Re: Mind's Eye Re: Good and bad

People like simplistic morality. In the real world it's different -
see the discussion here http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dirty-hands/
on dirty hands. I abhor violence and torture - but friends could rely
on me to use both in certain circumstances. Usual discussion here is
stuff like the Allies bombing German civilians was justified at the
beginning of the war (because the Nazis winning was unthinkable) but
not the later bombing at the end of the war when Germany and Japan
were all but defeated (the excuse then being merely saving our
soldiers' lives rather than all civilisation).
There are, in fact, multiple issues, at apparently inconsequential
levels. As fullback at 5ft 9 and 12 stone 8 you face a rampaging 17
stoner 6 ft 4 high as the last line of defence. If you take him high
he will run over you and score - if you take him low you will bring
him down but his momentum will take him to the line and score. An
alternative is to take his head. This will incur and penalty (two
points) and your sending off. There are two minutes left and you are
winning 10 points to 7. Winning pay is £300 and losing pay £35. What
do you do? What might be going through your mind?

Most fullbacks in this position go for the head. The cheating and
risk to the big guy are justified by such as:
1/. You won't play nest week if you don't stop him
2/. You won't be popular with your mates
3/. They would do the same to you and so on.

I never did this. Dad would be in the crowd and his disapproval
outweighed all other considerations. Morality is difficult and we lie
to ourselves about it. We often won't even admit to the bad as in
believing our foreign policies are ethical against all evidence.

On Jan 31, 1:30 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I like the divine right analogy rigs.  I don't favour capitalism for
> much the same reason.  Much discussion of right and wrong is stuck in
> a past we need to escape.  Origin is difficult.  Born a Scot I might
> revere our heritage - but 3000 years ago 'we' were likely German
> farmers eating 'grass porridge'.  Capitalism broke up much of
> feudalism, but I suspect it was no more than a revision of Domesday
> Book accounting and labour exploitation.  Much of what actually goes
> on is not capitalism but the establishment of rents through financial
> manipulations - essentially a control fraud by the rentier-class.
> We've been had on a butty - and need more modern argument based on
> what we know, facts shared in a common language.
> There is a literature suggesting our environmental knowledge is now
> important in moral decision-making   I think we have missed a lot
> before this.  Current technology is good enough for us to create self-
> sustaining communities and give up on empire.  We need to re-evaluate
> our morality against this.  I don't see this leading to socialism and
> any aim seems to me to be about considerably more freedom - from such
> things as war, work ethics formed in times of shortage and need for
> hard labour and so on.  The Soviet empire was much like the Tsars it
> replaced - we used to call the KGB 'Checkists' after the Tsar's secret
> police.
> I suspect capitalism - unless used as a pejorative - is little more
> than an accounting system.  The problem lies in its corruption.
> People cheat and cheats like crimogenic systems that allow work in the
> dark.  The umpire in cricket is now redundant - machines are better.
> We could have had a machine accounting system on a global basis by now
> - instead machines play a bigger role in cheating.  Capitalism with
> fair accounting presents few problems except for losers in the
> competition.  In sport we have competitions that allow losers first
> draft picks and our course there is no competition if one eradicates
> the competition.  Wigan's dominance of the Rugby League was truly
> horrible - it was hard t turn up to watch knowing every other team
> would lose.
> The pathway to Hell is lined with good intentions Gabby - we are
> scared of change.  Does anyone now believe that rule by the Guardians
> of future socialist paradise can be established to wither away?    Or
> that the rentiers will wither away as Keynes hoped?  And are such
> matters not the same coin, merely opposite sides?  Capitalism has run
> up a lot of debt - are we so sure of it we can do away with time-
> honoured debt jubilee?  Would it not make more sense to give away what
> we have built already to the people, have something of a leveling and
> start again with a new focus on sustainability?
> The genuine capitalist firm treats finance as a cost - it is difficult
> to see from this how the vast transactions of financial services are
> not parasitic on such firms and all of us.  The bubbles created cause
> much misery and form part of a vast Ponzi scheme we have no need of.
> Beyond this, capitalism is really assumed to be a dirty game of beggar
> thy neighbour we are ahead in and need to stay ahead in or we'll lose
> military edge (and so on).  We end up justifying doing bad things for
> the greater end and rationalising this as moral.
>
> On Jan 31, 9:14 am, gabbydott <gabbyd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > The way you contrast socialism and capitalism is like contrasting
> > creationism versus evolutionism. And by the natural law that the fittest
> > will survive you are right to have decided for the evolutionary view.
>
> > I don't think - and the exchange in this group has helped me a lot to see
> > this clearer - we should forget how tempting the search for the right
> > answers is.
>
> > 2013/1/31 rigs <rigs...@gmail.com>
>
> > > I am a fan of capitalism. I consider Marxism and Fascism as an
> > > extension of socialism which is an extension of divine rights,etc.,
> > > i.e. theft, redistribution of another's wealth and labor, weakening of
> > > the body politic (a form of serfdom) which turns governments into
> > > bloodsuckers via taxes and debt.//Do you think economics is a valid
> > > science? Why, when it has flopped so many times.//We need production
> > > and labor plus consumption so there is a need for immigrants into
> > > white industrial countries to make up for the decline of white births
> > > (55 million abortions plus birth control). But I wonder if illegals
> > > will pay back taxes and bother to learn English. It might go smoother
> > > if we learn Spanish and Europe learn Arabic.//Family can also hurt
> > > people but sometimes that hurt teaches valuable lessons. It is easier
> > > to leave some people and events to Heaven though it would probably
> > > spell the end of the legal profession.
>
> > > On Jan 30, 4:56 am, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > I'm not sure the audience is as wide as your estimate rigs.
> > > > Technically I am hospitable to any theoretical view from marxism to
> > > > fascism - though I tend to dislike theoretical views - and hospitable
> > > > to Islamic theory/s in business analysis - and to guests in my
> > > > classrooms from all backgrounds.  This is easy enough - as easy as
> > > > offering to put you up if you were travelling in the UK.  The
> > > > difficult bit is in reciprocity - here we might think of the Maussian
> > > > concept of the gift and many examples in 'stoneage economics' - what
> > > > is expect of a guest in return.  One gives freely - a few nights stay
> > > > is not given for a return of a few nights stay and so on - yet one
> > > > does not generally keep giving to inhospitable guests.  One can
> > > > discuss racism yet not tolerate racists - but to brand people
> > > > concerned their opportunities for homes and work are disappearing in
> > > > immigration flows as racist who raise these issues with some hatred on
> > > > the people taking them is also wrong (particularly if done by
> > > > politically correct idiots whose homes and jobs are not under such
> > > > threat).  Hospitality is sometimes easy, sometimes very hard work, can
> > > > be a treat or pain - but is always already reciprocal in intent even
> > > > if no commodity exchange is meant.  I prefer to be hospitable to you
> > > > rigs than tolerant - tolerance has pratronising aspects - and this is
> > > > my general approach to things intellectual.  It's easy with you as I
> > > > like what I hear.  I have lost hospitality to politics.  Left to typo
> > > > as it hits the meaning better than the word I intended!
>
> > > > People hurt us Andrew.  We hurt them.  Some is intentional some not.
> > > > Gossip is often vicious from the pub to academic cloister.
> > > > Transactional analysis isn't a bad place to look at how rigs'
> > > > "balanced score card" builds up in personal relationships - Eric
> > > > Berne's 'Games People Play' is still. the best book.  Only friends can
> > > > generally hurt us as we come to expect better from them, value them
> > > > and so on.  Friendship is easily mimicked and sometimes that small
> > > > thing you mention may reveal the charade.  Sometimes we take things
> > > > too hard and should just let an incident wash away.  This can be
> > > > particularly hard if you've been collecting brown stamps (been shit
> > > > on) in too many recent encounters.  I used to go to the pub every
> > > > Friday to get rid of my collection - but this habit itself became a
> > > > brown stamp.  I'm not religious but there's lots in forgiveness and
> > > > 'there but for the grace of god go I'.
>
> > > > On 29 Jan, 19:11, rigs <rigs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > Please define what you mean by "hospitality"- of the individual, the
> > > > > group, nations. Thanks. :-)
>
> > > > > On Jan 29, 5:22 am, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > > I think the first consideration is hospitality rigs.
>
> > > > > > On Jan 29, 12:10 am, rigs <rigs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > > > At least some had good intentions re empires- maybe that should be
> > > > > > > noted. And I believe in good intentions, myself- don't you? It's
> > > > > > > likely a project for those two columCouldns of thinking and
> > > sorting.
>
> > > > > > > On Jan 28, 6:41 am, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > > > > Good question Andrew - though we could wonder why most people
> > > have
> > > > > > > > rosy views of the US and British empires, pretty much against
> > > the real
> > > > > > > > history.
>
> > > > > > > > On Jan 28, 11:19 am, rigs <rigs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > > > > > Try being Pollyanna for a day and see how far you get. Or Dr.
> > > Pangloss
> > > > > > > > > ("Candide")
>
> > > > > > > > > On Jan 28, 5:11 am, andrew vecsey <andrewvec...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
>
> > > > > > > > > > Why do so many of us remember negative feelings easier than
> > > positive ones.
> > > > > > > > > > Pain over pleasure. Bad news over good news. Why does "bad"
> > > overshadow
> > > > > > > > > > "good", immorality over morality, despair over hope,
> > > pessimism over
> > > > > > > > > > optimism. Why does hate appear to be more powerful than
> > > love? Why is greed
> > > > > > > > > > louder than generosity. Why is destruction of war so much
> > > faster than the
> > > > > > > > > > building power of peace. Why can one little lie destroy a
> > > lifetime of
> > > > > > > > > > trust. Why are lies more influential than truth. It all
> > > seems so one sided.
> > > > > > > > > > Why is that?- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > > > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > > - Show quoted text -
>
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>
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