Just like with most things wrong in North America, you can be right more often than not if you just blame Reagan.
It’s the result of hyper individualism fuelled by neoliberal policies that was spearheaded by Reagan, and I probably need to mention Thatcher as well.
Remember “greed is good” well this is the result.
Remember “greed is good”
Gordon Gecko is an asshole.
Good adult
Most don’t even know how to behave like an adult. Majority of the government behave exactly like children, which makes this situation worse. They rather play pretend adult rather than actually try to be an adult.
See if you make a ton of money, your kids will be better than the poor people, so you’ve left a better world for your children.
Actual logic and I’ve seen it play out.
If anyone on Lemmy wants a financial answer to this question, which essentially what it boils down to given the society we’re in, I would recommend listening to the latest Weekly Show podcast episode with Jon Stewart interviewing the Nobel Prize winning economist Richard Thaler.
He breaks down this exact mentality in a way that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah but think about this: more money me
The problem is not only that, but that those who want to leave the world better when they die can’t seem to agree what “better” means…
Pick up trash you find on the ground. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Say thank you. Apologize and mean it.
It’s not that difficult.
In my opinion (and personal experience), I used to freeze up and not do anything because I felt I couldn’t make a big enough difference — so why bother? Then I had kids, and I realized that everything I do (and don’t do!) is scrutinized and repeated by my children.
My small actions have now been multiplied by 2. Pretty neat if you ask me.
TIL holding open doors will stop technofeudalism and climate change.
Just because little things might not solve big things doesnt mean we shouldn’t do the little things.
And I’m saying I’ve been doing the little things and it doesn’t seem to be working
You will not like this answer but it’s because change is usually small and not visible. The people you were nice to will not remember the small things you did, but they will remember the happiness, and associate it with that, and then they eventually pay it forward. But it needs a lot of small nice actions by a lot of people to make people pick up on it and pay it forward, and it’s probably completely opaque to you.
What I’m saying is if you wanna see these small things making a difference, you’re gonna be disappointed. So instead, be selfish, do it because you want to, and for no other reason.
It’s a collective investment in the betterment of humanity. Over time those little pieces of empathy and charity create a better world. A lot of people are bitter because they were never shown any empathy, or love, or care, so they don’t know how to express it.
I’m sure you can’t save everyone this way, but it seems a whole hell of a lot better to try than to not
Yes I have already arrived at the conclusion that I’m on a planet ruled by psychotic apes and that I have no real agency beyond saying “Fuck you, I do what I want” which is to be nice because honestly it makes dealing with the apes more efficient.
Well, have you tried it yet? Be patient. Kindness and courtesy is everything!
I’ve been doing it my entire life because I was raised right.
I think the more fundamental issue, and something we often forget to highlight with these tech bro shitstains, is how many of them are wholly convinced that with enough money they can just live forever.
how many of them are wholly convinced that with enough money they can just live forever.
Sometimes i feel like the entire difference between well-adjusted people and the people you describe in your comment comes down to whether their parents exposed them to enough stories growing up.
Did we not all experience the same fables, nursery rhymes and TV shows that cohesively teach you not to crave immortality and endless power? Not to sacrifice friends for wealth? They must’ve been getting early-start skiing lessons or practicing horse riding instead.
I learned how to ski before I was 5 and I think I’m an alright person. Not well adjusted by any means, but I try to be nice to everyone.
Just don’t blame skiing. Horses, probably.
They want to leave a world that only their children will control
I got neglected by those before me and when I am old I will nbe taking care of those after me.
Being a Millennial rocks.
Probably they haven’t grown up.
*yeah, not yea or nay. It isn’t a vote.
They had lead in gasoline while they were growing up.
This is what got us into this mess in the first place
It might be the primary and only responsibility of being human.
The idea that ppl are good (especially summarily) is greatly exaggerated, just propaganda.
Looking at our history, and how nothing sustainable ever surfaced/lasted, how greed above everything else always prevailed, accumulates quite a bit of evidence.
People hate it when you say this. But it’s legit. If people actually were genuinely good and wanted to be good, then would we really have all the problems we do? If one person(sleezy billionaire) can completely wreck society, then was society that strong to begin with? People point out that there are more of us than them, yet the minority them manages to keep the rest of us in line pretty well… Yet we have the power? Well what are we doing with it then?
The biggest flaw of humanity is we think we are way better than we actually are. But the sad truth is we all are affected by biases, unconscious beliefs, flaws in our reasoning, flaws in our character, flaws in our perception, flaws in our memory, etc. This, in itself, is not a bad thing. It’s pretending like we’re above all of that and that it doesn’t affect us that leads to our downfall and is a bad thing.
Hubris, made popular in every societies storytelling going back millenia, is our greatest flaw. We think ourselves way better than we truly are.
The average person is actually good, but introduce severe trauma as well as game theory - prisoner’s dilemma and bystander effect - and people (plural) are suddenly a huge problem.
Do you mean to say good until a time to show said goodness comes?
What do you base that the average person is good?
I would say the average person would kill another person for 100k monies (in case of no other consequences & ease, like press of a button).I’m not seeing much else unfortunately, just goodwashing stories of philanthropy & such.
Eg Romans didn’t have issues pillaging & then subjugating entire provinces to the empire, kill any opposition to the pillaging or trade. Except for scales, such this aspect of “goodness” before and after.
Do ppl really look at all the constant killing for power & think this has nothing to do with humanity, just a few bad apples?
I wonder how much of that is a result of what society imposes on the individual.
Some might come along and say capitalism forces this on us.
While others might then argue these similar influences and pressures existed before written language, and even in nature in protohumans, primates and other animals.
Idk, environment def has an affect - but then again “being good” should prob go for when it’s easy & for when it’s hard to do so. Otherwise it’s the environment who decides, not the individual. And what has been the environment of humanity but the few who ruled it throughout the ages?
