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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
ladies and gentlemen, good evening, it is now time for the main event: in the red corner, weighing at 112 lbs, the sociobiologists-- in the blue corner, weighting at 113 lbs, the jesuits
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Thank God you didn't make me the fat one, I'd have killed myself shortly after a tantrum brought on by being incredibly mortified.
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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
just because humans make mistakes, does not mean that we should accept them as natural or necessary evils.
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I feel like you always misinterpret my meaning.
We can certainly accept a species-wide universal tendency to err as natural, but no, that doesn't mean we need to accept them as necessary evils and leave it at that. We should recognize our nature and we do what we can to improve it, to maximize the group's happiness and well-being over purely our own.
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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
And it is not an over-simplification.
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Blaming an entire country of people for the decisions of a few, and acting as if those actions are unique to that country versus just pretty standard actions for any country had it been in the accused country's place.... is definitely an oversimplification.
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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
if you are an american and you buy products, you contribute to the military-industrial complex, so like it or not, agree with it or not, myself and all other americans included, we all contribute to this disease. If you pay your taxes in America, you support the war effort, the CIA, the FBI, the corrupt and brutal police agencies etc etc etc.. The network of corruption and militarism is so deeply imbedded into the very fabric of american life-style that it is unavoidable. We all contribute..
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Yes, this is true. But this applies to everyone. Not just Americans. Every single human being. Every last living thing plays a part in its environment. Whether you actively participate or do so passively, you bear at least some degree of responsibility for your actions (or inaction.) An impoverished citizen in a third world country is just as responsible for the state of their country, dictator and all, as any American is for the state of their country.
A man being beaten and robbed, a woman being raped, neither defending themselves. They may be victims, and their plights might be completely sympathetic, but they still bear some responsibility for their own safety. No, it's not their fault, no, they don't necessarily deserve it, they didn't necessarily bring it upon themselves, but they still did decide to passively accept their fate. Every person is responsible for themselves, and they didn't step up and do whatever they could (even if futile) to protect themselves (whether it be in the moment or preventative actions like knowing their environment and knowing what was safe and unsafe.) Like a cyclist riding without a helmet, getting into an accident, and cracking his head open. Sure, it's not his fault that the driver that hit him wasn't paying attention, but he got on that bike. He should have known all of the possible negative outcomes and done what he could have on his end to prevent them. In this case wearing a helmet.
No matter who you are, where you are, or what happens to you, you have a stake in it. The burden of responsibility (and how much one should be forgiven for shirking that responsibility) varies greatly depending on the context, but it's always there.