Privileges are Evil
Privileges are definitely the most significant mistake mankind has ever made. I would define privileges as a condition that gives individuals power over others. Our inherited culture teaches us that power over people is valuable, so it values privileges as well. The word “privilege” immediately reminds us of people with power or those who are very successful, but privileges are far more widespread. Almost every person is somehow privileged, and that is not good. This article mainly presents the sources of privilege, why it is not good, and how it can be removed.
Talents a person possesses should not be considered privileges, but in an alienated society, skills are easily earned. Ability should not be considered a privilege, but if ability gives people power over others, then it becomes a privilege. Work should not be considered a privilege, but if the job gives people control over others, then it becomes a privilege. Achieved material wealth should not be a privilege, but if it gives people power over others, it becomes one. Beauty should not be considered a privilege, but if beauty gives power over others, it becomes one. Hope you get the point.
Most people, because of their subjectivity, see privileges as a way to overcome their own powerlessness in nature. Privileges can easily create the illusion of power, giving a person great happiness that seems like a genuine overcoming of powerlessness in nature. Such a man tends to start admiring himself greatly, creating a narcissistic trait in his character. This character trait glorifies the subjective vision of conscience, which alienates man from objective reality. A narcissistic person is so burdened with themselves that they are not able to notice anything valuable that exists besides themselves. He loses respect for people, and that prevents him from achieving natural benefits in relationships with others. They also lose respect for nature. Legend says that Narcissus fell in love with himself and was unable to learn to swim, so he drowned in the lake where he had fallen while watching his reflection.
Objectively, a person does not need privileges, but subjectively, they can easily create an illusion of power, deceive others, and become a significant figure. However, privileges bring happiness to the narcissistic person, stemming from a subjective vision of power, and therefore, they invest considerable effort in maintaining their privileged status. But usually, it does not matter how much a narcissistic person tries; nothing can overcome their weakness in nature. Obviously, it is not possible to keep beauty and youth. Everyone who tries to do so is their own worst enemy because they are condemned to lifelong suffering. Other alienated needs are harder to identify, but the result is the same. Privileged people in real life must encounter conflicts with objective reality. Then they necessarily suffer. Pain destroys the souls of narcissistic people, and they very often find escapes from the painful suffering in the perversion of their own sensibility.
Narcissistic people, through their subjective consciousness, may identify the loss of privileges with the loss of their existence, so any threat to their privileges causes them to panic and fear, and they desperately seek salvation. Hurting someone’s narcissism provokes hatred that cannot be forgiven. Nothing attacks people as much as someone’s injured narcissism; nothing destroys marriages as much as someone’s injured narcissism; nothing kills people as much as someone’s hurt narcissism; and nothing provokes wars as much as someone’s wounded narcissism. Injured narcissism is the leading cause of destructiveness in society. All evil in humanity's history comes from narcissistic character traits.
Privileges corrupt people. People whose privileges cannot spoil them are so rare they can be considered nonexistent. I am not sure privileges couldn’t corrupt me, at least a little. Privileges should be avoided as a requirement for fostering a constructive orientation among people. Preventing privileges means overcoming narcissism and destructiveness in society.
Powerless people tend to seek privileges. The more a person feels weak in society and nature, the more they need to create privileges. In this regard, the more we address people’s weaknesses, the more we will solve the problem. The system I have proposed will overcome people's powerlessness.
Privileges may develop from childhood
An exaggerated concern for children may be a more severe problem than neglecting children. I will try to explain it using the example of Adolf Hitler’s upbringing. Adolf Hitler's mother admired him unconditionally. She did everything she could to please him. She did all his chores instead of him. Psychologist Erich Fromm believes this is not loving because it lacks responsibility for the child’s future, and I agree. Adolf Hitler grew convinced that he was perfect without putting in any effort. In this way, he developed his extreme narcissistic view of the world. To him, the world existed only as far as he could subjugate it to his needs. His mother was just his maid, fulfilling all his wishes and pulling him out of unpleasant situations. This made him irresponsible and incapable of love.
Of course, later on in real life, as a result of an ignorant upbringing, Adolf Hitler experienced many painful moments. The pain brings most people back to reality, but not extremely narcissistic Adolf Hitler. While he suffered in an unpleasant reality, he retreated into his shell and engaged in endless internal monologues, which he used to justify his inability to adapt to society. The speaking skills he developed in this way helped him expose himself to the German people during a sensitive political moment. The rest is history. Adolf Hitler’s story is not about criminal genetics but about the very irresponsible upbringing of the child. I am convinced that if his mother did not spoil him during the earliest years of his life and if his father paid attention to him, Adolf Hitler would probably have become a prominent retailer or something like that, and 35 million people would not have been killed in the Second World War. In this respect, even violent parents are not as bad in the upbringing of their children as ignorant parents who spoil them. They are the greatest enemies to their children and, at the same time, do significant damage to society.
Millions of children around the world are brought up similarly to Adolf Hitler, where parents really damage their children with good intentions. Spoiled children are very irresponsible and do not develop their natural abilities. They have big problems throughout life and suffer because of it. A child’s high degree of narcissism can be identified by excessive confidence or by exaggerated fear, and also by intense aggressiveness or extreme isolation. A child’s aggression can only be removed by severe penalties, while in the case of excessive seclusion, a lot of knowledge and attention are needed. If parents show weakness towards children’s aggression or indifference towards children’s depression, they can easily create very maladjusted children who will be unhappy in their lives, and during a moment of crisis, they may become murderers. The Virginia Tech massacre is such an example where a student killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide.
If parents do not fulfill their duties in raising children, it is most likely too late for the children’s productive development. Then, only psychiatrists or the oppressive state apparatus can provide some assistance. Now you are probably wondering where the boundary in upbringing is that divides responsible and irresponsible children in terms of their future. This border is defined by knowledge that arises from equal relationships among people. In this state, children will not feel superiority or inferiority. I’ve established a system that will achieve such a society in my book Humanism.
Economic privileges
Owners of the means of production hold the most widespread form of privilege today. In a society with high unemployment, employers are especially privileged. Unemployed workers are forced to accept low-paying jobs to feed their families. The privileged owners of the means of production exploit them by abusing workers, giving them poor wages while achieving higher profits for themselves. Then, employers develop narcissistic traits that make them insensitive to the needs of workers. In this way, workers are exploited, forming the foundation of today’s social problems.
The solution to these problems is straightforward. All that needs to be done is to reduce employers' privileges. We can reduce their privileges by ending unemployment benefits. We can do this by reducing work hours in proportion to the unemployment rate. Once unemployment is removed, employers will have to compete to hire workers by raising wages. Workers will gain higher purchasing power and buy more, which will help the capitalist economy produce more and make a profit. The problem is that increased workers’ rights reduce employers' privileges, and they vehemently oppose it. This problem must be resolved because only by equalizing people's rights can we build a promising future for humanity.
In the final stage of developing the new humanistic system, I propose completely abolishing employer privileges by introducing a system of work competition in public companies. I have proposed a work competition among workers in public companies. Each post will be filled by the worker who offers the highest productivity at any time. No position in public companies will be privileged any longer.
In the new system, each work position will be equally desirable. This will be achieved when each work position with a defined productivity gets a worker who asks for a lower labour price. Labour price will be one of the factors that determine income levels, but better jobs will earn relatively lower salaries, and worse jobs will be compensated with relatively higher incomes. Thus, the labour market will balance workers' interests across all jobs.
The new economy will create an effective system of accountability for the productivity workers offer, so they would not dare promise productivity they cannot deliver. The responsibilities of managers and workers will be so significant that they must mutually agree on production and establish a high degree of consensus before making decisions. This kind of market economy will result in co-operation at all levels of production processes and thus will contribute to the development of a productive society.
No economy can be better than one where every job gets the best worker available. Such an economy will easily become significantly more productive than the capitalist one, forcing capitalism to withdraw. When capitalism ends, humanism will begin. It will abolish privileges by creating equal-rights relations in society and build an unthinkably better future for humanity.
My experience with privileged people
The owners of the means of production might be privileged over the consumers as well. The owners of the ski resort, Mt. St. Louis and Moonstone in Ontario, are privileged. Their privilege comes from the fact that Ontario is a flat province, so the little hill they own, 100 kilometres from Toronto, is always full of skiers. This privilege made the ski resort owners arrogant.
Last year, I went with my family there to ski. We bought ski lift tickets. I placed my ticket in a special transparent pocket designed just for that purpose. When I entered the ski-lift line, the owners told me to either put the ski pass on a string or leave. I said I would go if they refunded my ski pass. They did not reply to my request; instead, they used force and pushed me down into the snow. One of the workers jumped on me while the owner struck me with his boot in the ribs. I immediately called the police, expecting them to protect the citizens, but this was not the case. In Canada, the police protect private capital more than people. The police told me I had to leave the ski resort.
The privilege of owning the ski resort gave them great power, which alienates people from their own nature. And so they have built a high degree of narcissism, and as such, they have lost the ability to correctly perceive the natural laws and reach a normal, healthy life. They cannot find happiness in their lives. If these arrogant people somehow get unlimited power, they might become some variant of Adolf Hitler. Many arrogant people around the world would repeat what Hitler did if they got the chance. It would be entirely wrong to conclude that such opportunities cannot occur again.
Now, I live in a big building with outdoor and indoor swimming pools. A maintenance service and a board of directors, composed mainly of retired people, make decisions of common interest. For a director position on the Board of Directors, the primary applicants are residents who seek power over others and enjoy using it. Life experience taught me that those who love power are the worst, because they use it at others' expense. The Board of Directors has hired a woman who works as a lifeguard at the pools and maintains order. She forbade me from protecting my five-year-old daughter with sunscreen at the outdoor pool because someone from the Board of Directors wrongly informed her that sunscreen damages the pool installation. This was misinformation because sunscreen may harm the Jacuzzi but not the pool. However, this rule was in force for years and harmed pool users. Other tenants have told me in confidence that they protect themselves from the sun at home before they go to the pool. I succeeded in revoking this stupid decision by writing a letter to the management board.
I played amateur soccer and basketball for more than forty years. I mostly did it because running is healthy. And it was always more enjoyable for me to chase the ball than to run around a stadium. Narcissistic players bring conflicts into sports. Finally, I’ve avoided such conflicts by not playing team sports anymore. The relationship between my orientation and theirs is similar to that between health and illness. People don't realize this because, if they did, they would choose good over evil for themselves. One day, my philosophy will solve such problems.
In the system I have proposed, everyone will have an equal right to evaluate anyone else. Each positive assessment should automatically bring a small prize to the person being assessed. On the other hand, any negative evaluation will result in a punishment of the same form. Let us say the awards and penalties for such assessments are worth one dollar. Arrogant people, such as ski resort owners, members of the Board of Directors, and soccer players, often make mistakes that lead to numerous negative evaluations over an extended period. After that, they would no longer dare to create any disadvantages in society. Such measures will definitely reduce the uncontrolled or insufficiently controlled power of individuals emerging from privileged statuses in society. Only then can society overcome its destructive orientation.
Privileges made Clinton, Bush and Blair criminals
What can one expect from truly privileged people? U.S. President Bill Clinton opposed the request from wealthy people to commit criminal aggression against Yugoslavia until the Monica Lewinsky case was imposed on him. I wrote more about it in the article My Debt to Yugoslavia. Enormous pressure was put on President Clinton to comment on the nature of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. As a result, he gave a false statement before the Commission of the U.S. Congress, negating the nature of his relationship was sexual. Now I’m asking: when is the U.S. Congress interested in the sexual life of American presidents, and why? But the Monica Lewinsky case was so “important” for the survival of the United States that Bill Clinton should eventually be impeached from the presidential position. This is the story for naive people. This story only served as blackmail for President Bill Clinton to force him to commit aggression against Yugoslavia, which was in the interests of the most influential people in the world. Apparently, the career was much more important to President Clinton than the lives of innocent people. After the aggression against Yugoslavia, the impeachment was forgotten entirely. Here is the chronology of the Monica Lewinsky case. No official information was ever released on how the case was closed.
Keeping his position was not Bill Clinton’s only benefit from the aggression against Yugoslavia. When his term as president expired, he established a philanthropic foundation, “William J. Clinton,” to finance his library in Little Rock, Arkansas and charitable efforts in dozens of countries to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. When his wife, Hillary Clinton, wanted to serve as U.S. Secretary of State, Bill Clinton had to release his foundation's donor list to avoid a possible conflict of interest. It was reported that the Bill Clinton Foundation collected a relatively large amount of 492 million dollars. I claim that many donors to his fund supported Clinton’s aggression against Yugoslavia, and their donations were a reward for the criminal action. This is corruption and crime of the worst kind. President Bill Clinton has to take responsibility before the court for his actions.
The aggression against Iraq was a crime according to the resolution of the UN. The aggression began with U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on charges that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein produced weapons of mass destruction (WMD) based on nuclear, biological, and chemical reactions. Such weapons in the hands of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda could supposedly be used against the United States. The investigation showed the allegations were lies. Anyone who tries to make a small effort to see events around the world objectively would clearly see that the aggression on Iraq was conducted for control of Iraqi oil. British MP George Galloway, U.S. President George W. Bush, and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, through the aggression on Iraq, have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people and more than 4000 of their own troops, along with 30,000 wounded. In addition to this, George W. Bush spent one trillion U.S. dollars on the war, which must be returned by the American people. Every citizen of the United States now owes $4,000 more to the American Federal Reserve Bank for the aggression against Iraq. If someone tries to steal $4,000 in America, he will end up in prison, but when the President of the USA robs every citizen in America of this amount of money, nothing happens.
This is the type of crime for which most courts around the world would impose the most severe penalties. Well, then why have the presidents of the USA and the UK Prime Minister not been called to bear their responsibility for the war crimes before the court? It is evident that leaders of the developed world are privileged and above the law. It must not stay like this. As long as there are people above the law, justice will not exist. Without it, people on Earth cannot hope for peace, prosperity, or a beautiful future. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, together with their associates, must be prosecuted for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, for the enormous material damage that their criminal aggressions have caused, for the costs the war brought to their people, and for the pirate robbery of Iraqi oil.
Once the evaluation system I propose is adopted, state presidents will no longer have this privilege. The system will prevent heads of state from declaring war. Also, people would individually allocate no money from their taxes for armies, and armies would cease to exist. In the new system, waging wars will be utterly impossible.
The Rothschilds are the most privileged people
One should not think that American presidents commit crimes to earn all the profit. American presidents come and go and cannot organize the exploitation of conquered countries during their short mandates in a way that lets them earn significant profits from their aggression. Some people have power over the American presidents, and they stay in their positions permanently. These are the owners of corporations. These leaders have names, and they must be held accountable for what they did. I am convinced that the principal owners of these corporations are the Rothschild family, and behind them are the families Rockefeller, Morgan, Wartburg, etc. Forgive me if I skipped any more precious names.
I wrote more about these families in my article Has Antichrist Come? I do not think that American presidents work under direct orders from these wealthy families. Around the presidents are exclusive rings of associates who received their education from the wealthy families mentioned. Hardly anyone can get close to the president without passing the exams with excellence. These associates impose the wealthy families' will on the presidents. That is why changes in the US President or the UK Prime Minister do not significantly alter these countries' policies.
The Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Warburgs, and others cannot escape the responsibility for what they have been doing. Many people call them out on Google and YouTube for the crimes they have committed. I believe that in the foreseeable future, most people around the world will understand that these families are the evil governing the Western world and are the prime source of problems in today’s society. They will realize that releasing the world from the control of these wealthy families means freeing the world from exploitation, poverty, war, alienation, and all other disadvantages of today’s society. Then these families will be in real danger. But I do not want the path to a better future of humankind to be dirtied with anyone’s blood.
I want the future to be built on equal rights and universal agreement among all people. I think that the best solution for these wealthy families is to accept the system that I have proposed. By accepting the system I have suggested, they would protect themselves from lynching. The new system would undoubtedly punish these wealthy families for their crimes. But what would the penalties be? Death sentences practically don’t exist today, so they do not need to fear that. In the system I proposed, there will be no prison sentences, so they shouldn’t need to worry about that either. They will lose their privileged status. That would not be pleasant to their alienated conscience, but I would not recommend that they unleash their anger upon me. I don't think the world would forgive them if they attacked my philosophy or me. Moreover, they should be grateful to me because my philosophy keeps the well-being of their families.
If the system I have proposed is accepted, I am convinced these families would remain the wealthiest in the world. No one can deny that, by organizing capitalism, these families have achieved significant economic progress and substantial societal improvements. By accepting the system I have suggested, they will lose the power to rule the world secretly, but it was not particularly successful anyway. See what their results are! Besides, I think that even if they were far more skilled than they are, they could not reign over the world because it is not possible. The people would rebel even if they were in golden cages. People need freedom in the first place. Once the world is free of its chains, they will no longer have to hide their powers.
People worldwide will recognize them as the most distinguished families. Is this not an excellent recognition? In the new system, they could even take control of the entire world, as the system I proposed requires someone to lead it. This time, the leaders will be directly accountable to people worldwide. If they make mistakes, they could get billions of negative evaluations, costing them billions of dollars every month. Even if they couldn’t afford it, they would work hard to create a sound policy for the world. In this case, the Rothschild family and their partners would begin to contribute to building a far better future for humanity. In this case, everyone wins, and nobody loses. Is this not a good offer? If they think about it, they will find the system I proposed is the best option for them, too.
Life is better without privileges.
I never wished to be privileged. Never in my life was my goal to have power over others. I needed money only to meet basic needs. Maybe a little more sometimes, but earning money was never my primary goal. This has given me a lot of time to focus on my real needs, which is why I have achieved success in my own life. That success can be measured in the first place by the fact that I have no problem with myself. I do not drink alcohol, I do not take any medication, I have neither neurosis nor depression, and I do not lack anything. On top of it all, I have a lovely family. Someone might say this is not a big success in life, but I would respond that not many people manage to achieve such a state. It is especially hard for privileged people to achieve this. Also, by finding my inner freedom, I made significant progress in my philosophy. Success matters not because my philosophy was hard to create, but because no one else has worked seriously in this field. People are so burdened by alienated values that I did not face real competition in my field.
But as a young person, influenced by society, I was ambitious and wanted to promote myself. I achieved some success in architecture, but I later realized it was not a successful period in my life. Notably, that period reminds me of my great dependence on smoking. At that time, I never even tried to stop smoking because I knew that there was no chance of overcoming my addiction. Then, I focused on my philosophy, which brought me inner peace even though I continued to have a habit of smoking. When my first daughter was born, I felt I should stop smoking in the name of our health. I was preparing myself for a terrible battle against cigarettes. And then came an incredible surprise; I quit smoking without any problem. I think my work helped me build inner peace that liberated me from my dependence on cigarettes. If I succeeded in quitting, why couldn’t other people achieve similar results? A healthy life, which my philosophy addresses, will help people worldwide overcome their problems and the addictions that prevent them from living well.
Someone might think my indifference to achieving privileges, earning money, building power in society, getting promoted at work, and buying houses comes from my megalomaniac need to change the world. This would not be true. I’ve just discovered that the freedom in the field of my own interests, which is also suitable for people, brings more satisfaction than any privileges can. But at one point in my life, I realized that all the values I needed were behind uncrossable walls that kept me from reaching them. I found my goal when I decided to tear down the walls, to change the world and make it an excellent place to live. Or, to be more explicit, I am naturally a little lazy, and if I could find interest in everyday life, I would never focus on my philosophy. I was not even a talented writer. Changing the world was not an easy goal, but I had no choice.
But wait a moment, weren’t all the great founders and leaders, including emperors, claiming that they wanted to build a good world? Yes, but there are vast differences between them and me. The biggest difference is that great founders and leaders, including emperors, held privileged power over people. In contrast, my system will not grant me any authority above anyone else. Also, my system will bring good life and happiness to all people worldwide, which no great founders or leaders, including the emperor, have ever managed to achieve.
By my nature, I hardly start something, but once I move, I do not give up. Nothing can stop me. For 27 years, I have been developing new ideas that will one day change the world entirely and make it a beautiful place to live, yet I have not yet achieved success in society. In the last nine years, 250,000 people have visited this website and taken 2,500 copies of my book Humanism. Yet, none of them have found it valuable to join me in my effort to improve the world.
What’s the problem? People usually recognize my good intentions, but generally they lack the confidence to review them. No one is engaged in researching society's development, so people think new ideas are unrealizable. They are convinced that otherwise, some institution would work on them. People expect authorities to lead them down the right path, but authorities do not want changes that reduce their power. Each turn of accepted knowledge threatens the authorities' privileges, and the foundation of society practically needs to change to create a sane society. The road to progress is closed. Despite that, I know I have defined what humanity's bright future will look like. I am convinced I am right, which is why I cannot find more significant meaning in my life than working on my philosophy. It gives me the satisfaction of work that keeps me from giving up.
Privileges must be removed
Privileged statuses bring pleasure to most people, but I would say this status is alienated from people's natural needs, so it necessarily results in real disadvantages that people, due to their ignorance, do not associate with privileges. In most cases, such people cannot find their inner peace. They are under constant stress and seek relief through alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, internal tension prevents people from recognizing objective reality. This inner tension makes it difficult for people to sense the right path and make sound decisions in their lives. It makes it difficult for people to re-examine the premises that led them into their current situations and to become enlightened. Privileges certainly alienate people from the possibilities of finding satisfaction in the natural relationship among people. In reality, privileges are powerlessness itself.
All problems in society stem from an inadequate value system. Expecting that privileges of any form of having power over others can bring happiness is just as likely as getting happiness from cocaine. They are both hallucinations based on illusions. Privileges are evil. When society revokes privileges, only then will it get a chance to achieve a better life. It is not easy, but there is no other path. Changes in society that do not abandon privileges are cosmetic changes only, and cannot bring prosperity to mankind.
The escape from this evil lies in forming an objective system of values based on society's natural needs. The system that I propose will build such values. It will establish the person as society's highest value. The new system will create a scale by which a person's value can be defined and measured, so people can easily notice and accept it. Once society accepts these objective values, alienated powers arising from privileges will lose importance because, objectively, they are not values. The new system will direct people to the right path. It will give people the power of being they need, so they will no longer ask for privileges. And if people were still interested in seeking privileges, they would not be able to find any because the new system would remove them.
The system I have proposed on this website is not only the best solution to the problems of today’s world, but it’s also the only good one. That’s why my system will be accepted worldwide. This system prevents hunger, fear, corruption, narcissism, racism, immorality, crime, war, and all types of destruction in society and encourages the development of productive human powers. In short, the system promises a better life for everyone and harmony for the people. It will turn the main principles humankind has been built on upside down. The impact on the people will be so enormous that future generations will call everything before the implementation barbarism, and everything from the implementation on will be known as civilization.
My humanism will save the planet Earth from all social evil and will create love, joy, peace, health, beauty, freedom, security, justice, equality, harmony, abundance; and will make a paradise on earth.
Aleksandar Šarović
March 8, 2009