Might makes right....always....

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Let’s not play anymore.

“Might” (whether it is financial or plain old muscular or military) makes right" is pretty obvious.

“He who has the ‘gold’ rules,” is maybe funny…but correct.

Whether in marital relationships, or corporate relationships, or global relationships …the FACT of the matter is that the person with the most FINANCIAL resources rules.

Well…I guess the entire world believes this.

America. The “Land of the Billionaires” …but billionaires with a “heart.”

Americans want to fund AIDS research (for instance) and ‘pick up’ after monsoons and typhoons and earthquakes…

Send in all of those resources that do a wonderful job of “helping” folks in dire straits across the globe.

And we do.

(A nice ‘nod’ to the American people for supporting this effort.")

But the fact is, that we have exported greed and materialism to every country on this planet.

AND passed off “greed” as the highest form of Capitalism.

Working for the “Selfish Gene.” (Which Science has proven, of course.")

A lot of folks are just like me: they hate capitalism and socialism and communism and religiosity, and atheism, and Republicans and Democrats.

More and more folks are coming to understand that there is really no “Philisophical Divide” that is separating them… but just the folks with the power to try to set public opinion.

The top 1% of our Country have more in common with the top 1% of the folks in Saudi Arabia or England or Africa or South American than they do with each of us.

There are no political or geographical ‘boundaries’ with them.

It is only wealth. And power. And the ability to affect the direction of the masses.

And they’ve had their with the “masses” forever.

Perhaps it is time for the “masses” to educate themselves and reconsider their options.

“War” to protect the status quo may be something they might reconsider… in every country.

2

What exactly do you want to debate here?

3

Is there no debate?

Sorry if it is the wrong Forum.

4

You might try to be more “concise”.

AND tell us exactly what the “debate” is supposed to be.

So we can debate “it”.

5

Sorry.

I guess this is the wrong forum.

Mods… I guess this goes into something like “Pointless Things I Must Share.”

Sorry.

Please move.

6

Obvious? Not to me.

7

“Might makes right” isn’t quite correct. Isn’t it more like “Might makes others do its bidding, whether might is right or not”? Not nearly as pithy, of course.

8

But lurker’s point is that might (or power) redefines right in order to suit its desires. Or at least that’s what I think his/her point is.

9

I’d like to point out that lurker has apparently misinterpreted the concept of “the selfish gene”. That is, it’s not “being selfish is genetically coded for/selected for”, but rather “evolution acts on individual (and ‘selfish’) genes rather than on the organism as a whole, and genes will select to propagate themselves widely and stably independent of the best interests of the organism as a whole”.

10

It’s been argued that this is more or less true, although the process is at least somewhat two-sided - ie, that you need to obtain the consent of the unmighty. See hegemony.

11

Greed and materialism were around and flourishing looooong before America came into the picture.

The idea that the earth was once a magical garden where innocent, happy, peaceful humans danced together in the spirit of love, cooperation and brotherhood until America came and fucked it all up is flawed in so many ways that I don’t have the time, energy or inclination to argue about it.

Goofy T-shirt adages like “Might makes Right”, “The Golden Rule: he who has the gold makes the rules” and “He who dies with the most toys wins” and “Life is like a shit sandwich; the more bread you have the less shit you have to eat” have more than a grain of truth to them, and they have since the first caveman bashed in his cavemate’s head with a rock so he could take his woman, fire, bearskin loincloth and antelope steak.

12

Yes, I abolutely agree that greed and selfishness are the original human condition. I’ll go further and say that I believe a morality that considers justice to be equally merited regardless of family consideration - that is, the rights and well-being of all humans are considered on a par with those of family group - is a product of plenty. Societies where the people truly aren’t able to feed themselves or their children don’t have much time to waste on abstract concepts like equal justice for all, even though there may be individuals within that society with enough to spare concern for others.

But that said, the US greed machine does seem determined not only to not only set up this society to favor those who already have a lot over those who do not, but to influence other societies to adjust their values the same way. Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand seem to have achieved an equilibrium in which their wealthy were not quite as wealthy as our wealthy, but where their poor had a better shot than ours, without any sacrifice of personal freedom that I can see. The US seems to resent that, and seems to want to make sure that no developing nation goes the European route.

And Doug, you’re right that the consent of the (relatively) powerless is necessary. But usually, money can buy that by either influencing public opinion or oppressing the powerless. When these means fail, you get some of the ugliest wars in history: peasant rebellions such as the French Revolution or the Russian and Maoist revolutions.

One of the things that scares me in contemporary politics is that the right wing in the US seems determined to whip up a revolution in favor of the actually powerful and against those who seek to protect the powerless. That’s the power of mass communications.

13

That sure was

a whole lot

of carriage returns.