We criticize others as by that we raise ourselves above them
Question from the Internet:
Why are some people happy to criticise the lives of others, but are not prepared to help them?
We are all born with an inherently individualistic, self-justifying nature. We all want to see ourselves stronger, better, greater than others. Consciously, unconsciously we keep comparing ourselves to others.
So it serves our best interest to find faults, mistakes, crimes in others, thus negative judgement, criticism of others comes naturally, instinctively as by that we are immediately, automatically raising ourselves higher than the others.
When two people talk they sooner or later start gossiping about others, criticising others behind their backs for the same reason.
On the other hand if we helped those others we criticize, we would lose the personal, self-justifying advantage we gained by seeing them lower, worse than us. So it is not in our subjective, egocentric interest to help them.
These are not pleasant concepts, most people reject them off-hand. On the other hand without knowing ourselves, recognizing the true traits, instincts, inclinations, intentions that determine our behavior we can’t change, we can’t improve on ourselves.