Pablo Escobar has been one of the most if not the most notorious and controversial drug dealers. For the lower classes he was seen as somewhat of a hero, the robin hood of his time, yet others saw him for his negative actions only, perceiving him as a malicious drug dealer with selfish interests. But was he really as terrible as he was perceived? Or did he actually have good intentions, pioneering a new Colombian dream, giving the lower classes hope that they too could someday achieve such success.
The Good and The Bad
Initially, Pablo Escobar began his drug business because he was in necessity. Poverty leads multiple Colombians and other individuals in underprivileged countries to doing. This is a way for individuals to be able to climb the economical ladder to feed their families and themselves. Hence, this was his situation. Ultimately, his intentions in the course of his career was to give back to the economically unstable because he knew what that was. Hence, with good intentions he attempted to in a way save his fellow citizens from the same situations and circumstances he experienced in his youth and part of his life.
However, ultimately he became power-hungry and began abusing his power as many others do. He gave into extreme violence, committing countless murders and horrendous acts against innocent people, contradicting his word with his actions.
Overall
Pablo Escobar is definitely not the inherently malicious individual everyone or most of society has perceived him to be. He has good intentions in the beginning attempting to be a modern day robin hood. He also inspired the Colombian people by making them feel like they could also do the same. By seeing Pablo in a way succeed and give back they saw how they could too one day get out of poverty, something that before him might not have seemed possible. He also again gave back to those who were in the same situation he was once in because he was able to empathize with his fellow citizens. He was able to relate to how terrible necessity truly is and he wanted to avoid or alleviate that as much as he could. Hence, that part of him was heroic in that aspect, yet as he became more and more involved he became more corrupt and more tinted. Such as this article claims, he did have a "modest upbringing" which again led for him to understand the less fortunate, but he did become power hungry.
He began betraying his own actions when he became so indulged in revenge and power that he felt the need to strike back in extreme ways such as murders who killed numerous innocent people.
Ultimately this goes to show that just because you get into something with good intentions doesn’t mean you won’t be influenced by the actual fundamental nature of whatever you’re doing whether it be a dirty business with good intentions the nature of the actions will influence your judgement.
Hence, Pablo Escobar may not have been a malignant person in the beginning but his selfishness, his power hunger, and his obsession with succeeding disregarding the consequences made him acquire the reputation he now has.
