My general assumption for the lowest I can expect a person to behave is basically always looking for their own absolute gain, and any attitude towards other people comes secondary to that. So while a person living by this standard wouldn’t donate to charity without some other motive, they would have basically the same answer to something like the trolley problem as anyone else.
Am I wrong thinking of this as a “minimum reasonable behavior”, or is there something people actually gain from the suffering of other people?
This question was born out of seeing how people are being treated by the US government at the moment, but I’m asking about more than just that. People like abusive partners/family, hostile cops, or just bullies in general.
There’s some distinction to be made too between cruelty, and just plain apathy, dissociation, or whatever (I’m tired and struggling to word today).
When you mow down a heap of homes in Sim City you feel nothing because you’re not linking your actions to a real impact on actual people. All you have in mind is that if you do it, you’ll be able to use the space for something else that works better for you.
To some people, that’s how they view the world.