I think that our only difference is that I don't want to see the government enforce too much on people because I see it as an incentive to allow people to care even less about others - if the government is "taking care" of it, we won't. Sociologically, it's the same as when, for example, someone has been hit by a car and you say, "Someone call an ambulance" - the chances are that no one will because they all assume someone else will or has. But if you point at one of them and say, "You - please call an ambulance," the person usually does (unless they're a total bastard) because they know no one else will.
However, our society is a miserable one when the only measure of success it accepts is a material standard. Whether it's money, or some stupid status symbol, it just helps complete our alienation. We live better today than we did in the 1930s, for example, but people feel poorer because our society is geared to making us feel inadequate if we don't have yet more material possessions, and a particular sort of material possessions. In absolute terms more poor people have more amenities, but the alienation has increased.
However, our society is a miserable one when the only measure of success it accepts is a material standard. Whether it's money, or some stupid status symbol, it just helps complete our alienation. We live better today than we did in the 1930s, for example, but people feel poorer because our society is geared to making us feel inadequate if we don't have yet more material possessions, and a particular sort of material possessions. In absolute terms more poor people have more amenities, but the alienation has increased.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
20 children killed in latest US school shooting
15/12/2012 12:35:42 AM
- 936 Views
i know 2 people with kids there, one of them has lost their 5 year old. this is too close to home
15/12/2012 12:39:26 AM
- 559 Views
I lived 20 mins from there. I'm shocked. I'm even heading back there in 4 days....
15/12/2012 02:08:28 PM
- 511 Views
Maybe when we stop making media celebrities out of these murderers..
16/12/2012 05:36:19 PM
- 503 Views
Nope, won't happen.
16/12/2012 06:37:11 PM
- 600 Views
For each of those 30 years sociologists have warned of the growing danger of growing alienation.
16/12/2012 10:05:28 PM
- 577 Views
I don't know what you mean, though.
17/12/2012 05:53:44 PM
- 531 Views
I dunno, your response suggests you figured it out pretty quickly.
18/12/2012 05:08:12 PM
- 591 Views
Short form: The common phrases "suicide by cop" and "going postal" did not exist a generation ago.
18/12/2012 09:14:51 PM
- 545 Views
Reducing people to economics is a terrible thing.
19/12/2012 01:28:54 AM
- 493 Views
if they were after fame, they would probably all have tried to stay alive after killing everyone
16/12/2012 10:01:50 PM
- 485 Views
One need not be living to be famous.
16/12/2012 10:08:12 PM
- 528 Views
actually, i'm pretty sure you're wrong on this
17/12/2012 05:38:07 PM
- 507 Views
"Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse," "it's better to burn out than fade away" etc
18/12/2012 03:25:23 PM
- 630 Views
what do your examples all have in common?
18/12/2012 08:42:59 PM
- 540 Views
I frequently confuse that detail of Hinckleys shooting with Chapmans, sorry.
18/12/2012 08:59:25 PM
- 600 Views
Chapman wasn't a mass murderer, though. Neither was Hinckley.
20/12/2012 05:15:23 AM
- 490 Views
True, but it does demonstrate how easily and frequently notoriety motivates shootings.
26/12/2012 07:22:37 PM
- 538 Views