Abuse of people, abuse of power

In the process of pondering personal abuse, I was silly enough to watch some of the footage of the NYC police department closing in on the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

And my heart broke further.

It's the same premise, really.  The abuser / oppressor fails to see the other as anything less than, well, a thing -- a means to an end, a plaything, something in the way of their needs or goals, or a way to meet their needs or goals.  The victim tries to explain, fill in the picture, help the abuser / oppressor see things from their side, pleas for compassion, for reason, for empathy...

And wastes a whole lot of time doing so, because the abuser / oppressor doesn't really give a crap.  Be it narcissist, sociopath, psychopath, or corrupt and greedy system, it doesn't care about the victim because the victim is just a roadblock or stepping stone.  Bring out the bulldozers.  Or the SWAT team.  Or the billy clubs.  Or a few choice words to send the spirit reeling.

Trying to explain the faults in a system -- be it a multi-national system or an interpersonal system of two -- is almost guaranteed to fail, when you're trying to explain it to the person / entity who perceives itself to be the winner.

"Look at what you're doing to me" will not fly.  A corrupt / greedy / narcissistic / sociopathic / psychopathic entity doesn't recognize you're even a "me".  It just wants to keep winning.

The only way that human or structural entity will take pause is when he / she / it understands that he / she / it is also on the losing side of the equation.  Which is difficult when that entity has a very limited view of what winning entails.

In an interpersonal relationship, there comes a time when you simply have to walk away.  In a relationship with a multi-national system... where the hell do you go?

Hmm... more questions than answers today.