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shovel · 10-12-2012, 02:05 PM

If we're to express distaste for those who game the system on the "have nots" end of the scale, we must equally express it for those who game the system on the "haves" end. We've all read about companies like General Electric who earn (and may deserve) enormous profits but game the system to avoid paying taxes, despite necessarily using public resources to achieve their income.

So the topic of recognizing we're all people actually is a good one and one relevant to this very business of inequality, exploitation of well-intentioned safety nets, and antisocial behavior by individuals and corporate entities alike. How?

If we don't know each other, it becomes easier to dismiss the fact that we may be stealing from each other. If I work a 50+ hour week of skilled, critical employment and pay out 40% of my income to pay for social services we all use, and another able-bodied person contributes nothing but still uses the same roads I paid for, enjoys the same stable society whose education and bureaus of standards and civil servants I paid for, etc.. then that person is stealing from me. If we know each other, and he has to look me in the eye, and be made aware of the fact he's living on my effort then perhaps he can begin to feel the sensation of shame that social animals must necessarily feel in order to experience enduring stability.

Tribal societies and small populations had the advantage that mooches and jerks could be shunned and because of isolation and resource dynamics, that could have a very real effect. Bellicose and unjust leaders & despots could be assassinated. Society today is, as this thread started to illustrate, fragmented enough that anyone unwelcome from one group can simply hop to another with no ill effects. Shops have so many customers per day they cannot possibly maintain an effective list of who isn't welcome, and they're so close together that anyone unwelcome in one shop can simply go next door and continue doing business or being a jerk in whatever way got them kicked out of the first place. On the opposite end of that, because we each interact with so many different people in our lives we rarely feel a sense of community that would lead us to even notice if we were shunned. If Ecomodder.com banned me for something I might be hurt about it for a moment but ultimately life would just go on without any interruption and I'd just keep blathering on somewhere else. If my next-door neighbor stopped talking to me, it would take me a few months to notice because we hardly talk now and we like each other (i think?) .

So to tie all that up into a thought, we've changed from the tribal means of managing social stability and the future inevitably happens - we appear now to be facing a problem of managing the distribution of trade media (that would be "money") and of balancing the contributions we each make to our collective well-being.

We can choose to let a solution occur entirely on its own or we can engineer a solution by deliberately thinking ahead and making proactive choices. I think it's obvious which of those I support.

10-12-2012, 02:05 PM	#30 (permalink)
shovel Master EcoModder Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Phoenix Posts: 593 Thanks: 106 Thanked 114 Times in 72 Posts	If we're to express distaste for those who game the system on the "have nots" end of the scale, we must equally express it for those who game the system on the "haves" end. We've all read about companies like General Electric who earn (and may deserve) enormous profits but game the system to avoid paying taxes, despite necessarily using public resources to achieve their income. So the topic of recognizing we're all people actually is a good one and one relevant to this very business of inequality, exploitation of well-intentioned safety nets, and antisocial behavior by individuals and corporate entities alike. How? If we don't know each other, it becomes easier to dismiss the fact that we may be stealing from each other. If I work a 50+ hour week of skilled, critical employment and pay out 40% of my income to pay for social services we all use, and another able-bodied person contributes nothing but still uses the same roads I paid for, enjoys the same stable society whose education and bureaus of standards and civil servants I paid for, etc.. then that person is stealing from me. If we know each other, and he has to look me in the eye, and be made aware of the fact he's living on my effort then perhaps he can begin to feel the sensation of shame that social animals must necessarily feel in order to experience enduring stability. Tribal societies and small populations had the advantage that mooches and jerks could be shunned and because of isolation and resource dynamics, that could have a very real effect. Bellicose and unjust leaders & despots could be assassinated. Society today is, as this thread started to illustrate, fragmented enough that anyone unwelcome from one group can simply hop to another with no ill effects. Shops have so many customers per day they cannot possibly maintain an effective list of who isn't welcome, and they're so close together that anyone unwelcome in one shop can simply go next door and continue doing business or being a jerk in whatever way got them kicked out of the first place. On the opposite end of that, because we each interact with so many different people in our lives we rarely feel a sense of community that would lead us to even notice if we were shunned. If Ecomodder.com banned me for something I might be hurt about it for a moment but ultimately life would just go on without any interruption and I'd just keep blathering on somewhere else. If my next-door neighbor stopped talking to me, it would take me a few months to notice because we hardly talk now and we like each other (i think?) . So to tie all that up into a thought, we've changed from the tribal means of managing social stability and the future inevitably happens - we appear now to be facing a problem of managing the distribution of trade media (that would be "money") and of balancing the contributions we each make to our collective well-being. We can choose to let a solution occur entirely on its own or we can engineer a solution by deliberately thinking ahead and making proactive choices. I think it's obvious which of those I support. __________________ Work From Home mod has saved more fuel than everything else put together. Last edited by shovel; 10-12-2012 at 02:10 PM..