Dark Legacy Comics last episode showed the real goblin-way.
If I would have seen this comic 3 years ago, I would have scuffed it, since I was of the aspect that one should always help his fellow man. After some events and the wisdom of years I came to the understanding that this is one of the worst ways to go through life. Right now I think about 2 people Me and my Girlfriend, and everyone else can do their own thing without my help. Why should I loan a friend money? Half the time you don't get it back. Why should I spend time helping them if they don't return the favor?
The only way to live a decent life is think about yourself. If you have a company that can survive a year longer by laying off 100 people. Do it. So what if those people have kids to feed and homes to pay? IF they don't get layed off, you'll go bankrupt and they will be in the same misery 3 months later. not only that all of your employes will be without a job, and even worse, you will be out of a company with bills to pay. The goblin way is the ruthless company way, and besides of luck the only way to get filthy rich or atleast more then average money.
I know that what I'm saying is "mean" and "uncaring". Why should I care about people that don't care about me? The only reason why I give money to charity (120$ a year) is because I can refund it from the taxes. I'm not going to give a homeless guy/gal a dollar, I'm not going to sponsor someones surgery or whatever. I deduct the maximum taxes of charity each year and thats enough.
We all live by social laws, the only diffrence between me and you is that I make my own social laws. I don't live by any other, I'm not going to boost because It's "Friendly" and "Social". I'm not giving the homeless guy a dollar because "it's the right thing to do". Go get a job!
Am I wrong with this post? Most of you will think so. But to be honest, I don't care. I'm right in my own rules. That's what I care about.
I Value people's opinion, on blogs and ways to work etc. But not about my train of thought, my social rules etc. I have the goverment telling me what to do and that's enough, My social views are my own. Deal with it. And while you are at it, make your own social rules and laws, don't let other people force them through your throat. Do what YOU want to do, not what people expect you to do.
Grtz
Seth
Edit: Spelling + link fixed
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Really good post
ReplyDeleteGo you Seth, telling it how it is.
ReplyDeleteAnyone that disagrees with this is either someone that wants/expects handouts or is held back by some socially imposed moral obligation to screw themsevles over.
Gevlon and Sarainy,
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I disagree with this post. The western world is now moving towards "social justice" and "ethical behaviour". Companies that choose to ignore this may have short-term gain but will eventually find themselves by the wayside.
ReplyDeleteWhile you speak a lot of truth regarding handouts being ineffective, a narrow-minded "self" view is, I believe, a non-optimal solution.
I define Goblinism as the ability to adapt to the changing world. A Goblin is immune to "social pressures", but if "social pressures" will benefit the Goblin, then the Goblin will embrace it.
A Goblin, I believe is not someone who has a "self" view.
The reason for paying extra for a staff than market price.
ReplyDeleteCompany Benefits, Social PR, All is co-related to profit.
When the majority of the worker are socialist. The Best bet of a Goblin owner would be playing along.
Masking the deal with "Emotional" Attachment, because, that'll be cheaper...
If a manager can give the employee a "Sense of Belonging", they can avoid raising wage to compensate.
All of these can be, and usually are, fake...
But ask yourself, we rather living in lies rather than truth. Just don't be too native to believe that... Which is the real meaning of growing up.
I know This is sad, but I am still optimistic and appreciate people kindness. I just won't count on that...
(I had a long term argument with my gf on these)
Try not to be get depressed by it. Make that the baseline, and appreciate those people won't betray you for low cost.
You state things I agree with and disagree with.
ReplyDeleteOfcourse you should lay of a 100 people if it saves your business. And ofcourse you don't give a beggar money.
My motivations are different though.
I don't give a beggar money because you can be darn sure he'll exchange it for alcohol and drugs, that's not helping him.
What I do do is give money to charity. Heck I even help less fortunate people.
Why? Am I such a good person? No I'm not, it's a selfish motivation: I or people dear to me might up in a situation where they ARE homeless.
Keeping such things going is like a kind of insurance.
Also insurance that they don't get too desperate and kill you for your chik fillet.
ReplyDeleteWhat oh so tough ethical quandaries your novel theory is able to answer: "If you have a company that can survive a year longer by laying off 100 people. Do it." Indeed, i know of no other ethical system that could have come to the same conclusion. Seriously, strawman much?
ReplyDeleteGive us some real thinking. How much mileage are you comfortable getting out of perhaps the basest and most primitive of proto-philosophies, discussed as the trivial case in pretty much any book you surely must have run into during your schooling?
What does your ethical system say about "If i fire 100 people i can use the money to get a law passed that makes the 900 others indentured servants, then i can plow the further profits into more drugs and hookers". Or "if i can make insane profits by consuming gigantic amounts of an unregulated common good (say oxygen in the air) for free and therefore make insane profits, what should stop me?" Or "if i can legally dupe idiots out of their lifesavings, what should stop me?" Or "if slavery is legal in my social environment, awesome or awesomer?" What are the conditions in your system under which the social norms lose legitimacy? Are there conditions where i ought to sacrifice all i have and am without expectations of anything in return?
There are some tough questions out there, with varied and complex answers, and it'd be nice to have fewer lazy people unwilling to struggle with them.
I while I agree with the principle of what you say. I would point out that your post conveys a sort of bitterness as to your conversion to goblinism so to speak. I used to think like you, and said fuck everyone else. I also see there is an indication of a maturing view, that moves past "fuck everyone I'm the only one that matters".
ReplyDeleteI would like to first sort of explore the meaning of the word "Matter". In physics matter is defined as anything that has a mass and occupies space. Light is not matter sound is not matter. Things that are matter interact with other things around it by it's very definition. I therefor posit to you that Everyone else must matter in order for you to matter. So saying fuck everyone else is in essence makes you matter less.
Selfishness in my opinion while derided by society is the primary and most important characteristic of a good citizen. When one is selfish, one thinks only of himself taking care of him self to the level at which he is comfortable, if everyone did this then the desire to take care of someone else would be diminished because there would be no perceived need to help.
But In the pursuit of taking care of yourself you have to interact with others, and how you interact with others greatly impacts the way in which you will be perceived which is the most important thing in getting others to give you what you want.
So instead of thinking about if someone will do something for you in return for your action think about what return you get from your action independent of anyone else's actions. Also thinking about how to get people to repay you is a confining way of thinking because, sometimes we genuinly want to help because we think it's right or makes us feel a certain way which is perfectly fine, but always looking for how you're going to get someone to do something in return will invariably hamstring actions that you want to take. If it's about what you want then don't let the ability or inability of others color your actions.
@ anonymous
ReplyDeleteI have to point out your thinking is myopic because you only see the tragedy in 100 people being laid off. I agree with the OP if you have to lay off a portion of your staff to save a company then it's the right thing to do, although I think a more economical alternative would be to cut everyone's salary, it saves everyone's job and eliminates the cost of training new employee's when the lean time is over. Also it's alot easier for people to do with less, and adapt, than to do something with nothing. Saving the company is the most important thing in this limited scenario becasue there are customers and vendor who rely on the service of the company and the patronage of the company. Not making a hard decision and therefor inducing the company to fail will only bring about MORE harm than the layoff would to more than 100 people.
Carl Lewis, read again you entirely missed the point. Of course if your only two options are "fire some and save the company and most people's jobs" or "everyone loses everything", it's an easy call (without introducing other options as you're creatively/correctly doing). Hence the point about this being about the easiest ethical softball you could possibly lob. Hence my quip about laziness.
ReplyDeleteYawn.
ReplyDeleteI think Gevlon has been over this territory pretty extensively.
Unless you're trying to corner his market on juvenile psychopathy?
Unimpressed.
ReplyDeleteI read this post and I felt it was useless and unnecessary, and not only because it parrots Gevlon's pet theme.
I find your perspective immature. I believe you will look back on it one day and feel the same, and perhaps even be ashamed of yourself.
There will come a time in your life when you do not need to worry so much about looking after yourself and your loved ones. Then you will be able to spend some energy making the world a better place, perhaps bringing some peace and security to those less fortunate than yourself.
At the moment you seem so caught up in your own personal struggle that you have no ability to care for anyone else. What if that struggle went away? If you had all the money you needed or wanted, would you still want more more more just for the sake of it, or would you turn around and make a positive impact on the lives of others?
Open your eyes, look at the world around you.
We are all one. All life is one. Where will we all be in 100 or even 1000 years? The very atoms which comprise our physical bodies will still be a part of the living earth, as they always have been.
There is more to life than yourself, your business, your girlfriend and your bank account. Perhaps once those things are no longer of concern you will see the wonder in the world around you.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteAll your ideas of ethics and morals are artificial constructs, largely in response to a reality that scares people: the universe imposes no rules of conduct upon anyone. None whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteBut being a social creature, humans function optimally within frameworks of culture and shared views - ethical systems, moral teachings, etc. These various memes fight it out in a Darwinian world nearly as brutal as the one inhabited by genes. No one worships Zeus anymore - that meme died out and is basically a fossil now. Jesus is still going strong.
Like it or not, Gev's pet meme's are extremely reproducible, long-lived, and self-serving. I agree its a proto-philosophy, but many of the more "enlightened" group-thinks are as fragile as flowers. Dying out with any disruption, only to grow back again when things are calm and safe and secure once more.
Short version? Gev's proto-philosopy weathers storms, and most of the nuanced ethical systems have their heads stuck in their own navel.
The trick is to find the dynamic systems that make the best of both worlds. Gev dies alone on the Serengeti plain, the Ivory Tower types die in droves on the Serengeti plain. A wild pack of Goblins sets up a thriving outpost (Booty Bay, etc)
Baneberry: just because ethics are an artificial construct does not mean they are useless; universe does impose rules. There are physical laws, some of which are interesting like needing to kill things for others to live. Perhaps you'd agree that ethical systems are a technology just like fire or the wheel, to fulfill the drive for survival. There's good reason to think that the "techonology" of cooperative behavior in humans gave us the leg up.
ReplyDeleteIt behooves us to use the right tool at the right time for the right job. Therefore i'd agree that anyone whose ethical system is unflexible enough to respond to conditions is at a disadvantage. This means that being a egotistical sob at all times (and in our social context, perhaps at all times) is very unlikely to confer an advantage.
However, your caricature of "nuanced ethical systems" is just that, a caricature. Just because something is "nuanced" doesn't mean it's oblivious to taking strong action when needed or inflexible. Quite the contrary. I can't think of a modern ethical system that's as blind to realities as you seem to think--maybe kantian systems, but it's been a few centuries since they were cutting edge.
Ouch - this blog is about you and you can write anything you like about your own perception and thoughts as you have done and I commend you on that.
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me at 40, I still have a mom and dad I care about, a brother, a wife and two beautiful boys, I still have aunts and uncles and grandparents in their 90s I care for and whether they can do or take care of themselves for me, is beside the point - I am there for them and they for me. It must be semi-lonely for you but at least you have your girlfriend for now. Good luck in life......21 eh? Well, there is a lot of living and experiences yet to unfold for you hopefuly.
@ Rich
ReplyDeleteCondescending much? (albeit politely)