are the good guys. I suppose the only reason to have the “biscuit hammer” is to make it clear that the end of the world is inevitable, because otherwise, you would just find both of them to be a waste of space and unworthy of consideration.

This comes back to the idea of motivations. People do not share them across the board. It is reasonable to think, if you are tasked with saving the world, and you do so, you would consider the world to have value. In a story arc that would be the tale of the hero. You aren’t going to think that it’s some child throwing a tantrum, and screaming through their actions and motivations, “YOU CAN’T DESTROY THE EARTH BECAUSE I’M GOING TO SO NAH!!!!!” And yet, that is what they are going with for this anime. Granted, there are twenty episodes that I didn’t watch, and perhaps the whole thing is a redemption arc for these totally unlikeable characters, but they haven’t given me enough information to be bothered with them having a redemption arc.

Animes like this are written using actual human perspectives. There are plenty of people who think this way, and unless you are aware of that, you will fail to understand how they came to the actions that they undertook. That is not to say that by understanding it you have to feel anything toward them in terms of sympathy or empathy. I lack all of that and as far as I’m concerned they need to get the f*ck over it. I don’t care what kind of sad life someone has led. That’s not my problem. The idea that they therefore think that they get to punish the world is weak and pathetic in my mind. Sack up. Jeez.

My thinking this way does not change the way that they think of the world. They think, “I’m right, and I’m justified. My emotions are a perfectly reasonable thing to utilize when it comes to reaching conclusions about punishing the world. I have hurt feelings, so everyone else should suffer.” It’s the same ridiculous thinking that lots of bad actors in the world use to justify their nonsense.

Just because you cannot understand why a person might do something does not in any way remove them from being very like you in terms of how their brain operates. It’s just that you have better coping strategies than taking your anger out on the world. You aren’t so far up your own rear end that you think your hurt feelings are anyone else’s problem but your own. You aren’t always going to understand the motivations of those around you that are in fact wired like you.

Believe me when I say, being psychopathic doesn’t mean that I understand the motivations of all other psychopaths either, so you aren’t alone in that. I know that there are serial killers that are psychopathic. Why they chose this is beyond me. I would certainly listen to their reasoning and try to cognitively understand it, but I still see that behavior as I do the kid from the anime, a ridiculous waste of time.

As I said in the title. There will always be atrocious behavior in this world, and you will not always understand what motivates it. Sometimes when you realize that it is originating from something so self-absorbed like, my fee fees are hurt so I want to make the world suffer, it will sacrifice a fair bit of the faith you have in humanity. I think that it is worse when people who would otherwise condemn atrocious behavior will celebrate it because it makes them feel good. I imagine that there are a few of you who saw this in people that you thought you knew in the last few weeks, and it is probably pretty veil shattering.

It is important to remind yourself that being a good and moral person relies on your value system not being decided in what feels good, but rather in what is good. When you see people sacrificing their values over what makes them emotionally satiated in the moment it is an excellent example of those who are living unexamined lives. To what extent that gives you insight into them as a person is up to you to decide, but I have had more than a few people ask for advice for dealing with people that they thought they knew and are now getting a very rude awakening.

What I am telling them is this, it might be painful, but use it as a lesson to reexamine your own values and why you believe them. Take stock in what you know and look past the emotion of any given moment and act consistently toward those values. You can be an example, but even if it changes no one’s mind, you at least know that the person you have to answer to in the mirror can look back at you with an unwavering gaze.