The Nerve of our human race...

[Stedric]

It is because we have a society run by greed. It is not necessarily the fault of the human race. People would like to place the blame on some innate problem from which we all suffer, but it is not that simple. There are many of us who would much rather help our fellow man in an emergency than acquire a few material possessions, and there are cultures in which this attitude is much more prevalent than in others.

There are two main reasons people do evil things. The first is that they are simply very mistaken in their beliefs and think that their evil act is actually a good act. This is the motivation for much religious violence, for example the Spanish Inquisition and the Palestinian suicide bombers. These people genuinely believe(d) that their evil acts were in the better interest of the people, because of a warped ideology.

The second reason people do evil things is because they profit from them. Bribe someone enough and they'll do anything you want them to. This is why the looters are looting. They see the material gain from the various stolen objects as more valuable than collaboration in rescue efforts. But not all humans are so greedy. The Bushmen of the Kalahari desert, for example, reject all but the most necessary of possessions. They typically do not express interest in acquiring money, since it does not suit the needs of their desert-based nomadic lifestyles. They don't have some genetic drive to hoard property all the time.

Therefore, greed is not an innate trait of human beings, and it cannot be divorced from the socio-economic conditions within which people are raised and live their lives. The socio-economic system dominant in the world today, neo-liberal capitalism, teaches that society is a struggle between all individuals for material gain. In this ideology, society is just a collection of isolated individuals glued together for the hell of it, rather than a cooperative organization to ensure mutual well-being, and the path to happiness is seen as nothing more than the everlasting pursuit of more and more material gain.

These ideas propel capitalism. That's why any corporation does anything. Greed. They want more and more money, even if it means firing workers and lowering wages, operating sweatshops in Third World countries with lax or unenforced labor laws, and manufacturing dangerous products because safety features are costly. And it's not just the private sphere; profit drives the government as well. You see, if a politician or a party is voted into power, and they fail to tweak their agenda to the interests of the corporate lobbyists, those corporations will withdraw investment from the area, and/or suffer profit loss, and the politician(s) would be blamed for the bad economy and elected out of office. But since politicians like power as much as corporations like profit, in practice they are more than willing to do whatever they need to do to ensure the well-being of the corporate profits, no matter what the cost to the ordinary people or the integrity of their campaign promises.

As long as we tolerate a society based on capitalism, that is, based on the principles of competition and greed, there will always be an entrenched attitude that material gain at the expense of others is a good thing. If, however, we rebuilt our society on a truly socialist economy, that is, based on the principles of cooperation and mutual aid, and production was geared towards meeting people's needs rather than making stuff and convincing people they need it, greedy tendencies would be drastically reduced in our society. Why would anybody steal in a classless society? The poor steal because they have nothing and are told they must acquire. The rich steal because they are ambitious and efficient acquirers; that's how they got rich in the first place. But in socialism why would anyone steal, if society's production was geared towards satisfying every conceivable need of theirs rather than lining the pockets of a few?

I think maybe your making this a lot more complicated than it actually is, albeit you do make many good points.

I think these people are the human equivalent of the sludge that forms under your car during winter.

[NowhereMan]

too long, no paragraphs. not gonna read.

gonna go take a shit wish me luck

then dont.

skip it entirely.

and sounds like a personal problem

im sure we dont want to hear of?

word of the day



exlax





looters suck

[BobBong]

Why resort to bullshit spam ?....read her post.

I used to call them "board whores".. i think the term is still used, i'm not sure.

People that get kicks out of posting retarded shit that only they think is funny and oh so "omfg 1337 h4x0r cool" .

Really? posts like his just lower the standards of the forum..

[BobBong]

Join Date: Aug-12-05
Posts: 302

302 posts in 19 days...and i'll bet you a majority of his posts are pointless.

That (in my opinion) is what you call a board whore.

[Psycho4Bud]

Okay, I was watchin the news, something I rarely do because it is full of reminders on how the human race is disappointing, But I wanted to find out about the hurricane, and how everything was going. I turned on the news, and they were talking about looters,and such. What the fuck is wrong with those people? There lives are in a war zone, and they have the nerve to go and steal while the cops/and others are helping people. I mean there are dead bodies, and stuff everywhere. Instead of actually stealing this, why not donate some of your inconsiderate self centered time to helping these people out. I can understand if your starved to death,Or your kids need to eat, or but just actually going in and stealing like that?That's a poor excuse for a fucking american, and frankly those people didn't look like they were starving to death.Okay..Okay Maybe i'm being a bit to hard. But honestly, I know a lot of us don't have a lot of money. Hell I've got 10 dollars to last me until thursday. But I have a home, food, A beautiful baby and a family and two arms two legs,and a mouth to eat with..so on and so forth it looked to me from the looks of it that these people had good health, and even if they're houses got destoryed they still didn't have to do that, Seriously...Help...Don't cause an even bigger problem.

Now, I'm not just bitching about that. I'm not being mean, or if anyone disagrees with me that's fine. I know it's reality, but it just saddens me to see this. I think we should all like donate something,and devote at least sometime to helping out. I wish I could do more. But I can't. I'm sorry for bitching...Or offending anyone. thanks for listening.Smoke On.
My thoughts, Prayers, and bong is with those in new orleans.

I was watching some of the same on tv last night and the reporter stated that a lot of the looting was actually a "need" thing. People in the grocery stores just needed the food. I'm sure there are plenty of asses out there but some are just desperate.
I guess the Walmart down there opened their doors and said for people to help themselves! I guess thats one way to curb crime!

[amsterdam]

DONATE,DONATE,DONATE!!!

dont give money to people who call on the phone,go to the groups like the red cross and salvation army and donate to them,contact them.they allow people to specify where your money goes also.

[Euphoric]

yesh some of the video footage of the looting in new orleans was pretty disgusting.
and i do not understand how people can write those massive text blocks either, i dont have the nerve to sit here and write one out much less read someone elses. but i did read half of it at least it was written very nice. *hits a bowl* oOoh thats the shit

[420purplehaze420]

yeah im all for helpin these people but it was a natural disaster not a terrorist bombing if your going to live on earth your going to have to realize shit like this is going to happen

dont think im some spoiled kid who doesnt know what its like to be in that kind of situation back in the icestorm of 98' i was trapped in my house for 19 days with no power and barely any food, so during the night i went out back of peoples houses and stole wood from there piles to keep my family warm and alive, my mom and dad became extremely sick so i had to take care of them, so all i ate was the bottom out of a box of cherios and melted snow so they could get the nutrients they needed to get better, and that had to last me 19 days, because the car had been totalled by a hydro pole, are phones didnt work and it was a 7 hour walk to town. but i dont feel sorry for my self or family its just one of the things that happen when you live on earth. we sure as hell didnt get any redcross bullshit knocking on are door with food and shelter

[BobBong]

yeah im all for helpin these people but it was a natural disaster not a terrorist bombing if your going to live on earth your going to have to realize shit like this is going to happen

dont think im some spoiled kid who doesnt know what its like to be in that kind of situation back in the icestorm of 98' i was trapped in my house for 19 days with no power and barely any food, so during the night i went out back of peoples houses and stole wood from there piles to keep my family warm and alive, my mom and dad became extremely sick so i had to take care of them, so all i ate was the bottom out of a box of cherios and melted snow so they could get the nutrients they needed to get better, and that had to last me 19 days, because the car had been totalled by a hydro pole, are phones didnt work and it was a 7 hour walk to town. but i dont feel sorry for my self or family its just one of the things that happen when you live on earth. we sure as hell didnt get any redcross bullshit knocking on are door with food and shelter

Ugh.. that shit was NOT fun...I remember it all to well

[ermitonto]

Yeah, it was tough but it was beautiful. I woke up one morning and it looked like the world had been covered in glass.