Clean Olympics

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Author	Topic: Clean Olympics
Drew By Committee Member # 4233	written Friday, August 6 2004 07:27 Profile #25 "I don't see how anyone couldn't care about this. Animals are my life, as you can probably tell from some of my posts." The same way we don't care about all kinds of things everyday in our lives. Oh, we might say we care, but we don't take action. For example, I probably don't really care about world hunger. I agree that it's horrible, but at some point I unconsciously calculated that since it's not in my face disrupting my life, the cost of taking effective measures in time and money is greater than I'm willing to pay, even if it's time and money I'd otherwise spend acquiring and playing video games, which are ostensively worthless. I also assumed that I could just free-ride on the efforts of those who do care, so the problem is being addressed at no cost to me. Therefore, I don't lift a finger. This all sounds horribly selfish, and I think it is. However, I believe it's human nature, and even rational, to want more for less. A cynical view, but we see it everyday - people continually changing lanes on the highway trying to find the fastest one, all the while causing delays for everyone else; the competitive rush to the just-opened checkout lane at the grocery; the whole concept of "not it," etc. What will "fix" this is a change in the rules of society. Currently, capitalism's influence in the US has created an "everyman for himself" ethic that caters to human nature, encouraging us to be selfish. We call this "freedom." Perhaps if the US were to change to a more community-oriented rules set, like Japan's, for example, perhaps more of these issues would be addressed. Barring some major catastrophe, however, this will never happen. Boy, am I just out in left field on this one? Posts: 2242 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00
Talent in a Previous Life This Side Towards Enemy Member # 3098	written Saturday, August 7 2004 09:49 Profile #26 Because some of us are just cruel and insensitive pyschopaths, Nico. Sorry, I just don't value animals so highly. I was in Athens just before Easter and something really did need to be done. The dogs were everywhere. They were potential vectors for disease and considering the way the average Athenian drives, it's a wonder they didn't cause more traffic accidents (since if two of them got into a fight, the loser would be more scared of the winner than traffic.) Dogs are also very hard to rehome. My family keeps Irish setters from a rescue. These have had homes but had to leave due to deaths, relationship breakdowns and the like. If they've been on the street instead, it's that much harder. Very few people would have wanted those dogs. TNR might be a benefit but long term, the population cap needs to be rather lower to solve the problems. -------------------- Voice of Reasonable Morality Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00
Kel-Aziz Apprentice Member # 4761	written Monday, August 9 2004 03:31 Profile Homepage #27 Eat them. -------------------- "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying." Posts: 30 | Registered: Thursday, July 22 2004 07:00

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