Letter to the Editor: Greed and gullibility
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Over the last 10,000 years, as a proximate result of the Agricultural Revolution, the chief causes of human suffering have been excessively greedy individuals, predominantly males. I define greed as the desire to acquire survival resources, primarily wealth, which makes all of us moderately greedy because we all need resources to survive. But the excessively greedy, those I label the Super Greedy, exhibit behaviors which have only recently developed/evolved, behaviors which our hunter-gatherer ancestors did not exhibit because, if for no other reason, they had little to be greedy about -- a topic more thoroughly discussed in my two books: "The Super Selfish," and "Sex, Survival and Salvation."
The objectives of the Super Greedy lust are physical wealth, power, or both. Power consists of being able to control the thinking and behavior of others and appears in either a political or social construct. The ultimate purpose of power is to obtain survival resources.
Putin and Trump are examples of super greedy possessors of political power who seek to translate that power into material wealth. Putin is a mass murderer who may ultimately embroil the world in nuclear war while Trump was and is willing to destroy American democracy for his purposes. Lower along the greediness scale is the disgustingly sycophantic greed of a Ted Cruz. Manchin, on the other hand, exemplifies the typical successful, but not Cruz-like, greedy politician who is content to quietly convert political power into wealth through the traditional means of deceit and influence peddling.
Social power is wielded, for example, by those promoting the concepts of "Prosperity Gospel," and the "Law of Attraction." The first is exerted by pastors, priests, and other religious specialists who operate so-called "Mega Churches" for the purpose of sucking wealth from the religiously gullible. The second concept is employed by "New Age" gurus and life coaches who prey upon the millions of gullible individuals who think life's problems can be solved simply by wishful thinking.
There are numerous other types of super greedy individuals whose behaviors exploit human gullibility and inflict great harm on the unsuspecting. Protection from such behavior comes from being able to think critically and to overcome our evolved predisposition to believe the false message of others by recognizing their greedy motivations. Modern societies can only achieve such protection after education on these topics, as well as other aspects of human behavior, becomes part of school curriculums.
Patrick Radcliff
Marietta