how do we screen out destructive people?

Traditional societies- preindustrial societies- operated on such a small and decentralised scale- that destructive people, if they gained control, were limited in their influence. More importantly, a traditional approach to life which emphasises family, growing food, managing wildlife requires individual acts of a constructive nature. Being a control freak or a tyrant isn't quite as easy. There were exceptions- but when you live close to nature you have to follow nature's rules which means honouring life forces rather than death instincts. In these societies destructive people stand out and can be avoided. There are no institutions for them to hide behind.

But once you have a modern industrialised state you have many many hidey holes for destructive people. These are people who are more pessimistic, more superficial and more lazy than most. The hard job of recongnising them is they are adept at hiding their true colours. The pessimistic can hide behind 'realism', 'making hard choices' 'getting things done', 'incentivising with money'. The superficial can claim an interest in art, religion, politics and literature- supposedly 'deep subjects'. The lazy can use constant pointless activity as deep cover.

If you run a business, are looking for friends or workers, are choosing to vote for someone how do you spot these covert destructors?

1. They love war metaphors and yet lack any real war experience.

2. They may talk of building things but their building plans fail.

3. They love office politics.

4. They are control freaks.

5. They attract masochistic followers.

6. Their hobbies are not creative.

7. They prefer centralisation to decentralisation.

8. They do not trust.

9. They do not take responsibility.

10. They like job titles rather than the reality of the job.

11. They prefer stupid symbols of 'progress' to real quiet work in that area.

12. They use email to shift the burden of work rather than to solve something.

13. They gravitate towards appearances rather than the obvious truth of a thing.

The problem is that we all have some destructive elements in the sub-personalities that run our lives. Depending on which personality we roll out, the level of destructiveness changes. This is where is gets confusing- when someone has a good sense of humour (usually a non-destructive sign) this may be a side of a better personality that has been tacked on to a more destructive one, which itself has been called forth by the demands of a job. 'Going over to the dark side' you might call it. Then the attractive qualities of charm and humour may become tools for a destructive ego- the classic sociopath. But humour is an odd thing. Many 'funny' people have none- and their stoneface is part of their act- a kind of sadism in fact. Destructive people lack humour in the face of adversity is my only observation. Normal people retain and rely on humour to get them through their failures. They readjust their perception of reality with humour. Destructive people try to break something instead.