--- John Thornton <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Whenever someone brings up the subject that perhaps
> not everyone can have
> two automobiles, an SUV, and a 5 bedroom home
> someone will inevitably claim
> this is depriving the working class of its
> aspirations.
No one in thsi discussuin that I recall said this. Not me.
If we cannot even
> agree that the planet is unable to sustain that
> level of consumption we are
> very far from being able to do the things we must.
Which include what?
I said:
> >And, yes, you will note that I probably would
> tolerate
> >a whole lot more inequality than most of you.
>
> The problem with unequal entitlement to resources is
> that it creates anger
> and resentment.
I don't know what country you live in. I live on where the poor defend the right of the rich to the money they'sve "made."
Only by allowing ever person on the
> planet the exact same
> "slice of the pie" will we ever be able to escape
> from this.
This is absurd. Marx's critique of the point stands: if you are talk about right or justice, it isn't fair to give those who don't contribute as much (though they could) the same as those who contribute more, and if we could move beyond justice into abundance, which Marx thought we could but you don't. we'd have to recognize that people need (and want) different things and amounts. I don't need and couldn't use a Steinway, most people wouldn't be interested in a large library of philosophy books, but I would; sick people need medical carte taht healthy people don't. Isn't this obvious?
The
> proceeding generation, raised to believe equal
> entitlement is a birthright
> and not the product of how intelligent, beautiful,
> strong, or motivated
> they are will accept it without a problem.
Even ifd taht si true,w hicH I do not believe for a second, it would be a dumb idea, In fact it is an incoherent one There is no common denomibator, unless you have money and market. I don't mind money and markets, buty as many here will point out, they guarantee inequality. Without a common denomibator, what makes your Steinway equal to my philosophy books or someone else's health car? If I get sick and need health care, do you takea way some of my philosophy bookjs to make sure I don't have more than I should, get an unequal share that provokes resentmemnt?
Actually it seems to me, further, taht it is you who have the darl view of human nature. I think that if everyone has enough for a cushy life, no one much will really care if others have in some sense "more." You imagine that under even ideal circumstances, people will consumed by envy and calculating to the nearest unit of whatever the measure of wealth is whether someone else might have a hair more than they. Don't you think that people can be better than that?
>
> >But we won't get this. We won't the get Bangladeshi
> >SUV's either. We will get further polization,
> >continents devassated by AIDs and war, sweatshop
> >labor, fundamentalist terrorism, first world
> >imperialist self-righteousness. We will get the
> >imporatttion of third world living standards home.
> In
> >short, we're fucked.
>
> I try to keep a positive outlook but too often I do
> believe this may be
> humankinds fate. I try not to allow myself the
> luxury of this attitude.
>
> John Thornton
It's too depressing to believe on a daily basis, I agree. The last thing left in Pandora's box is hope.
jks
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