From: SQUONKSTAIL@aol.com
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 20:10:21 GMT
CONTINUED...2
When society chooses its heroes, often these heroes fall within these
categories. Individuals who have been conditioned to follow orders and
disregard the danger these orders will put him or her self in and also the
immoral consequences of these orders. For example, many of us were struck
by the image of the firemen rushing up the stairways to their deaths on
9/11. This was certainly a courageous act. But, it was an act that each
of them were socially conditioned to perform. They were just doing their
job. I don’t mean to downplay the tragedy of their deaths; I just wonder
how a society chooses its heroes.
sq: Secret police: just doing their job. Firemen: just doing their job. No
downplaying there! Good show Andy! Excellent piece of writing! Matt is
rightly proud to have the acquaintance of your society!
Andy:
Who are the heroes; someone who is conditioned by society to follow orders
and perform acts at the expense of their own personal safety-for the good of
society, or individuals who defy this conditioning and act in the interests
of some other purpose? This
purpose might include interests in democracy, humanity, future generations,
freedom of expression, etc. - or perhaps, simply the interests of their own
or their families safety.
sq: Yup. That just about covers everything! Such clarity of thought! Such
incisive penetration of the issues! Excellent writing! Superb! Good show mini
Matt!
Andy:
I was also struck by Matt’s discussion of ethnocentrism and Rorty’s idea of
America's anti-ethno ethnocentrism. I think this basically encompasses a
post-philosophical ideal that might be captured under the idea of empathy.
sq: I think what you mean to say is that you are struck by Rorty. Matt simply
says everything he says?
Andy:
In other words, in addition to the American regard for their democratic
principles, we also value an empathetic principle in regards to individuals
in other cultures, at least in principle, it not always in practice. When
our founding fathers said, “WE hold these truths to be self-evident, All
men are created equal…”, this might have been interpreted to mean only
white wealthy landlords at the time it was written, but over time we have
extended this include all people-men and women-in all cultures around the
world (again, in principle-although there is still work to do in practice).
Thus our nationalism, ethnocentrism, involves recognizing the common
traits in humanity beyond our national borders.
sq: Quite breath taking! This is excellent writing! You actually mean to say
that an ideal is the best anything can be? I never knew that! Good show!
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