I think that’s not the way how people instinctively think. Consider following statement: “Wall Street bankers should be stripped of their wealth/heavily taxed/prosecuted.” Ignore whether it would be a good policy or not. Still, it’s a human way to think and many do adopt that kind of stance. Now consider the opposite: “Wall Street bankers should be forced to share their methods so that everyone can prosper.” That’s quite an alien approach and one would be hard pressed to find many people who actually think that.
For the psychology behind it consider this article which describes how !Kung people of Kalahari were insulting an ox they were given, calling it a bag of bones and similar. When asked why, they’ve explained:
Yes, when a young man kills much meat he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man, and he thinks of the rest of us as his servants or inferiors. We can’t accept this. We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way we cool his heart and make him gentle
I think that’s not the way how people instinctively think. Consider following statement: “Wall Street bankers should be stripped of their wealth/heavily taxed/prosecuted.” Ignore whether it would be a good policy or not. Still, it’s a human way to think and many do adopt that kind of stance. Now consider the opposite: “Wall Street bankers should be forced to share their methods so that everyone can prosper.” That’s quite an alien approach and one would be hard pressed to find many people who actually think that.
For the psychology behind it consider this article which describes how !Kung people of Kalahari were insulting an ox they were given, calling it a bag of bones and similar. When asked why, they’ve explained: