Power Corrupts?

[Gun]

"It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." - David Brin

I would say that this quote is correct. If we look in history, then we can see clearly that this statement is correct. For example, Alexander the Great did not become corrupt because of power, he always wanted power, even when he didn't have it, so he always did what he had to do to gain power. In constrast, Simon Bolivar never wanted power, and when he gained power, he didn't try to gain more of it -- he even refused a crown.

What do you think?

[Yuki-onna]

I wouldn't say it is "correct"...there's more to it than that.
Power doesn't just corrupt or not corrupt everyone, it has different effects on anybody.
It can turn people into monsters or bring out the best in them, to say it in extremities.

[Black Hawk]

That statement is correct......an example is in a case of Caesar.....he set up the way to power and eliminated the opposition....however he never did accept hte crown of king of Rome.....this is weird cause he set himself up as dictator and it was obvious that he wanted power why did he not go the extra mile.

Power does corrupt those who have obtaind it and I agree it can bring ot hte best in people as well.....I guess however if you do use the power in a limited way you can resist the corruption that may follow.

[Casanova[OCAU]]

mmm not necessarily. Power corrupts the weak minded, and the overly materialistic. Gandhi was extremly powerful. He quite literally had an entire nation behind him... but.. he didnt really do much wrong. However, examples such as these are sadly rare.

[Chez Daja]

Power can give one a sence of authority and strength, I don't feel it corrupts in most cases, just enhances a more responsible side of a human being. Of course, this isn't always the case, but in some, or half? =\

I'm not counting statitstics. That'd just be silly. =P

I hold with my first paragraph on this, though. I can't really say too much about this topic, since it's hard to say and not many ways to make a good enough explanation.

[Blacksmith]

Power has two sides to it, it's just who has it. For example, you give a man a gun and he can chance whether to shoot someone he hates or protect someone he loves with it. But, the one thing that truly makes power a terrible thing is the motive behind the power, and there are many people who immaturely hate others people and beings. Power tips the scales in battle, work, and your life. It is something we need, but it is overly used to gain selfish wants. So yes, power can corrupt, but it's how people use it. However, many don't understand or forget it is easier to destroy than it is to creative.

[TheHasteChocobo]

Power can corrupt a man when he is at risk of losing it.

You know this makes me think of my favourite quote from Kingdom Hearts "The Closer you get to the light the greater your shadow becomes." Now I could never apply this to anything other than literally getting close to a light and getting a bigger shadow. But now I thouht of something. Think of light as power and your shadow as potential for harm. The closer you get to the light(the more power you have) the greater your shadow becomes(the more harm you can do by corruptly using your power). I don't know that may sound dumb or need to be reworded, this thread just made me think of it.

[Maridia]

Power tends to corrupt, but not always. It has 2 affects on differant types of people. It either can make a person crave the power they have and to live a life of wanting more than they have and being money hungry. Or it can have another affect on people. Where you take what power you have and use it to take care and protect the ones you know and love. As in a responsible way to use your power, which is the better way to do things it seems, unless your drive of ambition makes you say it isn't good enough. But yes as for power for most of the time it does corrupt.

[baofu]

With great power comes great responsibilies-Spiderman^.^
If thou can not be responsible than thou does not deserve such power and if thou can not control it than thou becomes corrupt. Always wanting more power.
Yes I do think that power corrupts but I think it dosen't corrupt all people.

[Arkaine]

Power does not corrupt people per se, it is the other peoples reaction to power that can make a person get carried away. And it really isn't the power in and of itself, so much as the minds inability to properly handle the transition from nobody to somebody. And a lot of the so called powermongers and spotlight grabbers of the world have a history of coming from nothing and wanting to better themselves or their station. The problem is in most of these cases the person affected by the oppression/poverty/inability to provide is so far emotionally and mentally damaged that when they come into power their minds can't handle the transition and they lose themselves. Now as for the others, yes Power has the penchance for also attracting the corruptible or corrupt to itself. These examples see power as a way to get the things they might not otherwise be able to get for themselves. But lets face it, these people were damaged goods before they ever came into power. I don't think that power in and of itself corrupts, it's the ability of the person to adapt to the change that power brings that is the truly corrupting force.

[Itachi Uchiha]

power corrupts the weak minded, yes a agree with that. but if u are strong of mind you can use power for gd things. i am strong of mind so i can use power in both gd and bad ways and have control of it. weak minded people like chav's get controled by there own power and that is wat leads to truely evil things

[Chez Daja]

jamsephiroth, what "power" do you have? Are you a king? I doubt it. C'mon, don't talk crap. And don't offend chavs. I don't love them either, but you're still bashing a group and putting them down. Don't do that again, or I'll give you a warning.

Consider this is a pre-warning.

[PillBox]

Originally Posted by baofu

With great power comes great responsibilies-Spiderman^.^

baofu, it's from the Bible, the Book of Luke (Lucas) not Spiderman.

Power doesn't exactly corrupt, oftenly the greater good is mistaken with corruption, the benefits of surrounding yourself with "better" people is greater than surrounding with your peers, but we tend to join forces with those close to us on a day to day basis, maybe I'm missing something here, aren't we all corrupt? haven't you ever benefited a friend instead of a stranger? The trully altruist people are but a few. For me corruption isn't about power or money, it's about moral codes, it's about knowing the Balance and act accordingly, there's always two sides to it, call me hipocrit or corrupt but I'll always try to do the best for the most even if I step some cinderella toes, what must be done must be done, I'm not Ghandi nor Siddhartha, I will not please everyone nor it is my intention, we will always do something bad for someone when trying to do good for another. In the end we are still animals, some call it evolution others the destruction of the world. The lion kills the zebra or whatever and is not judged by it, you can say it's survival or you can say it's oppression, just like the USA and the "others" is it survival or is it oppression? Is the "Potus" a protector or a dictator? We can never know if the things we do are better or worse, the linearity of time shows us that two same events can be put in extreme opposites depending on the time they happen.

Enuff for now, Cheers!

PS: I'm new around here but you'll soon know I'm seldom right and most often I'm not wrong.

[Pete]

Power can do both, depending on the person who has it. It's all based on perspective when you really think about it.

Okay, say you have two different people, a movie star and a politician.

Now, the movie star goes and makes a few million dollars making his movie, and decides to buy his best friends brand new luxury cars. Nothing wrong with that, right? Just sharing the wealth a bit.

Now, you have an honest politician, who is independantly wealthy, maybe his parents had money, or he started a business like Bloomberg. He goes and buys his best friends luxury cars, and all of a sudden there's a newspaper claiming he's misusing campaign contributions trying to buy some leeway for passing a controversial proposition. Now, he just decided to spring for this with his own money, but it looks fishy.


Also take for example mods here. I was a mod, supermod and admin for a good while, so I know how everything works. But anyways, there have been, from time to time, normal members who obsess over becoming mods. They seriously make it their life's work to get into power on this message board. They try and do everything they can to become noticeable posters and good members, y'know, real mod material. Sometimes, they get the position, and they'll change. They'll stop acting like normal members and become nazi's, yelling at people for nothing and throwing their weight around because they can. Other times, they'll hold personal vendettas against annoying members, and they'll try and corner them into positions, where warnings and bannings can be given. Most of the time though, people are normal, just doing the job they offered to do.

Basically, people who have no power always want it, and those who want it become bored with it, and that's usually what leads to corruption. And in the end, it's usually a person saying that they could have gotten away with whatever they had done, but they just wanted to take it a step further, to see if they could get away with a misuse of power. I did it as an admin, giving away 10K gil to friends in a chatroom, simply because I was bored and I had nothing better to do at the time. Granted, I was sick of being an admin, but I had also wanted to treat my friends right by taking from an infinite source, and letting them buy whatever user titles and shit they wanted. I saw it as being nice to my friends, others saw it as me going on a power trip. Go figure.

Basically what corruption boils down to is a misuse of power to help yourself and your friends/family before strangers. Even look at Bill Gates. You can call him whatever you want, a ruthless prick for basically stealing people's ideas and muscling them into selling, after they had already made a product. But when he goes and donates millions and millons, he's a saint. It's all perspective

[Rasler+]

Well, it's true that power really corrupts the weakminded and the materialistic, which is why I DESPISE politicians. Our president is an example, and I am so ashamed to have her rule our country, as well as other presidents that came before her.