 Polarity in Practice: Darkworkers
Reading one of Steve's articles on polarity got me thinking about something I had read a while ago in Jared Diamond's "Collapse."
Rafael Trujillo was a ruthless dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic for about 30 years, taking power in the 1930s. He killed and tortured many political dissidents, and instituted a cruel police state.
Yet, in serving himself, he also single handedly modernized the Dominican Republic, creating a thriving economy and building a solid infrastructure that allowed the Dominican to flourish in relative peace while it's neighbor Haiti by comparison has experienced severe economic hardship and constant political instability.
Trujillo was completely self serving in his intentions. He basically ran the Dominican's industries as a private business, taking up to 10% of earnings for himself. Yet we must admit that in the process, he created a lot of good as well.
Of course there were other things that factored into the differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic as well, which Diamond discusses, but Trujillo's effect on the Dominican's history can't be ignored.
What do you think? Is this a good example of a enlightened darkworker? Someone who, in taking for themselves, they also end up giving back too?  |