- Capitalism and Alternatives -

If you want to insult me than call me selfless.

In Reply to: if your a capitalist, you are SELFISH and disgusting!!! posted by Dennis Lee Marta Jr. on July 23, 1998 at 10:18:03:

If you want to call me selfish then thank you for the compliment.
If you want to insult me than call me selfless.
I am sure you dont understand so let me explain. To be selfish is to have enlightened self interest. It is to struggle to improve one self not for the satisfaction of others but only for self satisfaction. If you were to ask the great inventors of our time what their primary motivation was it was selfish. Either money motivation or an award or what have you. Andrew Carnegie had a lifelong goal. It was simply to spend the first half of his life accumulating wealth and the second half giving it all away. And he did. I tell you this was selfish, it was his own pleasure of doing it that drove him, not the pleasure of others even though others benefited by his actions. Was he compassionate? of course he was. Was he compassionate because he was selfless or did he derive pesonal satisfaction from his actions?
The problem with your example is that you feel pity for the person. The greatest insult to a fellow human being is to pity them. To ease your guilt that others are worse of than you, you would have others pay for their problems. It is you who are disgusting, you would, if you had the power decide how others would spend their hard earned money. You proved it in your own example. This person doesn't need another video game they can pay for someone else. It is you through the guise of compassion that justifies theft.
In your example if this person was a friend or family member of mine would I help them? Yes, but not because someone like you would make me feel guilty, not because I was forced, felt pity or felt sorry for them, I would do it only because of the SELFISH satisfaction I would receive seeing that child healthy again.

Follow Ups:

• Those who control the culture and economy also control the way we assign meaning to words. bill U.S. July 27 1998 (2)
  • I am obsessed with property rights. Capatilist Pig Freedom USA July 28 1998 (1)
    • Use-value and exchange-value Samuel Day Fassbinder Citizens for Mustard Greens USA July 29 1998 (0)
• hateful hateful person you! Dennis Lee Marta Sr. July 24 1998 (5)
  • I wasn't born into a wealthy family. Capitalist Pig Freedom USA July 24 1998 (3)
    • thoughts originate in the brain Capitalism USA July 29 1998 (2)
      • Wrong! Omen December 29 1998 (1)
        • Strike a balance... a friend May 04 1999 (0)
  • Life has no worth Dan USA July 24 1998 (0)