From: Perry E. Metzger (perry@piermont.com)
Date: Sat Sep 13 1997 - 10:01:41 MDT
> Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 16:09:48 +0200
> From: Arjen Kamphuis <mountain@knoware.nl>
> Subject: Re: Extropianis (Protestants in Disguise?)
>
> Methinks most Extropians are relativly young, healty, white, highly
> educated/skilled (self-taught or otherwise), well-payed people that work
> 40-80 hrs a week (more when they are driving trucks ;-). And they hold a
> firm belief that it is their effort and dicipline that gave them the
> recources that they have at their disposal.
> You won't find many members that lost their job/income/health-insurance at
> 28 because of some crippling disease or are unable to do high-intensety
> work because of a mild form of schizophrenia.
>
> "Those who do not work, shall not eat. Those who cannot work... well, as
> long as they are not rotting on my doorstep it's really not my problem now
> is it?"
One of the wonderous "breath of fresh air" features of Ayn Rand's
"Objectivism" is that even partially adopting the viewpoint gives one
the ability to openly laugh at this sort of stupidity.
I have *no* obligations to other human beings other than the ones I
freely accepted myself. NONE. ZERO.
I could argue with you all day about our "little dying schizophrenic
brothers" and whether or not we have any obligations to them, and
whether or not I'm self made or "privileged" or some such rot, but the
argument would be based on a fundamentally flawed premise -- that the
answer to the question of whether some people are "privileged" even
matters.
I have NO obligation to someone dying in the street. Any appeals to
emotion you can make stating otherwise are all based on religious or
quasi-religious tenets, more or less, or based on the false appeal to
"what if you were that person". Well, you can argue that it might be
IN MY INTEREST to see a society where people are "helpful" (I didn't
say it would be true, but you can argue it) but you have no basis at
all for claiming any *obligation*.
Whether my superior position comes from being hard working and
intelligent or from "privilege" is utterly meaningless. I HAVE NO
OBLIGATIONS TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, OTHER THAN THOSE I FREELY AGREED
TO, PERIOD. Even the obligations I take on are only "obligations" in
the sense that I believe it would be harmful for me not to fulfill
them -- there is no physical law comparable to the Newton's Laws of
Motion that forces me into such an obligation, although it does turn
out that, given repeated trials, it is usually best for one to fulfill
one's freely accepted contractual obligations.
As it turns out, I generally decide to help other individuals on a
regular basis when the whim strikes me, and I have on several
occassions assisted at the sites of accidents, but ONLY BECAUSE I FEEL
LIKE DOING SO, AND BECAUSE IT PLEASES ME TO DO SO. I actually *do*
believe it is "nice" to help out those who are *truly* in trouble
because of accident (i.e. someone who is in a car that has just been
crushed by a truck that lost control of its brakes), and I frequently
help friends find jobs and such. I do not, however, have any
obligation whatsoever to be helpful to others. NONE.
Appeals to the contrary to me will be met with derision.
Perry
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