I wanted to add an historical piece about human nature into
your dialogue. Do the research, I was totally surprised by
this.
Ascmjk@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 11/19/2001 8:36:33 PM Central Standard
> Time, 8rjd1@qlink.queensu.ca writes:
>
> ROB:
>
> Capitalism is only as bad as the people that buy the
> gas guzzling SUV's.
>
> JON:
>
> Yes, I once thought otherwise, but what you wrote is true.
> Systems aren't bad; people are bad. Systems--and
> money--like anything else, can be used as weapons. But
> guns don't kill, or guns would be convicted of murder.
Trip: Actually, the concept of human nature was created by
enlightenment philosophers (Locke, Hobbes) largely as a
justification for economic inequality as they were the ones
beginning to amass wealth by commerce! Hobbes state of
nature was his imagination of how hunters and gatherers
lived, not an anthropological study, which we now have.
Their lives were actually very very different from Hobbes
imaginaton. Nasty brutish and short decribes medieval
Europe, not he Kalihari Bushmen or the Navajo. Human Nature
therefor, was a concept created using only about 1% of the
availablke data. We know better now and the concept of
enlightement human nature must bend. People are not greedy
by nature. They are made greedy by culture, including most
importantly the mass media. People will always act stupid,
foolish, arrogant, selfish from time to time, bu they will
also be alturistic, compassionate, caring and loving. Which
one is our nature? There is no Human nature beyond the
innate desire to create culture, any culture that serves the
needs of the people. Our commonly held beliefs are
fallacious and simply continue to justify the accumulation
of wealth by the few. They used to be called aristocrats,
now they are entrepreneurs, same wolf though.
>
>
> ROB:
>
> Capitalism is all about
> human nature.
>
> JON:
>
> Exactly. Some proponents would argue that human nature
> needs to be "tamed" by socialism (or the other extreme, it
> needs to be totally unrestrained--namely anarchy).
>
> ROB:
>
> I want to hear arguments ladies and gents. You are
> questioning something as
> fundamental to me as democracy. As Churchill said, "It may
> not be perfect,
> but it's the best thing we know".
>
> JON:
>
> Was that his exact quote? I thought he said something like
> "it's awful and terrible (capitalism) but....it's better
> than all the rest." And there *are* unfair aspects of
> living in a capitalistic society. But guess what? America
> is capitalistic, and widely regarded as the greatest, most
> moral nation on earth. People don't risk their lives to
> leave America, but people from all across the globe risk
> their lives to come to America.
>
> Ah, the statue of Liberty. It may be just another landmark
> in the minds of Americans who see it as just another
> tourist attraction, but to many in the world that statue
> and that torch represent something very very special. An
> invitation to freedom.
>
> Jon
>
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:01:38 BST