Does it appeal to your sense of justice that within the same society some live opulently, yet others live in constant fear of not having the basic necessities of life? Not only would I say this is unjust, but that it is also unsound and a danger to society itself. The worst qualities of humans emerge when they are fighting for survival.
I'm fine with a system that has wealth inequality, I don't see any way around that and it's great for causing innovative pressure, but I find it hard to justify the fact that some people are deprived the basic necessities of life.
> Wealth isn't distributed, it's created. I mean you can distribute after that but it would be theft.
So are you one of those people that believe taxation is theft? Are you a self-made man? Are you Caesar without Rome? It strikes me as incredibly foolish when people ignore the fact that their success is entirely dependent upon their society.
Did you create your own school, did you create your own language ... are you really that unaware of the great debt you have to others? Without society, you'd be a degenerate caveman, you owe everything you have to it.
Actually, it doesn't strike me as foolish, it strikes me as incredibly useful for rationalizing ones station in life. It must make it easy to walk past the homeless and suffering, feeling like you are innocent and not complicit at all in the silent tragedies the system sustains.
I'll be honest - I don't know many people who are of sound mind and body and who consistently make level headed choices living in constant fear of having basic necessities. I know a LOT of people in this situation because they don't improve their skills, don't work many hours, had kids young, had numerous kids, want to live in a high demand area despite low income or because they prioritize luxury items over quality necessities. Factoring things like that in paints a very different picture than what you're saying.
Wow I thought we were having a civil discussion until the second half of your post. You have some very presumptuous nerve. Rather than responding to all the ad hominem I'll just explain:
My parents fed and clothed me for 18 years. The public services are there for a reason and many of them (ie schools) need to be there. I inherited knowledge from thousands of years of thinking. I believe all humans deserve those types of gifts, and as such I'm willing to pay my fair share back.
What I absolutely refuse is to allow people to come in and take more and more until they are satisfied. To tell me that they know better than me (as you are attempting to do) of my privilege and what I owe for it. You want to sacrifice your life's work to others? Go for it. Put your money where your mouth is. But you just keep your opinions about what I owe and what I deserve to yourself because you don't know me and I guarantee you're going to look like an idiot if you continue to try to talk down to me.
> I know a LOT of people in this situation because they don't improve their skills, don't work many hours, had kids young, had numerous kids, want to live in a high demand area despite low income or because they prioritize luxury items over quality necessities.
Yes, of course. Are you suggesting all people are wise and have this foresight? Are you suggesting that people aren't raised in stressful and violent environments, greatly worsened by economic pressure, whom turn to vice instead of education and productivity? I don't think it paints a different picture, I think it reaffirms my position: that some people aren't fit to thrive in society, but that doesn't mean (by my values) they do not have the RIGHT to the necessities of life.
> To tell me that they know better than me (as you are attempting to do) of my privilege and what I owe for it.
This is not a matter of logic, but of principles. I do not believe I know better than you, I believe I understand the plight of common people more than you, and that my view of the world has been formed by that. You aren't wrong, I'm not wrong. I know this, but at the same time rhetoric which casts the proponents of opposite principles as being in the wrong is the main tool one has in convincing others that his principles are the "right" ones.
> I guarantee you're going to look like an idiot if you continue to try to talk down to me.
I'm sorry I rustled your jimmies so much. It's not personal, I was just addressing the position you seemed to be defending. I only know you as a paragraph of text, take it easy.
See you're still trying to be condescending. You don't know me and you made all those lurching assumptions. You asked insulting questions and tried talking down to me. Enjoy your feeling of superiority.
“For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.”
I'm fine with a system that has wealth inequality, I don't see any way around that and it's great for causing innovative pressure, but I find it hard to justify the fact that some people are deprived the basic necessities of life.
> Wealth isn't distributed, it's created. I mean you can distribute after that but it would be theft.
So are you one of those people that believe taxation is theft? Are you a self-made man? Are you Caesar without Rome? It strikes me as incredibly foolish when people ignore the fact that their success is entirely dependent upon their society.
Did you create your own school, did you create your own language ... are you really that unaware of the great debt you have to others? Without society, you'd be a degenerate caveman, you owe everything you have to it.
Actually, it doesn't strike me as foolish, it strikes me as incredibly useful for rationalizing ones station in life. It must make it easy to walk past the homeless and suffering, feeling like you are innocent and not complicit at all in the silent tragedies the system sustains.