I just realized I like selfish people. Don’t get me wrong, I contribute to free software, make charitable contributions and think of others. What has come to really bother me are people who have lost self, what Lenin referred to as “useful idiots”. I was at a show today and saw Wil Wheaton had retweeted something about Republicans being foolish for making a mess and complaining about how it wasn’t being cleaned up fast enough. It was really irritating, if for nothing else for how out of touch it is. I heard today in a recent survey only 35% of people admitted they voted for Obama. Republicans? I’m going to say along with independents that are some Democrats lying there.
However this isn’t about political parties or ideologies. America is traditionally myopic that congress holds the purse strings and the president can suggest a budget, but after that he either signs what he gets or vetos it. That said I would not just look at the historical facts but the present consequences. Republicans spent too much money through 2006. Democrats are blowing cash at an alarming three times the rate of Republicans. Let’s be honest, they both have problems, but nothing is being fixed here. Our president has no accomplishments other than a so called stimulus bill that a dismally low percentage of the population thinks worked and the architect of that promised it would save us from going over 8% last year and now posts numbers with the implied admission of failure saying it won’t go below 9% any time soon. If you think it was because we were so broke at $5T that the fix putting us over $12T is going to take 10 years to get to $24T before it gets better than please slow down and look at this with an open mind.
Forget political parties and ideologies. Do you or anyone you know have children? What are we leaving them. For that matter do you plan on being alive a few more decades? I suggest you take a look at what is happening in Greece. They have been borrowing and spending worse than we have. So much so that their bond rating has been lowered. This basically means it looks questionable they can ever pay the money back entirely so the interest is much more. What if you were buying a house and one day the bank said your payments were going to jump by a huge amount? Now along with paying this extra money you have to borrow more to pay it? End game!
Governments can opt for several things including suffocating taxes or the hidden tax, inflation. That’s when they print more money and devalue the currency. Now they can pay back their debts easily but you need to take a wheelbarrow load of money to the store to buy a loaf of bread. Don’t laugh, it happened in Germany after WW I and it’s happened in other countries. However for the US there is an even more frightening possibility. Many countries hold our currency for trading and as a hedge against their own currency. Oil is traded in dollars. If confidence in the dollar falls that money is released into the world markets and we have instant devaluation of our currency. Since our money is no longer based on gold it is based on trust.
So getting back to the idea of being selfish, this is not a time to fall in line with red and blue flags and throw water balloons and call names. This is a time to ask about our self interests. I don’t personally care if our president had a good day or if your party or my party was bad at some point in history or promised something or whatever. I care about the people in my life and I care about whether I will enjoy safety and comfort. Up till now I have seen very few people in either party say anything that indicates they understand what is going on.
Today there are people who want to save the planet or see our president succeed, regardless of how that success is defined. That by the way is troubling if it is not only against the will of the people but also at immense risk to our economic well being. The point is I don’t trust people who need to find their identity in groups! When someone expresses to me what they are concerned about or desire in a selfish way I find the honesty much more trustworthy. Even if they are ideologically opposed to me I can at least respect their honesty.
In my opinion the most enlightened individuals are those who see that their self interest is intertwined with others and are willing and able to consider the other person. At the same time the definition of personal motivation is that there is nothing we do that is not in our own self interest. It is in vogue today to attack self interest, to call people greedy. It is as if the cardinal sin in our new delusion of enlightenment is to acknowledge any self interest in our interactions. The sad thing is that when we set our self interests aside we find ourselves craving some ideology to fill the vacuum.
This is the moment for the pied piper, the mystical salesman, the Al Gores of the world… this is the opening to use the useful idiots. The formula is simple. Take your selfish goals, be it money or power or a quest for utopia, then figure out how to cast it into a story calling on our better natures. Tell us that we are reaching for something greater than our small meaningless lives. Something like saving the planet or helping some Chicago politician lower sea level. The truly inspiring thing about this mesmerizing group think is that once the hook is set then it’s as good as Stockholm syndrome. Some of those people will stand in the face of mountains of evidence and repeat what they have been taught.
Useful idiots turn victory into defeat, lecture the wise, claim intellectual superiority while spouting profanity at those they disdain… Useful idiots sign over their lives and belongings, do the bidding of lunatics and donate to anyone tugging their heart strings. However they are compensated in the comfort of knowing they are welcome and secure in the group. They have gained acceptance from their peers and approval for doing the bidding of their masters. Useful idiots are… unfortunate and tragic souls who have lost touch with the confident and thoughtful self they could be for the purpose of joining the mob and being validated.
Think about what is important to you. Think about what you want. Don’t settle for jingoistic sound bites spewed from useful idiots or their selfish masters. Be your own selfish master and evaluate what you see and hear based on what matters to you. What should matter are those we love and those we share a most amazing nation with. What should matter is responsible action, freedom and, to my thinking, knowing that our personal actions contribute to making the world richer and freer.
If you will do what is truly beneficial to yourself you will be in a position to empower others. Civilization is the intersection of self interest and tyranny is the abdication of self interest.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 2:17 AM and is filed under social commentary.
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Both comments and pings are currently closed.
The selfish Paradigm
I just realized I like selfish people. Don’t get me wrong, I contribute to free software, make charitable contributions and think of others. What has come to really bother me are people who have lost self, what Lenin referred to as “useful idiots”. I was at a show today and saw Wil Wheaton had retweeted something about Republicans being foolish for making a mess and complaining about how it wasn’t being cleaned up fast enough. It was really irritating, if for nothing else for how out of touch it is. I heard today in a recent survey only 35% of people admitted they voted for Obama. Republicans? I’m going to say along with independents that are some Democrats lying there.
However this isn’t about political parties or ideologies. America is traditionally myopic that congress holds the purse strings and the president can suggest a budget, but after that he either signs what he gets or vetos it. That said I would not just look at the historical facts but the present consequences. Republicans spent too much money through 2006. Democrats are blowing cash at an alarming three times the rate of Republicans. Let’s be honest, they both have problems, but nothing is being fixed here. Our president has no accomplishments other than a so called stimulus bill that a dismally low percentage of the population thinks worked and the architect of that promised it would save us from going over 8% last year and now posts numbers with the implied admission of failure saying it won’t go below 9% any time soon. If you think it was because we were so broke at $5T that the fix putting us over $12T is going to take 10 years to get to $24T before it gets better than please slow down and look at this with an open mind.
Forget political parties and ideologies. Do you or anyone you know have children? What are we leaving them. For that matter do you plan on being alive a few more decades? I suggest you take a look at what is happening in Greece. They have been borrowing and spending worse than we have. So much so that their bond rating has been lowered. This basically means it looks questionable they can ever pay the money back entirely so the interest is much more. What if you were buying a house and one day the bank said your payments were going to jump by a huge amount? Now along with paying this extra money you have to borrow more to pay it? End game!
Governments can opt for several things including suffocating taxes or the hidden tax, inflation. That’s when they print more money and devalue the currency. Now they can pay back their debts easily but you need to take a wheelbarrow load of money to the store to buy a loaf of bread. Don’t laugh, it happened in Germany after WW I and it’s happened in other countries. However for the US there is an even more frightening possibility. Many countries hold our currency for trading and as a hedge against their own currency. Oil is traded in dollars. If confidence in the dollar falls that money is released into the world markets and we have instant devaluation of our currency. Since our money is no longer based on gold it is based on trust.
So getting back to the idea of being selfish, this is not a time to fall in line with red and blue flags and throw water balloons and call names. This is a time to ask about our self interests. I don’t personally care if our president had a good day or if your party or my party was bad at some point in history or promised something or whatever. I care about the people in my life and I care about whether I will enjoy safety and comfort. Up till now I have seen very few people in either party say anything that indicates they understand what is going on.
Today there are people who want to save the planet or see our president succeed, regardless of how that success is defined. That by the way is troubling if it is not only against the will of the people but also at immense risk to our economic well being. The point is I don’t trust people who need to find their identity in groups! When someone expresses to me what they are concerned about or desire in a selfish way I find the honesty much more trustworthy. Even if they are ideologically opposed to me I can at least respect their honesty.
In my opinion the most enlightened individuals are those who see that their self interest is intertwined with others and are willing and able to consider the other person. At the same time the definition of personal motivation is that there is nothing we do that is not in our own self interest. It is in vogue today to attack self interest, to call people greedy. It is as if the cardinal sin in our new delusion of enlightenment is to acknowledge any self interest in our interactions. The sad thing is that when we set our self interests aside we find ourselves craving some ideology to fill the vacuum.
This is the moment for the pied piper, the mystical salesman, the Al Gores of the world… this is the opening to use the useful idiots. The formula is simple. Take your selfish goals, be it money or power or a quest for utopia, then figure out how to cast it into a story calling on our better natures. Tell us that we are reaching for something greater than our small meaningless lives. Something like saving the planet or helping some Chicago politician lower sea level. The truly inspiring thing about this mesmerizing group think is that once the hook is set then it’s as good as Stockholm syndrome. Some of those people will stand in the face of mountains of evidence and repeat what they have been taught.
Useful idiots turn victory into defeat, lecture the wise, claim intellectual superiority while spouting profanity at those they disdain… Useful idiots sign over their lives and belongings, do the bidding of lunatics and donate to anyone tugging their heart strings. However they are compensated in the comfort of knowing they are welcome and secure in the group. They have gained acceptance from their peers and approval for doing the bidding of their masters. Useful idiots are… unfortunate and tragic souls who have lost touch with the confident and thoughtful self they could be for the purpose of joining the mob and being validated.
Think about what is important to you. Think about what you want. Don’t settle for jingoistic sound bites spewed from useful idiots or their selfish masters. Be your own selfish master and evaluate what you see and hear based on what matters to you. What should matter are those we love and those we share a most amazing nation with. What should matter is responsible action, freedom and, to my thinking, knowing that our personal actions contribute to making the world richer and freer.
If you will do what is truly beneficial to yourself you will be in a position to empower others. Civilization is the intersection of self interest and tyranny is the abdication of self interest.
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 2:17 AM and is filed under social commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.