There are a million and one ways that a person takes advantage of others. Entire books are dedicated to just one or two ways, ad infinitum. The basic essence to discuss here today is the advantage taking. A person takes advantage of another person. That’s it.
This boils down to a withdrawal on the goodwill of the relationship when a deposit should be put down. Or nothing at all should happen and someone should just chill. This is an art, not an exact science. Some people have a good sense of when a relationship is reciprocal and some people just slam around and selfishly hope they get ahead somehow. Other people are acutely aware of when they take advantage and do their best to cover it up. Everyone has a different attachment quality, their strategy for socializing and being present in the lives of others.
People who exhaust the goodwill of others are usually ungenerous. They don’t add the “personal touch” to their interactions. They are in it for themselves. This kind of greediness was normalized in the 20th century by various parties, including Ayn Rand (who died a self-indulgent actual cult leader propped up on welfare). The privation of being a minority Russian peasant during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s became the operating ethos for capitalism. Philosophical emphasis on charity was totally withdrawn. The state filled the vacuum. Instead of a standard of morality such as, “Does this serve God’s will?”, people adopted the standard of, “Does this serve me?” A newer standard is, “Does this serve Climate Change?” It’s a greedy frenzy the world has entered into: either to be the most self-indulgent of all or to be the one who strips the most away from others.
Goodwill is built up by kindness, consideration, gifting, respect, and by fun. People are becoming sticks in the mud because they cannot attribute the source of misery to its proper place: evil people using the state. All socializing has become strained because there’s a giant sucking sound of a collapsed star at the center of Western Civilization. Too many people have become dependents and the center can no longer hold. The collapse inward has begun and people reflect this in their psyches. There is no art. There is no culture. There is no dancing. People cannot sustain folk pathways, nor are they allowed to by the endless tattletales roaming and lurking about.
Too much debt has accumulated and the value producers are shrugging. The harsh law of value for value will eventually come back into the world but not before great, pathetic, and completely avoidable spectacles have taken their toll.
The people who do not drain goodwill have turned away from the frenzy. They are being made scapegoats of by those still seeking a pound of flesh.
