One was a lawyer who defrauded his elderly clients and the other just only worked for his parents his whole life after getting kicked from university for cheating and then attached himself directly to the teat after they retired. Once his father died he took over the life of his mother as she was descending into Alzheimer's and looted her assets with the help of his brother before he was disbarred.
Both thought that everyone else was doing it too- it was just about not getting caught. They literally couldn't comprehend the idea that others weren't just hypocrites.
I read a book once [0] that claimed sociopaths (who come in more-boring flavors than just Hollywood villainy) have a similar confusion: Since certain norms aren't as intuitive/automatic, it's as if everyone else is secretly playing a game with a set of unspoken barely-explained rules.
Some of them end up concluding it's all a cynical manipulative scam, and everybody else is the same as themselves except absurdly dedicated to keeping up the fiction.
[0] "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout
That's exactly how I feel lol biggest reason why I minimize my interaction with most of the society
Anyway, I think that people in general assume that others behave in a way similar to theirs, which works if you're average, but doesn't if you're not. You can see this when two cultures with opposing attitudes meet: both of them think "obviously I'm normal, it's them who's acting weird".
See most people who use the phrase "virtue-signaling" pejoratively.
Companies have always done brand advertising - Marlboro cigarettes didn't truly care about independence, ruggedness or cowboys - they just wanted to be associated with those themes to sell more product - hence the "Marlboro Man". Clint Eastwood, on the other had, seems to personally buy into that image in earnest - so Clint Eastwood doesn't "virtue-signal" about ruggedness and the old west and anyone who accuses[1] him of that is doing so in bad faith.
The culture warriors pretend companies pandering is new, and they term the branding/pandering they don't like "virtue-signalling"
1. He has some pretty strong opinions on who ought to be in westerns that I believe are misguided. My disagreeing wirh him doesn't mean he is insincere/virtue-signaling to the Country-music-listening demographic.
I remember having this feeling hit me hard when I read the part of the Richard Feynman book when he calls a woman a selfish wh--- and that results in her adamantly wanting to sleep with him.[1]
If you can shuck the siren's call of the mob, you can sympathize with the incel and MGTOW crowd who felt they weren't taught the right model.
I've kind of taken it on as a life motto: "No cheat codes." If there's something that magically works, it deserves to be exposed so everyone can use it, and also learn why it works. That is, everyone deserves the same hack. Yes, even when it costs my information monopoly.
[1] Blog post summarizing it: https://geekfeminismdotorg.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/feynman-...
I've worked for/with a number of narcissistic sociopaths. They love to surround themselves with two types of people:
1. Loyal fawning adorers who give them narcissistic supply.
2. Other narcissistic sociopaths.
2 was a surprise to me when I figured it out. Why would they want to be around their competition?
Because they actually believe there are only those two types of people in the world. And Type 2 are "their tribe." Anybody who claims not to be one of those two (i.e. "Type 3") is obviously a lying hypocrite and is not to be trusted. We Type 3s make them very uneasy.
If you find Dracula lore amusing, it's astonishing how these 3 types map:
1. Humans (i.e. food)
2. Vampires
3. The Van Helsing family (i.e. vampire slayers)
I think it's an expression of the natural human tendency to think that our personal experiences and attitudes are representative of the mean.
To say that a victimless crime is wrong requires a more deontological approach to morality.
There's no independent judiciary, those in power are not going to jail ...
"Tащи с работы каждый гвоздь - ты здесь хозяин, а не гость."
translating to:
"Grab every nail from work - you're the master here, not a guest."
essentially parroting the Soviet cliches about how proletariat was in charge etc.
Funny, but I have observed this with regards to lying.
That attitude is touched on near the end.