<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Anonymous<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why do bad things happen to good people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a funny thing to say when you spill your drink, but some people legitimately ask. Fallibility of the question itself aside, I say, that if bad things didn\u2019t happen to good people, they wouldn\u2019t be good people, just people. Let me explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only true sacrifice and loss separates altruistic from selfish, good from bad. First we need to define some terms. Good and bad aren\u2019t my terms of choice, so I\u2019ll specify. If we let good mean ethical and ethical mean altruistic then we can get cooking. Bad then meaning unethical, ergo selfish. If you can accept this, than you accept my thesis: It\u2019s not in one\u2019s self interest be good. People are selfish, and if they\u2019re selfish in the right way they\u2019re better off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have three reasons for this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, if you\u2019re better off good, if it\u2019s good to be good, it\u2019s not a moral matter. Let\u2019s say being good gets you to heaven, or grants you karmic benefit. It\u2019s no longer a matter of selfish vs. altruistic, but more short-term vs. long-term benefit. If Satan himself were promised heaven, he\u2019d do whatever he needed to get it, meaning he\u2019d be \u201cgood\u201d, although still not fundamentally different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly if we\u2019re just speaking terrestrially. Religious beliefs aside, selfish behavior can be done in a way that\u2019s more fruitful than altruistic behavior. The people who work for polluting corporations sleep well at night knowing that they\u2019re filling a pre-existing market demand, if they didn\u2019t pollute, another organization would fill that demand and pollute in their place. The consumers sleep well because the idea of gas consumption is so abstract and low on their list of moral imperatives. Morality is most certainly a choice, and if you choose otherwise, that\u2019s completely fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d like to specify when I talk about selfishness or bad behavior I don\u2019t mean any kind that is bad for the actor of said qualities, that\u2019d just be an unwise actor. If one doesn\u2019t stand in one\u2019s way and commits all the acts of courtesy and discretion that is required for social acceptance, there\u2019s still plenty of room for selfishness and amorality, just not the kind that pisses people off enough that can do anything about it to a sufficient effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our altruistic urges are just urges. They\u2019re phycological spur of the moment sort of things and completely emotional most of the time. Sometimes they\u2019re big picture and calculated, principles or grand endeavors, but even these things are at some point devised, and although the means by which we execute these are very logical and require much thought, the original intent, the thought, \u201coh I suddenly feel compelled by third world suffering\u201d are emotional. They usually come in response to seeing something compelling in just the sort of way advertising is compelling. Maybe a documentary, maybe a homeless person on the street. You must somehow bring your mind to think in some sort of way, \u201cthat person\u2019s suffering is my suffering\u201d. In order to be moral we have to convince ourselves that it\u2019s in our best interest. We must believe that\u2019s really the most effective way to be selfish, that morality is selfishness\u2019s best form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I make this point to urge people not to seek reprisal in judgement, to not be indignant in hopes of recognition of your decency, to not perceive fundamental differences from perceived bad actors. Don\u2019t spin your wheels in place with only the knowledge of your moral highness to comfort you. Not only so you can have empathy for those you deem evil, but so you don\u2019t get lost in obsession of transgressions against you, and continue to move forward. Do not be angry, it\u2019s only a game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Anonymous Why do bad things happen to good people? It\u2019s a funny thing to say when you spill your drink, but some people legitimately ask. Fallibility of the question itself aside, I say, that if bad things didn\u2019t happen to good people, they wouldn\u2019t be good people, just people. Let me explain. Only true … [DO NOT CLICK]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-265","6":"format-standard","7":"category-6","8":"category-nonfiction"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lampbylit.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}