Everyone is living under a colossal lie. We base our entire lives on it and assume it, without knowing it's there. To some extent, this lie permeates our daily lives, as well as out human interactions. There's an unspoken trust between humans. By our very nature, we feel an internal drive to live in society, which requires trust. We assume people won't lie.
This seems to be a very reasonable approach to social interaction, but humans aren't meant to live in groups of thousands. This means that some people can use our innate trust in humans to manipulate others. That is the core of the matter. This is how a way to make us come closer and work together had become our greatest weakness against alienation. The less we are willing to look into ourselves and realize this, the more easily we are deceived.
It was very clear to me from a young age that altruism doesn't exist. Unless someone is an outlying case, humans will never do something unless they want to do it. Even under circumstances where an order is given, the choice of disregarding the order exists, which seems to be the object of many heroic feats. Even then, the moment in which we realize that our will is being broken, we feel despair. Like breaking up with a partner or learning that a young family member passed away. No matter what we want to do, we have conflicting wills.
This shows some insight into what happens with two conflicting views emerge. Goodwill disappears. We could call it "iron will" or "setting limits", but the limits were always there. Humans cannot consciously make an unfavorable deal. Sometimes an action might seem to be unfavorable for the person who made the decision, but there is a certain level of satisfaction we receive from being martyrs, usually masked as either morals or convictions. Our actions are not goodwill for the other humans, but for ourselves. That is the principle that drives the social behavior.
The benefits of the illusion of goodwill are clear to anyone. Teamwork wouldn't be possible without this kind of resource. However, not everything works as intended. A very simple example follows:
A man is waiting at the subway station. He knows the coming train will be saturated due to being rush hour. A few minutes before the subway arrives, an elder man with a cold comes by and asks the man for directions. The younger man realizes that the elder should take the same subway ride as himself to be there as soon as possible. What does the younger man do?
Here I will find two main groups diverging in their opinions. One group will say he will help the man ride the subway and get him on his way. Most people will answer like this, working as evolution intends by rewarding martyrdom over personal gain.
The other possibly-smaller group will say the man lies about the route. The younger man lies because he feels no obligation to the elder man. If he has no internal reward for riding next to a sick person or arriving late himself, he has no motivation to surrender his own benefit.
Within smaller communities, the feeling of duty as well as guilt keeps the goodwill illusion working as intended, but in a society where anonymity plays a central role, those values are diluted. From anonymity comes a source of deceit. Furthermore, when we move towards the opposite end, racism and discrimination simply nullify the goodwill illusion
Most of the time, we don't see the negative effects of the illusion with anonymity, since laws, morals, social norms, etc. create artificial pressure to be honest and rightful. The idea of duty and good citizenship has risen to a high standard. Being truthful and honest is a highly valued trait throughout most of society.
Finding a way to make people believe they are being benefited from the actions of a single group is the embodiment of leadership and charisma. Idolizing leaders who are able to sway the masses for their own benefit is an example of how goodwill can be abused. It is about people having the hope of a better life in exchange for a vote or support. The amount invested into a promise outweights the cost of the action. Companies and governments excel at appealing to feelings and dreams. People will remove their skepticism in exchange for hope and happiness.
There is no longer a need to crosscheck sources or reasons. We are so alienated that we mistake evolutionary goodwill for trust abuse. Discerning truth from falsehood is no longer a priority. The simplest way in today's world is to block out the ideas that do not appeal to our interests and submit to the figures that feed our confirmation bias.
Here is a link to a Strawpoll asking if you would help the elder man.
