05-16-2022, 12:39 PM
(05-16-2022, 07:09 AM)JasonBlack Wrote: People want "freedom" for themselves in some capacity, and most would prefer a democracy where they have a voice to an oppressive autocracy where they don't. Where things fall apart in terms of assuming this kind of broader liberal order is possible is that none of this implies that people are inclined to care nearly as much about other people's freedom. Even in the United States, where freedom is cherished more than anywhere else in the world, only around 50% of people approved of interracial marriage, and in took until around 2011 for that many to approve of same-sex marriage.
After roughly 40 years of me-me-me, I'm surprised that YOU are surprised. It's been a long time since the idea of following a cooperative model has been the default. The competitive model, on the other hand, has always been a strong option, even during the more communal periods. But today is not one of those. It's full-on zero-sum game! Of course it's brutal. To be honest, I haven't the slightest idea how to break-out of this mindset.
Case in point: we just had a guy drive 200 miles to kill a bunch of people he didn't know and who had done him no harm, yet the condemnation of this heinous act seems oddly one sided. Until that huge phalange of self-focused people can be reached by their own humanity, I don't see anything changing.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.