Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Individualism versus Collectivism: The "Right to Life"

braindamage351 · 08-21-2005, 12:18 AM

Age 18/Male
US
Agnostic (I want to say I'm atheist, but I've forced myself to switch to agnosticism for the sake of logic, although either way God isn't a part of my life.)
Economic Moderate, Libertarian
My response: #2 (Although 1 and 2 are actually completely compatable with each other)

I chose this because in the end, no matter how much I want it there is no actual right to life. We simply agree not to kill each other because it's way too much trouble to be on guard all the time, and life would be completely miserable otherwise. And of course humanity would never have gotten anywhere without cooperation. But we can never lose sight of the fact that all beings are selfish. We only support the greater good for our own good. Compassion and empathy make us feel good about ourselves, but people forget all too easily that if competition disappeared they would simply realize how utterly pointless their life is. In an ideal society the basic needs of people would be taken care of, and instead the competition would be about things that aren't life-threatening things. Although the people wouldn't be any happier, at least they could focus on advancing humanity

On the economic end, I think we should only help people enough to put them in a position to contribute to society. And if they don't get a job quickly enough we have to just cut our losses. Not because of rights, but because it's mutually beneficial.

I'm also strongly against communism and socialism, there's just no way that it would ever work. Anyone who's ever spent 5 minutes with someone else arguing back and forth "I don't care, you decide" knows that you need a leader to get anything accomplished, and if you gain nothing for doing hard work you wont do hard work. The best thing about Republican Democracy is that it gives you a leader, but at the same time doesn't give him enough to power to become a tyrant. The beauty of controlled capitalism is that it provides competition and gives you a reason to work hard, and although inevitably there will be people that live miserable lives in the end capitalism will be the most beneficial to society.

08-21-2005, 12:18 AM	#20 (permalink)
braindamage351 Insane	Age 18/Male US Agnostic (I want to say I'm atheist, but I've forced myself to switch to agnosticism for the sake of logic, although either way God isn't a part of my life.) Economic Moderate, Libertarian My response: #2 (Although 1 and 2 are actually completely compatable with each other) I chose this because in the end, no matter how much I want it there is no actual right to life. We simply agree not to kill each other because it's way too much trouble to be on guard all the time, and life would be completely miserable otherwise. And of course humanity would never have gotten anywhere without cooperation. But we can never lose sight of the fact that all beings are selfish. We only support the greater good for our own good. Compassion and empathy make us feel good about ourselves, but people forget all too easily that if competition disappeared they would simply realize how utterly pointless their life is. In an ideal society the basic needs of people would be taken care of, and instead the competition would be about things that aren't life-threatening things. Although the people wouldn't be any happier, at least they could focus on advancing humanity On the economic end, I think we should only help people enough to put them in a position to contribute to society. And if they don't get a job quickly enough we have to just cut our losses. Not because of rights, but because it's mutually beneficial. I'm also strongly against communism and socialism, there's just no way that it would ever work. Anyone who's ever spent 5 minutes with someone else arguing back and forth "I don't care, you decide" knows that you need a leader to get anything accomplished, and if you gain nothing for doing hard work you wont do hard work. The best thing about Republican Democracy is that it gives you a leader, but at the same time doesn't give him enough to power to become a tyrant. The beauty of controlled capitalism is that it provides competition and gives you a reason to work hard, and although inevitably there will be people that live miserable lives in the end capitalism will be the most beneficial to society.