“The writing of history is largely a process of diversion. Most historical accounts distract attention from the secret influences behind great events.”
~Chapterhouse: Dune
Cats (pronounced in cute form as Kets) teach me things every day. I look at the 4 cats living in the house I’m in and learn about social dynamics, and find myself finding way too many similarities between their behavior and humans. It makes me upset sometimes.
I sometimes feel attacked and called out by the feelings and thoughts that arise from my observations, especially when I see parallels between me and the cats I don’t like.
The 4 cats we have are incredibly different, but the dynamics are clear - there’s the exploring cat, the friendly-but-want-to-be-left-alone cat, the scared-of-literally-anything cat, and the bully cat.
I learned I can like the bully cat when they are not being a bully (=not around others cats). They can even be cute, but I hate them with passion when they are aggressive to the other cats.
I feel disgust and anger around the scared cat, because when I compare it to my past or when I’m in distress, we are too much alike. It makes me want to snap them out of their fear: “What are you so afraid of???”
But when the bully cat messes with it, I stand by scared cat and feel a strong care for him—such sharp and complex emotional movements.
All of this to say, context means everything, especially in relationships. A person can be horrible to others but likable to you, and vice versa.
There are no “good people” and “bad people” - only good and bad to specific people in specific circumstances, and usually the consensus and declaration of certain people being “objectively bad people”, even in history, relies on whether or not they violate social norms that pissed most people off or at least the most powerful people.