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Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
Very true, and then there just the simple fact that a lot of crime / violent crime is linked to drug use... And the people who are MOST likely to become addicts are those who have poor emotional control, depression, anxiety disorders, etc.
People who are emotionally "flatter" are far less likely to become involved in drug use, and less likely to form a habit in general. Self medication for emotional problems is a huge issue.
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Self-medication is very common. And then there are those who need actual meds (that they need it to remain
civil), and without it some people will go off the rails and end up locked up because of it. And yet the
drugs are better
Those people are very easy prey by others in that environment as the hardier ones will use emotional manipulation to get a leg up in there socially or they will take advantage of those who are mentally ill. There's actually a lot of that in their backstories even when they were not picked on. Their backstories are all about environments where people use one another and carefully crafted manipulation. That can be anything from taking advantage of mom, to having been caught because they were manipulated (etc), to drugs, etc and even the thrill of finally getting one over time and time again... some are OK with it being a revolving door situation, and they have changed the story to be one of they have capitalized on the system rather than the system having gotten them. Also common.
Some would say it's common sense to not let someone take advantage of you or to achieve your personal needs through dysfunction, but then what do you do if common sense is not in the DNA of some folk?
Speaking of which...
Why America Loves a Con Man
https://www.rd.com/culture/con-man/
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It seems that con artists, for all their vices, represent many of the virtues that Americans aspire to. Con artists are independent and typically self-made. They don’t have to kowtow to a boss—no small thing in a country in which people have always longed to strike out on their own. They succeed or fail based on their wits. They exemplify, in short, the complicated nature of American capitalism, which, as McDougall argues, has depended on people being hustlers in both the positive and the negative sense. The American economy wasn’t built just on good ideas and hard work. It was also built on hope and hype.
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This is the other angle of it. There's this Darwinian approach I think, that some people excel at over others. "Getting one over" is to some not only a skill, but an admirable trait...
"Well they were stupid enough to do XYZ... I just was smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity when it became available"
It makes sense why some of the worst and most defective people can end up in public office.