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IWETHEY Home / IWETHEY Board / News Picks Forum / About labels and absolutes..
Post #192,091
by hnick
1/28/05 9:38:54 AM
Reply
New About labels and absolutes..
The labels "left" and "right" being directly equivalent to "good" and "bad" or "selfless" and "greedy" may be overly simplistic. Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that crusader bunnypants really believes that the world will be a better place with his buddies (all completely trustworthy, in his eyes) running the whole show. By your arguement, he is completely justified in invading anybody who opposes his Utopian dream of universal freedom. That he's deranged, is a minor detail.
I tend to be extremely suspicious of anybody who claims "moral superiority". But that could be an overly simplistic abstraction on my part.
Post #192,095
by mmoffitt
1/28/05 10:19:36 AM
Reply
New I think that'd be giving him more credit than is due.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that crusader bunnypants really believes that the world will be a better place with his buddies (all completely trustworthy, in his eyes) running the whole show.

Maybe its my built-in distrust of big-time capitalists. But I just cannot imagine that any dyed-in-the-wool capitalist ever thinks about "everybody" except to ponder the extent to which they can be exploited.

I, too, am leary of anyone claiming moral superiority. It's just I can still remember the first utterance from the prof of my macro-Econ class as a freshman. He, a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist, said, "Capitalism is built upon self interest. It depends on the uneven distribution in wealth and the individual's drive to have more. That is why it works. That is why no other system ever will." (That's very close to literal). I remember being disgusted with that sentiment. And I am still.
bcnu,
Mikem

Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
(Just trying to be accepted in the New America)
Post #192,098
by hnick
1/28/05 11:23:40 AM
Reply
New Distrust and disgust are fine
I tend to share both when regarding extremists at either end of the spectrum. In the same way I would tend to doubt Bush's sincerity, I would also be hesitant to assume altruistic motives in AK47 packing social activists.

I find that "good", "bad", "greedheads" are probably too simplistic to be useful when dealing with a complicated world. YMMV.
     Boys arrested for stick figure drawings - (jbrabeck) - (49) - Jan. 26, 2005, 09:53:52 AM EST
         Little girl drew mustache on a piture of Stalin - (Arkadiy) - (44) - Jan. 26, 2005, 11:17:51 AM EST
             Heh... -NT - (CRConrad) - Jan. 26, 2005, 11:21:14 AM EST
             Consider what this says - (jake123) - (42) - Jan. 26, 2005, 12:08:49 PM EST
                 I did. - (Arkadiy) - (7) - Jan. 26, 2005, 12:26:41 PM EST
                     Which begs the question... - (xtensive) - (5) - Jan. 26, 2005, 12:48:11 PM EST
                         Or, more interestingly, if - (Arkadiy) - (4) - Jan. 26, 2005, 02:03:38 PM EST
                             Dunno 'bout Ashton, but I'd give 'em a high five. -NT - (mmoffitt) - (1) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:24:59 PM EST
                                 Yep. That's what I though. -NT - (Arkadiy) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:33:08 PM EST
                             Ever see the movie, 'Forbidden Games' ? - (Ashton) - (1) - Jan. 26, 2005, 09:42:55 PM EST
                                 "Your question was what _?" Indeed. -NT - (Arkadiy) - Jan. 27, 2005, 09:17:01 AM EST
                     Is there a difference? - (jake123) - Jan. 26, 2005, 01:04:04 PM EST
                 Did you read the article? - (tuberculosis) - (33) - Jan. 26, 2005, 02:57:24 PM EST
                     Intervention - yes. Handcuffs - no. - (Arkadiy) - (28) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:17:28 PM EST
                         Maybe to the psychiatric hospital then? - (mmoffitt) - (24) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:26:33 PM EST
                             I don't know what will work - (Arkadiy) - (23) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:32:38 PM EST
                                 Some things about the old guard weren't that bad. - (mmoffitt) - (22) - Jan. 26, 2005, 03:50:44 PM EST
                                     You're getting worse. - (Arkadiy) - (21) - Jan. 26, 2005, 04:08:43 PM EST
                                         ICLRPD (new thread) - (drewk) - Jan. 26, 2005, 10:28:38 PM EST
                                         Oh BTW - (Arkadiy) - (19) - Jan. 27, 2005, 10:28:18 AM EST
                                             How terribly witty. - (mmoffitt) - (18) - Jan. 27, 2005, 01:09:21 PM EST
                                                 And, BTW. - (mmoffitt) - Jan. 27, 2005, 01:13:16 PM EST
                                                 Well, how is it bullshit? - (Arkadiy) - (16) - Jan. 27, 2005, 02:30:46 PM EST
                                                     Worse, he's beginning to look a lot like Bush - (Simon_Jester) - (14) - Jan. 27, 2005, 03:44:56 PM EST
                                                         I guess so... -NT - (Arkadiy) - Jan. 27, 2005, 03:51:06 PM EST
                                                         So, you're comfortable with a democracy that yields a Bush.. - (mmoffitt) - (12) - Jan. 27, 2005, 04:32:00 PM EST
                                                             I'll take Bush over Hussein or Stalin, ten times over - (Arkadiy) - (5) - Jan. 27, 2005, 04:42:00 PM EST
                                                                 Perhaps. - (mmoffitt) - (4) - Jan. 28, 2005, 09:04:55 AM EST
                                                                     About labels and absolutes.. - (hnick) - (2) - Jan. 28, 2005, 09:38:54 AM EST
                                                                         I think that'd be giving him more credit than is due. - (mmoffitt) - (1) - Jan. 28, 2005, 10:19:36 AM EST
                                                                             Distrust and disgust are fine - (hnick) - Jan. 28, 2005, 11:23:40 AM EST
                                                                     And that goes back to my argument - (Arkadiy) - Jan. 28, 2005, 09:41:48 AM EST
                                                             Democracy is a risk.... - (Simon_Jester) - (5) - Jan. 28, 2005, 01:29:19 PM EST
                                                                 "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." :-D -NT - (mmoffitt) - (4) - Jan. 28, 2005, 02:08:50 PM EST
                                                                     That's the point right there - (jake123) - (1) - Jan. 28, 2005, 05:46:22 PM EST
                                                                         And we haven't been doing too well on that score, have we? -NT - (mmoffitt) - Jan. 31, 2005, 08:21:12 AM EST
                                                                     "Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." - (a6l6e6x) - (1) - Feb. 2, 2005, 12:19:17 AM EST
                                                                         Wasn't he paraphrasing Cicero? - (Another Scott) - Feb. 2, 2005, 12:33:40 AM EST
                                                     I don't think democracy is a "lie". - (mmoffitt) - Jan. 27, 2005, 04:31:21 PM EST
                         Agree'd - (tuberculosis) - (2) - Jan. 26, 2005, 04:41:46 PM EST
                             Working on it: this decade, non-Corp\ufffd drugs___next, heresy. -NT - (Ashton) - Jan. 26, 2005, 09:50:07 PM EST
                             Huh??? What kind of apostrophymania is *this*, now?!? -NT - (CRConrad) - Jan. 27, 2005, 02:55:07 AM EST
                     Another version of the story. - (Another Scott) - (3) - Jan. 26, 2005, 10:11:06 PM EST
                         knowing the redness of the ocala cops necks - (daemon) - Jan. 26, 2005, 11:03:06 PM EST
                         And this would be a bad thing? - (ben_tilly) - (1) - Jan. 27, 2005, 08:10:56 AM EST
                             Yes, it would. - (Another Scott) - Jan. 27, 2005, 08:34:33 AM EST
         Terribly excessive - (JayMehaffey) - (3) - Jan. 26, 2005, 01:10:17 PM EST
             Worse than that. - (bepatient) - (2) - Jan. 26, 2005, 02:00:18 PM EST
                 Can't blame them, really. - (jake123) - (1) - Jan. 26, 2005, 04:56:33 PM EST
                     Insurance.. is that not just another Corporation? - (Ashton) - Jan. 26, 2005, 10:07:55 PM EST

Yikes! Took me a second there to get my poop back in a group...
60 ms