Personal taste
Some times I do things that I deeply regret. At home and at work. Sometimes it is things I have said, sometimes things I have done and on occasion, things I haven’t. Mainly these are misdemeanours and trivialities. I wonder at people who can go through life being assholes.
Do these people have a lowered ability to asses there actions on others or is their moral frame work that much different to mine? I suspect both. Still, I find it difficult to understand.
Maybe such folk place too much importance on their own self above others. Maybe their vision of the world is so self referential they can’t see the outcome of their actions (or inaction) on others. Perhaps they have a god who forgives their sins so they can be happy about being assshats.
Maybe it is me who is at fault. Perhaps it is my division of self interest and altruism that is wrong. Maybe my believing there is no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. This makes me more prone to try to treat people right the first time around and have hang ups when I don’t.
I know it is true that no one acts without self interest. Even the most selfless acts have reward. Feeling good about some altruistic act is just as self serving as cutting a cue. Ego is a strange beast.
Culture and temporal existence in a given society seem to set the limits of what is reasonable. Torture, rape and murder would be considered good form in a Mongol raiding party in the 14th century (is this a constant in the warrior class?). Today most in my society think it is reasonable to avoid tax (within the law offcourse) and push the tax burden onto those who can’t. Maybe in some future time it would be unthinkable to squander resources with out consideration of the future. Things change.
The philosophers of the existentialist movement reduced all moral norms to one rule; Do on to others as you would have done onto you. At first appraisal it seems reasonable and like all good theories builds upon the central theme of previous belief systems. I don’t think it covers enough bases. It allows too much freedom to inflict personal taste on others and that is just wrong.
I guess where I am heading in this ramble is that I am sure there is black and white but the grey in between is a mater of personal taste.
1 Comments:
There is a thing here. Where I was raised, men cannot be sensitive for fear of being considered weak. To be considered an asshole is high praise. Just like the popularity of the old TV character JR Ewing.
The cable guy came over and went outside his standing instructions to help me re-wire my router. It took him over an hour. I gave him on of my favorite knives as a thank you. He looked at me with total contempt! He said, “you are some nice guy” like he thought I was only trying to touch his Wee Willy Wanker or was weak-minded or something.
It was hard for me acquire that knife and it was my favorite letter opener. I am rarely impressed with people and like to specifically reward those who step outside their roles long enough to do the right thing. After this experience, I felt burned by all humanity.
I thought about it for a long time. The thing is here that assholes are not smart enough to understand their actions. I don’t think God or morality plays a part. It is simply lack of the ability to think.
Take a self-less action and know you will feel great about it. That is good for the ego and especially good for people whose self replaced God. You can just go around projecting goodness and treating people right just for the hell of it. The view is better form the high ground anyway.
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