• cerement@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    26
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”

    —Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Creighton (1887)

    • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      I wish wisdom were a requirement of leaders.

      At least the bare minimum of aknowledging reality would be nice…

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Nah, it’s easy to spot people who don’t actually have skill.

          People just LOVE to give others the benefit of the doubt. To the detriment of all.

    • randomname01@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      But guys, Linus swears there’s no need for a union. He’ll just wield the power responsibly and with care, unlike all those other people.

    • Gadg8eer@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The sad part is, that’s not actually true. Power attracts the corrupt, and nobody’s perfect. The ones who are assholes are so common that the few that aren’t in it for money look so much worse for their flaws just by association.

      Of course, that doesn’t excuse serious mistakes, but the point is that people who do what Linus is being accused of don’t tend to be very nice people, and I know that because 8 years ago I had to face my own attitude towards the people around me. At least I wanted to change and did, most people who are assholes when given power have no remorse about their behavior whatsoever.

      I don’t know if its just that I’m asexual or if its where I live, but unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people online have normalized a selfish attitude towards sex, where “it doesn’t matter who I hurt as long as I get what I want” and “I am entitled to a sex life”. No, you AREN’T entitled to a sex life, even I always knew that people have a right to not be verbally molested, get over yourself.

      And, I mean, when I say “verbally molested” I don’t mean some SJW BS about how just looking at someone is “eye rape”, I mean when someone is genuinely being creepy by making everything they say about how they view someone only as potential real life porn. It doesn’t seem to be very common in my IRL locale, but I notice that kind of behavior (both the lecherousness and the accusations sometimes being in bad faith) seems to be an issue among people who have fame.

      Glad I never paid much attention to LTT, I think I’d feel extremely icky to discover this, if it holds to be true.

    • jamkey@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is not my thesis but someone else’s but as a counterpoint to this platitude, look at the difference between Lincoln versus Nixon. Both were leaders at pivotal times but they took very different ethical directions. Sometimes character and background DOES matter and we SHOULD expect more of our leaders. Just assuming they will all be corrupt makes up disengage from the process.