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Would you give up a significant amount of your first world comfort to elevate the rest of the world?

Would you give up your comfort for equality?

  • Total voters
    68
dex4974 said:
Some people seem like they will never be satisfied with the world because things are unequal. How many of us here on this forum are benefiting unequally from the first world? I know I am.
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As Christians?
 
dex4974 said:
Some people seem like they will never be satisfied with the world because things are unequal. How many of us here on this forum are benefiting unequally from the first world? I know I am.
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In this hypothetical where we ignore the reality that we could give 100% of everything in the U.S. away and still not dent the standard of living in any measurable manner *takes breath*...how much as to be given up and how much would the rest of the world be elevated?
 
Mason66 said:
You will have learned that people choose their place in life and there is nothing you can do about it.

If somebody is living in a ramshackle shack and then has 6 kids in that shack, why would you even want to help those people out?

You will have enough on your plate as an adult to worry about the decisions others make.
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You are ignoring the incredible power of socialization which is the smaller problem.
The circumstances of your birth are almost entirely responsible for the circumstances of your life. Pretending that people who are successful made better decisions is simply incorrect. There is far too much evidence for this to claim otherwise. Certainly, you can say that most people could make it out of the circumstances of their birth with extraordinary discipline, luck or talent. However, the average moderately successful person doesn't make better decisions so much as the impact of decisions differ for them.
 
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dex4974 said:
From a completely objective standpoint that is probably best for the growth of humanity.
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When it comes to MY life, I don't look at things "objectively," I look at them "subjectively."

I do not believe in "equity." Thus I reject utterly the idea of "to each according to their needs, from each according to their ability."

So I do not support efforts to "elevate everyone equally." We are not "equals," as we are each better than some at some things, worse than some at other things, and on a par with some in some things.

IMO it is best for someone to work as hard as they are able, to achieve as much as they are able, with the skills and knowledge they are capable of obtaining and using.

That does not in any way mean I feel superior to anyone, it just means I believe success and survival are each persons personal responsibility.
 
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dex4974 said:
Some people seem like they will never be satisfied with the world because things are unequal. How many of us here on this forum are benefiting unequally from the first world? I know I am.
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Maybe, but I don't think I need to. There's enough resources and excess wealth in this world to lift everyone to a decent enough standard of living. And the desire to give isn't the only challenge, and it might not even be the biggest challenge. Probably more difficult is figuring out how to be more efficient with our resources, and how to get those resources to the people who really need them. Take food for example. There's enough wasted food to feed the world's hungry several times over. If it was managed better, there would be no need to take food away from me or anyone else.
 
Can I get added to the sworn enemy list?

I have lived and worked in Asia, Africa and a bit in Eastern Europe and I have worked with the poor in each of those areas and count some of them as dear friends. Your loaded question is just bad and you are so far out of depth here that you don't even see how ridiculous your question is. This is just a question to help you feel morally superior to others. I am quite confident that decreasing my comfort would not increase theirs, however, that doesn't mean I don't care about their circumstances.
 
SimpleTom said:
You are ignoring the incredible power of socialization which is the smaller problem.
The circumstances of your birth are almost entirely responsible for the circumstances of your life. Pretending that people who are successful made better decisions is simply incorrect. There is far too much evidence for this to claim otherwise. Certainly, you can say that most people could make it out of the circumstances of their birth with extraordinary discipline, luck or talent. However, the average moderately successful person doesn't make better decisions so much as the impact of decisions differ for them.
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You can't possibly believe that, do you?
 
Captain Adverse said:
IMO it is best for someone to work as hard as they are able, to achieve as much as they are able, with the skills and knowledge they are capable of obtaining and using.

That does not in any way mean I feel superior to anyone, it just means I believe success and survival are each persons personal responsibility.
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There are multiple issues with this ideology:
  1. It assumes there should be no career retirement age.
  2. Having work skills does not make getting a job easy.
  3. Many people can't work because of living situations.
I fall in #2 for medical reasons even though I have work skills and personally know people who were in #3.
 
Mason66 said:
You can't possibly believe that, do you?
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Can I possibly believe that I was unlikely to ever be poor because my father was a good businessman? Yes. In fact, I know it.
Do I believe that those in poverty face different repercussions for their mistakes? Yes. In fact, I know it.
At this point there is an overwhelming amount of data that supports the lack of intergenerational economic mobility, so it should be impossible to deny. About 50% of one generations income is explained by their parent's income and that number is getting worse. For those in poverty, that number is closer to 70%.
 
Blue Donkey said:
There are multiple issues with this ideology:
  1. It assumes there should be no career retirement age.
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How so? A person can "retire" whenever they feel financially secure enough to do so.

Meanwhile, the OP is asking us in the USA as well about "giving things up." We still have Social Security, Medicare, etc. for OUR senior citizens.

Blue Donkey said:
2. Having work skills does not make getting a job easy.
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Who ever said so? 🤷‍♂️

Blue Donkey said:
3. Many people can't work because of living situations.

I fall in #2 for medical reasons even though I have work skills and personally know people who were in #3.
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Again what does any of that have to do with the OP?

We live in a "first world" nation, and like it or not, our population is voting in people willing to promise them anything in the way of social services, that the rest of us have to pay for.

Why then should I or anyone else be willing to extend this burden beyond what it already is?
 
I don't know. But I am damn thankful and grateful for those who do.
 
"Would you give up a significant amount of your first world comfort to elevate the rest of the world?"
It depends mostly on the product or service being offered for sale relative to my need or want to acquire it.
 
I certainly don't mind when things are somewhat unequal. What most people don't like is when the already rich buy the influence/politicians ..and God knows what else in order to get even more and more until you get a tiny fraction of the populace who own just about every God-Damn thing...just like now. You Republicans talk about Freedom then proceed to make sure that very few people actually have any freedom at all. Guess what major country in the world has no laws that provide for mandatory vacations?
 
I'd give up some of my comforts to help others. I already do that. I'm not interested in giving up any more of them though.
 
Why would I care about people who hate me for not being
dex4974 said:
Some people seem like they will never be satisfied with the world because things are unequal. How many of us here on this forum are benefiting unequally from the first world? I know I am.
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The world will always have winners and losers.
 
Blue Donkey said:
Being in a "have-not" group among Americans (no job for medical reasons, I would have no comforts to give other people if my mom was dead. I am a living example of inequality hitting close to home.
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Yet you're on the internet and have more comfort than most of the rest of the world.
 
There are two totally different question in the headline:
Would you give up a significant amount of your first world comfort to elevate the rest of the world?
Depends on who benefited, so no not just like that.

Would you give up your comfort for equality?
Well that's another question and I am a big fan of Star Trek, so yes, if I knew that would be the outcome.
 
dex4974 said:
Some people seem like they will never be satisfied with the world because things are unequal. How many of us here on this forum are benefiting unequally from the first world? I know I am.
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I'm tired of the left's zero sum philosophy. You don't need to take others down to elevate others up.
 
Moderate Right said:
I'm tired of the left's zero sum philosophy. You don't need to take others down to elevate others up.
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If we let a large amount of poor people immigrate all at once would it lower first world living standards?
 
Anarchist100 said:
Other peoples misery is my misery. We are all connected.
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It's because of thinking like yours that ever since the late 1970's the fortunes of this country have tended
downward as it becomes a house divided.
If you disagree you're swimming upstream, that's a backbreaker. Nationalism is not resurgent it never died.
It continues to be & nearly always has been the world in which we live in the most powerful movement.
IIt outlasted Marxism tearing apart the USSR. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova & the Caucusus followed suite
& then went the 5 nations of Central Asia. That was not the end only the beginning, minorities inside the new nations wanted their
place in the sun & the Caucasus became the 20th century Balkans. This is just the primary example of many other breakups
throughout the world demonstrating the pull of ethnonationalism.

'Always it's Sameness that dominates! People favor friendships with those of similar backgrounds, interests & values.
Charity begins at Home
 
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