Are the masses also responsible for the dire state of society?

Question from the Internet:

“Have there been times when the masses made things worse rather as a politician in power or the rich (like a war started by the youths or ignoring safety policies) in real life or fiction?”

We tend to believe — and there are those who want to make us believe — that human beings, in general, are all good, sympathetic and law-abiding people, and it is only the “rotten apples”, the Hitlers, Stalins or Napoleons, only certain individuals, group of people, parties, nations, cultures or religions that are evil, causing all the strife, problems, wars and destruction.

But this worldview is not correct, it is a lie.

We are all born with an inherently self-serving, self-justifying, egocentric, subjective and exploitative nature. We all define and prove ourselves through comparison to others and as a result — knowingly or unknowingly — we all thrive for ruthless competition and success at the expense of others.

the only difference between people is the hunger and the willingness to sacrifice oneself and others for getting what we want at all costs. It is this hunger and the willingness to sacrifice that arranges human society according to the pyramid model, placing the most egoist and selfish people at the peak above the less selfish and egoistic — but still selfish and egoistic — masses.

And we have many examples of people from the “good and exploited” masses rising to powerful positions and transforming into even worse tyrants and dictators than those who were there before.

There are studies, like the infamous “Stanford Prison Experiment” for example, that show frighteningly clearly how anybody in the “right” conditions can become a concentration camp guard, ruthlessly tormenting others.

As long as we accept this illusion that we only need to weed out the “rotten apples” and then society will become good and perfect we will helplessly continue history’s recurring vicious cycles. Only when we all recognize the ruthless, exploitative ego within us and we become willing to change and further develop ourselves above and against this ego, then we will build truly better, safer, more peaceful and relatively equal societies.