Mercy comments on Have no heroes, and no villains - Less Wrong

88 Post author: PhilGoetz 07 November 2010 09:15PM

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Comment author: Mercy 09 November 2010 11:27:28PM *  11 points [-]

There are certainly a fairly large group of people who are inclined to refer to others as "do-gooders" but I think this usually this is a consequence of not thinking of things in terms of wrong and right, but in terms of winners and losers. They adopt stereotypically villainous traits mockingly, to display their contempt for people they think are inferior to them. I know and see a lot of businessmen and commentators like that, but not many politicians, at least above the level of the president of the Young Tory or Debating society.

Similarly people who decide that the most important thing to do is to smash some "the other side" they can't credibly be cast as oppressive tend to adopt villainous traits.

Comment author: MichaelVassar 13 November 2010 04:45:49AM *  5 points [-]

OK, that sounds about right. I suspect that one difference is that we treat politicians as meaning different things. You may mean "candidates" while I'm also including lobbyests and other party organizers and influencers.