Self-interest, selfishness, and conflict

People are becoming increasingly irritable. Stress, unhappiness, and restlessness are running rampant. On the streets, in public transport, and in workplaces, there is a strange state of intolerance in almost everyone. It is not accurate to attribute the reason for this solely to the economy or the struggle to make a living. It is, of course, important for people to feel economically secure. However, economic insecurity cannot be the sole cause of such intense stress, restlessness, and even malice. There must be much deeper root causes for why people who have job security and no financial difficulties are in a state of unrest or are constantly creating unrest in their environments.

In workplaces, instead of working and producing, people are pursuing relationship-oriented strategies. They are focused on achieving their goals not by working and developing to advance in their careers, but by undermining others or developing various marketing strategies. This is one of the fundamental reasons for the psychological attrition in workplaces known as mobbing. To prevent this situation, those in managerial positions in workplaces need to be qualified not only in their work but also in understanding people. For someone in a managerial position to provide competent leadership, it is important to stand at an equal distance from everyone and evaluate individuals based on the work they produce.

The self-interest-oriented approaches of individuals often hinder them from forming a sense of belonging to their workplace or institution. One must be wary of those who see the workplace or institution where they work merely as a stepping stone to rise or move to better places. No good comes from people who prioritize their own interests over the interests of the workplace where they are employed. In fact, this is perhaps one of the biggest reasons for the conflicts, blockages, and even chaos being experienced at many different levels today. It is the fact that people who prioritize their own interests over institutional interests, general societal interests, national interests, and the interests of humanity become a burden to the world.

Let us leave the world aside for now and look at our own situation. Self-interest, mobbing, intrigue. Why are we like this? Were we always like this, and if not, how did we get to this state?

Perhaps one of the most fundamental root causes of this was when we started going to the market without enough money in our wallets. In more academic terms, it was the country being turned into a market for Western countries under the influence of neoliberal policies. Starting from the early 1980s, shopping malls began to cover the entire country, starting from large cities, and the volume of imports rose in an unimaginable way. Whatever was produced in the West began to enter the country. In return, people were encouraged to consume through credit cards and similar means of indebtedness. Phrases like "my civil servant knows their business" and "hitting the jackpot" entered the lexicon of politics first, and then the public, during those times.

Then came the TV series. A wave of series where intrigue, getting rich quick, lies, deceit, and ambition were portrayed as rising values. The siege of the entire society by commercial popular culture, which caused society to break away from its own factory settings. Private television channels, in order to find material to broadcast, brought the West's popular culture products (music, films, series, shows, etc.), which were produced entirely for commercial gain, to the screens. And generations grew up within this siege, relating the entire meaning of life to material things, that is, money.

If there is chaos in politics right now, and if individual ambitions have overtaken the public good and the interests of the country and society, the reason for this must be sought in the material used to value the generations raised over decades. We took the West's liberalism, but I suppose we couldn't manage to operate it like they do. Property, wealth, splendor, and grandeur dazzled our eyes. Westerners achieved all of this by working. But because we are not that patient, we want to reach everything immediately. Because we learned from TV series that you don't need to work to be successful. That being 'street-smart' is enough. In the end, whatever we suffer, we suffer because of our 'street-smarts,' our lack of foundation, and our laziness. Moreover, we are not even aware of this.