This will sound horrible, but I think the view of idealists as fools has a grain of truth. There are many people, entities and ideas that, if you love them, will reward you generously. Why waste your love on something that won’t reward you?
This seems like partly a critique of unstrategic loyalty and unquestioned ideals rather than idealism per se, and (to my brain at least) partly like a type error – in my mind, the pointof having ideals isn’t at all that they will reward you.
I think this is fair re: loyalty to people – it’s a red flag if you find yourself being loyal to someone who treats you badly, and falling into that pattern is a pitfall of being someone with a strong tendency to loyalty. Re: entities/institutions, I think it’s more complicated, since I don’t think modern institutions are generally capable of “being loyal back”.
in my mind, the point of having ideals isn’t at all that they will reward you
Maybe not the whole point, but if I have some ideal that’s about helping people, and these people turn out ungrateful again and again, it’s a sign that the ideal might be wrong.
This will sound horrible, but I think the view of idealists as fools has a grain of truth. There are many people, entities and ideas that, if you love them, will reward you generously. Why waste your love on something that won’t reward you?
This seems like partly a critique of unstrategic loyalty and unquestioned ideals rather than idealism per se, and (to my brain at least) partly like a type error – in my mind, the point of having ideals isn’t at all that they will reward you.
I think this is fair re: loyalty to people – it’s a red flag if you find yourself being loyal to someone who treats you badly, and falling into that pattern is a pitfall of being someone with a strong tendency to loyalty. Re: entities/institutions, I think it’s more complicated, since I don’t think modern institutions are generally capable of “being loyal back”.
Maybe not the whole point, but if I have some ideal that’s about helping people, and these people turn out ungrateful again and again, it’s a sign that the ideal might be wrong.