Greed

So the reason why it's okay to not help people who are starving is because you have to do it repeatedly? The truth is, everytime you decide to purchase something for your self instead of donating it to a reputable charity, like UNICEF, you are in fact choosing to elevate your entertainment above the lives of others. You can't really get up and good faith and claim that more good comes from you going to the movies than sponsoring a child in sub-sarahan Africa. We just come up with reasons to justify it because we don't want to feel guilty. You can easily donate money or even time and effort to charities, you just put your own personal happiness above that. The question is whether or not you subscribe to a system of ethics that views that as a good or a bad thing.

I don't quite get what you're claiming here. Are you saying that companies like Shell that go in and drive down environmental and working standards, displace indigenous people, and pollute the hell out of countries are doing more good than organizations like UNICEF or other charities? Your vague assertion seems pretty untenable. I mean, come on, one thing we should all be willing to recognize is that the free market will never really help the poor, it'll just keep them at a level to keep the system going.

 

In an economy such as ours, you must give to recieve. Bill Gates didn't get rich just by taking (though he did "steal" some ideas). He had to give consumers something they wanted.

Now in other countries, a greedy person may simply resort to murder when something is needed.

 

No, it doesn't have to do with repeating the act, it has to do with doing something that actually works. Just giving money will might help temporarily, but working reform the economic systems could actually help countries create their own wealth. Giving to victims of famines in Africa, while very laudable, won't solve anything if the misguided policies of the governments continue.

I never stated that it is better to go to a movie rather than to give to charity. Where did you read that?

It's quite simple. Corporations have been unfairly maligned as "profiteers" or "corrupt" when in fact they creat jobs and products and tax revenue for the home countries. To say that the free market doesn't help the poor is just wrongheaded economic thinking. Take a look at what happened to the Asian "Tigers," countries that had poverty at the levels of Africa in the 1960's. Yes, there are costs, but not enough to justify keeping countries dirt poor.

 

Actually, you can make that argument. I would surmise that most people need some "me" time in order to reenergize themselves to face the daily grind. Without that "me" time it is possible that folks could become physically, emotionally or mentally conflicted to the point where it could affect their well-being as well as their job performance and family life. Any of those conflicts could affect your ability to earn a livelihood and thus be able to make charitable donations of time and/or money.

 

I think that all too often corporations are guilty of corruption and profiteering, most certainly of looking too much at quarterly profits and not enough at long term planning, but I agree with the thrust of your post. India is a perfect example. Every tech sector job in Bangalore, for instance, is not only giving the employee a tremendous jump in their income and standard of living, but that money, in almost every case, is going to help pull up his/her extended family. The spill-off in raising standards of living in the area is just tremendous.


Keep D&D Civil.

 

I am a greedy b*stard, and I want the Rockets to win and make the other team feel like crap and cry all night. In this case, I don't want what's good for my brother (say a fellow NBA fan who cheers for the other team). Does that make me a bad person?

 

No because the other teams' coach, players, and owner will still get their millions of dollars and live in their big fancy houses while sleeping with super hot girls every other night even if they lose.

 

i agree entirely. our society chooses self over life. and i'm not comfortable in those environments, either.

 

Greed is a surviving trait.

You're at a homeless shelter when someone finds a bag of bread. Starving, do you follow the honor system and take one or do you sneak in another in hopes that it'll last untill you find the next morsel of food?

If you were the one who found that bag of bread, would you share it with your faceless fellow men, or would you claim it's just dirty socks and underwear for your questionable collection?

Either way, there's no direct consequences of good or evil. If that bag of bread was designed to poison the homeless, you've just become a hero to the others by your selfish deed. If someone else was intending to be altruistic and shared with everyone, he would've been accomplice to a mass murder.

A good friend with a brain of mush once told me that reality is you, the other and what really happens. So I guess success is where your peceptions think is the middle of all three.

 

This is a topic that I admit I'm conflicted on.

I'm ambitious and greedy and I think ambition and greed aren't necessarily bad things and that capitalism in general works. At the same time I agree with Meowgi that greed and ambition is ultimately delusional.

How I've tried to reconcile this is that what motivates me helps out other people and while I want very much to succeed I believe that my work helps many others too and if I have a talent and desire to succeed then it would be wrong not to follow those.

For me I'm not at the point spiritually that I can detach from the World and still see value out of worldly pursuits. If that means making money then so be it. Money in itself is worthless but it gives me more flexibility to enrich my own life and those of others.

 

There are enough resources in this world, represented by money in many cases, to cure many of the problems of humanity.

The problem is, those resources pool and fester in the hidey-holes of those who have no way to make their life seem meaningful other than "more, more, more, MORE."

Accumulating capital is really just a more complicated version of the same things monkeys do to position themselves at the top of the monkey pyramid.

 

Greater happiness?
One man's cleansing is another man's genocide.
The pursuit of man's happiness is the root of all greed.

 

At the same time though the accumulation and generation of capital has done much to advance humanity.

 

Yes happiness is good, I agree with you.
I understand your perspective and happiness is good if defined properly.
True happiness is defined many ways by many people.

Many greedy people are very happy. I don't think this is the 'true' happiness you speak of.

What is true?

True happiness sounds like something good, which means it is intrensic in value and absolute in application.

What is your point of reference for what is 'true' happiness?

Let me illustrate the importance of definition:

A monk was vowed to poverty. He was happy(his definition). When given the opportunity he would assist travellers who came near his home. He shared very small portions of bread and water since he had very little for himself and was most happy giving to help others. One day a man came and offered him a large sum of money. The monk was happy to refuse the money and keep his humble vow. He felt most happy that he felt no temptation to take such a large gift for himself.
The very next week a terrible storm destroyed the poor village nearby. Many people knew of the monk's kindness and came to him for help. The monk was overwelmed by the needs and after a few weeks people began to become sick and die for lack of food and water. The monk had barely enough food and water for himself. The monk remained happy even though he witnessed great suffering among his neighbors believing that fate had dealt a cruel blow to the village.
Weeks later a stranger stopped by and asked the monk if he would accept a large sum of money. He insisted that he trusted the monk to do good with the money. The monk told the stranger the story of another man who had come one time and offered him money. The monk felt very unhappy that he had refused the money before because it was enough to save the lives of the entire village. The monk explained to the stranger what had happened in the village because of the storm.

The stranger gave the monk some wise advice. "Your own happiness is not your purpose.
Your neighbor's happiness is not your purpose. Your purpose is to know God so that you will recognize Him the next time He walks into your life."

Moral- People who only seek happiness rarely discover God.

 

greed and consumerism are not the same thing. since we no longer spend all our time hunting and gathering. since we don't spend all day in the fields, we have excess time. trading goods and services is not, in and of itself, evil. the problem is that we don't always use our time productively, and as others have mentioned, often deceive ourselves into a false sense of contentment based on the illusion of success. i think it best to be content that you'll never be content because word on the street is that there is no there there.

 

Jim: "Now, you all look money hungry, and that's good. Anybody tells you money is the root of all evil doesn't ****in' have any. They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the ****in' smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby."


http://www.gotwavs.com/cgi-bin/mp3s.cgi?Boiler_Room=moneyhungry.mp3

 

Well that explains why I spend so much time on Clutch BBS.