Never said you were an Idiot. Not understanding something doesn't equal stupid. We're just obviously so different that I don't know if we can even learn anything from each other on this particular point. The underlying belief you seem to be conveying that no one is responsible for their particular situation in life just doesn't compute to me.
I don't think you don't have any responsibility, because you do. You have a responsibility to do your best to help yourself and those around you, even if your best isn't very good. However, I don't think your responsibility goes beyond your capacity. Because blaming someone for doing something s/he can't do is pointless and… unfair…
In practise, this means you're pretty much responsible to do exactly what your doing, but not more. Which I'm fully aware seem a little queer, but it's the only theory that's consistent with my other, not so queer, beliefs.
This also doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and work towards getting pepole to do more. Getting my depressed brother to go to a doctor and get out of his depression so he can get a job is something we ought to do. Doesn't mean it's his own damn fault he's in his current situation, or that he's obligated to take this responsibility himself.
My biggest beef with pepole like yours belief is that said belief makes you inclined to point finger at pepole like my brother and say "bad person!" rather than doing something to help him. You can do something (even if all you do is NOT tell him what a bad person he is) that strengthen his chances of getting to that doctor and becoming a resource rather than a burden on society, but no, it's more important that he does all the work himself than that he succeeds. I find that to be a highly unconstructive view.
I watch people sabotage themselves on a daily basis. Its ridiculous. If you can just barely pay your mortgage each month, why did you blow your tax refund on a flat screen tv? (Lady I work with). If your planning on retiring in 5 years on social security, Why did you just take out a 10 year home improvement loan? (Another lady I work with) You just caught a huge windfall and paid off all your debt. Why did you then buy a house with a mortgage payment that is 75% of your household income? (Another person I know) Your wife is too ill to work and the only income you had was grants for school. Why did you flunk out? (Another person). I could go on like this for hours. Many of these are people I care about. Hell, most even know that they are making terrible decisions. I suppose by some peoples philosophies they aren't at fault for those either.
As strange as it might sound, I believe these pepole genuinely belive they're making the best choice at hand. Either their evaluation of the option at hand are off, they underestimate the risks/overestimate the benefits/both, or their evaluation of the options are off. There might be emotional hang-ups playing into their decisions, like the shame of being that person who can't afford the flat screen TV or having the unrenovated house which makes the risk seem worth it.
There's this ideal that you're supposed to be rational and unemotional, but that's just not how pepole work. We're run by our emotions, and our emotions make us like and dislike things based on nonsense reasons that our brain for some reason react to. We also have a very limited view of the world, that makes us make decisions without fully understanding the consequences. In short, the evaluation process, even for the best of us, aren't all that reliable. In other words, given the current understanding of the word: pepole aren't rational. And that irrational pepole make irrational decisions is trivially true, isn't it?
It seems obvious to pepole like you and me that your friends/co-workers were making bad decisions. But from their point, as hard as it sounds to grasp, it probably seemed like the best decision. And when you think about it, why would you make any other decision than the one that seems the best to you?
At some point if YOU want to improve YOUR life YOU have to take control. We can debate on the unfairness of the rules of the game till we are blue in the face, but unless you are in a position to change those rules (Guess what lets you do that?) you better stop complaining and start playing.
I believe that's something everyone would benefit from keeping in mind.
I believe the problem isn't this mentality, it's that you mix in normative values into this descriptive phrase. You interpret "you can't argue with nature" as "you
shouldn't argue with nature". That's where I think you misstep. Sure, pepole are bastards who only think of themselves, that doesn't mean that's how it must be, or that that's what's best for us. We can try and work towards pepole being less selfish and more cooperative, and then the situation might change so you don't always have to do everything yourself.
I'm afraid having a population 30 times as large as yours complicates things for us.
Decentralize. It's the only way to go for a country your size.
You seem like you are well read, either academically or you have taken the initiative to do it on your own. That tells me that you have the "talent" to work for something. Perhaps you have never found something that you are that passionate to work for (besides RPG's, which I think we all must have some passion for).
I've a degree in computer science and I'm working hard on getting a job (which is why I haven't answered one of your posts a while ago - I figured I've more important things to do
). Interviews are coming in regularly, and there's a good chance I have a job by the end of the month (having been unemployed since January last year - took me a while to really get the hang of how to write applications and find applications to apply for).
Übereil
