As promised in the title, here is a funny video. This clearly shows the benefits of kicking...everyone in Europe and Russia seem to know how!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCa0j1vIQ4g
(This is a video of a fight on a Russian talk show, plenty of kicks and mayhem follow)
Anyway, the topic today is the discussion on good will and personal sacrifice. This topic has the potential to grow very big, and touches upon a LOT of different topics. But for a simple intro, I am talking about the good souls out there who sacrifice for the rest of us. I hope anyone reading has done at least a little 'sacrifice' maybe it was picking up that trash on a hike (and carrying it all the way back to throw away) to actually walking or biking somewhere when driving would have been easier.
The problem is the non-sacrificers. I hate to be the pessimist, but for every time I ride my bike, i am passed by about a 60% ratio of SUVs for the duration of my trip. The longer I ride the more SUVs I see, as if some great cosmic irony is trying to tell me it is pointless. For every piece of trash I pick up, there are XXX (Fill in the blank: selfish? Idiotic? Unaware? How can I tell why they are so useless....) I out there pitching just as many sonic and 7-11 big gulps out the window of their hummers.
What do we do with these people? When a single person can easily undo the good will of many?
This is a theme I will hammer in again and again. The reason we have this huge problem of this rampart selfishness is because that is how our society rears us. We are taught that the ultimate glory is to triumph over our fallen and defeated adversaries. We regard others as nothing more 'wary' allies, or everyone else who is expendable in our conquest for the top. Take just about everything, we are ALWAYS trying to defeat everyone, with the rare exception of a few close 'friends'. Take back in school, did you ever think "wow, I sure hope everyone passes this test! That would be so cool!" No, its more like "I sure hope everyone fails, and I pass, that way my grade will get curved to an 'A' "
With this dominate mindset, why would it be rational at all for you to sacrifice for everyone else. If you have never heard of the "tragedy of the commons", look it up, this is exactly what I mean. We are taught that our own personal advancement is correct, at the expense of everyone else.
It is that far fantasy, or that hard to believe that we could change the way we see the world, that our own personal sacrifice will be met with other sacrifices that benefit us? Do we silt our own families throat for our own benefit? No. So why cant we do the same for our community, state, nation, or even the world?
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2 comments:
The tragedy of the commons is an example that shows the problems of public goods. When everyone owns something, then there is little incentive to treat that property with the same respect that you would treat it if you owned it yourself.
Also, just because people act in their own self-interest does not mean they are making the world worse off. I pick up trash because it is unsightly and lowers the value of the property that it is on. I do it because I want to and it benefits me, not out of some noble sense of "sacrifice". I realize that not everyone is like me (you sight some examples), but forcing people to care is not going to solve the problem. If people are not interested in preserving the environment, then any work they are forced to do to help clean up will be done inefficiently.
A better way to preserve the environment is allow corporations (gasp!) to purchase land for preserves. I know I would be willing to pay to go hiking in a clean and natural environment and I am sure there are many other people like me. If this land was owned privately, then there would be an incentive to keep it clean, and control the amount of people that use the land.
There are a few exceptions where the government should be allowed to step in and force people to work towards a cleaner environment. Pollution, smog, acid rain and possibly global warming are all examples of how one company causing environmental damage can violate the property rights of others. Since the purpose of government is to protect individual rights, the government can regulate companies and individuals in these circumstances.
Allowing individuals to work towards their individual self-interest is not a bad thing. Protecting individual rights makes everyone better off, and allows groups of people to meet, work together and solve problems in an efficient way. Forcing people to work together will not solve the problem.
First, I would like to second what Jeff has said wholeheartedly. While paying admission to the forest seems odd, it cannot be denied that those privately owned forests would be better cared for just as privately owned roads are better maintained than their publicly owned counterparts.
That being said, I just wanted to note that self-interest underlies everything we do even those things that you consider sacrifice. I mean, I know I pick up trash in the woods when I see it, and while my actions may contribute to the greater good, this is not the motivation behind them. We both pick up that trash because it makes us happier to pick it up than not to pick it up. Even if you get no joy from actually doing it, I imagine you'd feel guilty if you didn't do it. Thus, in either case, you're simply maximizing your own utility not making some sort of sacrifice.
That all humans behave in this way is far from the tragedy you'd have us believe. It is wonderful because it allows us to create a system in which such behavior does lead to the greatest good just as Jeff mentioned. Making someone's utility depend on the cleanliness of the forest will ensure that the forest stays clean. Not due to some lofty ideals about sacrifice and the greater good but due to the hard reality of dollars and cents, incentives and rewards.
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