>Not having to work to ensure one's survival is in opposition with one
>reality shared by many cultures, especially puritanical and/or
>economically-centered ones. (And in truth, it's the primary reality OC
>will exist/compete for attention in.)
>
>But it is only one reality experienced at one level of consciousness.
Rob,
I always accept the fact that my view of life might be limited by the
world I live in and by things like education and social surroundings. But
actually, I wasn't aming at the fact that they didn't make money, I was
pointing out the fact that the way communism was supposed to work
(everybody works to his best ability and the community sees to the
well-being of all) wasn't accepted by the people, because it made the
assumption that everyone was only good. Marx completely ignored the fact
that what makes us human is the ambiguity of good and bad, busy and lazy.
>I was born in 1943, and didn't travel to Europe until 1966; so I can hardly
>claim expertise as to the failure of Communism. I would say any system
>whose philosophy includes the use of force to obtain converts is doomed to
>fail eventually.
Please do not mix up communism and what became reality under this name in
the USSR. Marx' concepts were very different from the way it turned out in
the end. What happened in the USSR is often referred to as socialism
(which, again, isn't social democracy).
>But probably not. There is a weakness in any social support system that
>creates dependency. Some years ago 60 Minutes or some similar show
>documented what happened to the quality of life in a South Sea island
>fishing community that became totally dependent on US aid.
>(...)
>So altruism can actually be damaging to the recipient (surprise??...wasn't
>it a major justification for the Inquisition?), and in such cases I guess
>it must be the epitome of egoism.
You are completely right. I never said altruism was a good thing (OTOH,
please don't think I want to say it's bad either -- it's in between). Or
rather, from my viewpoint (seemingly objective to me) I believe real
altrusim doesn't exist. But it's a concept that has been proven over and
over again to be one of the best ways in some cases to keep a community
alive.
Cheers,
-- M. Uli Kusterer
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