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Originally Posted by Ecce Homo  Correct me if I’m wrong somebody, but I honestly believe this thing hinges on extreme motivation and in the darkworker’s case, how far she is willing to go to get what she wants. If she sees that the most expedient path to achieving any goal that benefits herself is through hurting/manipulating/lying to someone else, then she’ll do it, period. Conversely, she might perceive that helping that person is the most expedient path to getting what she wants. The pivotal consideration is getting what she wants. How her quest to serve herself in all things affects other people is irrelevant. (Again, a key point being the utter irrelevance of other people in her self serving calculations.) Darkworker syndrome is more along the lines of hurting people just for the pleasure of hurting people. Sure it’s fun, you get a thrill out of it, but if you do not consider the possible future ramifications these actions might have for yourself, and by that I mean not getting caught or preserving your wealth or building a stable empire, and not karma, then you’ve fallen prey to darkworker syndrome. This is where Machiavelli comes into play. The wise prince knows full well that in order to ensure his rule it is far better to ally yourself with the people than with the nobles. The prince does not forge this populist alliance because he loves the people, he does it to protect and preserve his power against a potentially powerful group of competitors, the elites. He would not hesitate to suppress the people if his calculations indicate that it would preserve his power. But the wise prince does not tyrannize the people just to tyrannize the people, or just because he can. That is darkworker syndrome. |
Precisely.
While the attitude expressed by the original post was certainly self-centered, it's still a good distance from being truly Machiavellian. It's much too tainted with elements of light.
Darkworkers are cold, calculating villains. They aren't merely self-centered people who find a way to get by in the world. A darkworker has no qualms about hurting people for personal gain because he doesn't empathize with others. Darkworkers are generally smart enough to avoid doing things that will socially backfire on them, but the social consequences are the only real concern, not a sense of caring for others' feelings.
Seriously you won't find a darkworker serving as a personal trainer -- that's entirely the wrong medium for such a person. A polarized person (light or dark) wouldn't choose such a career because it's much too limiting in terms of power. However, you could find a darkworker building a personal training empire as a means to greater power.
Can you imagine Darth Vader working as a personal trainer? Not a chance. Personal training as a medium has way too much light in it.
Darkworkers are vastly more powerful than the description put forth in this thread.