I am having a great deal of trouble reconciling my deeply held beliefs about individual rights versus the survival of our society. I am not going to go into a lot of details at this point because they could easily make it very difficult for some people to think rationally about the overall subject.
I see our society based very strongly on individual rights. I grew up during the Cold War and I remember the American view of the Soviet Union.
Yet I am looking at a number of things that are happening and I do not think our society will survive them. Lots of changes, some of which I think will lead to the death of our society.
I am troubled and conflicted.
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Society might devolve.
ReplyDeleteRome fell. It wasn't the end of human life. Societies can collapse.
Why worry? If civilization were to collapse tomorrow, nothing you could do today would stop it. Even if you were to survive (with solar panels, shotguns, water purifiers, etc.) you couldn't rebuild civilization until you could convince people to believe in civilized virtues and ideals.
Regarding the "long-term survival of society", check out antinatalism.net.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so confusing? It's a matter of nuances, of weighing things, of seeing an actual reality with nuances instead of a black and white constructed set of axioms to filter everything through.
ReplyDeleteThere are times in which an individual's rights and needs trump, and times in which the larger society in which an individual finds himself has collective needs.
A matter of discernment and discretion, a thing which our education actually robs us of.
It is a matter of wisdom.
As for the anti-natalist view, frankly its rather purile at times.
There can be found valid arguments in the writings and words of the anti-natalist crowd but I honestly find the whole matter to reflect a mindset as lacking in subtlty and actual awareness of reality as those they weigh against.
Who are you, and who do you love, and why do you love them? Where does your reason lead you when you weigh what you see in front of you? If things hit the fan tomorrow, what are your emotional, and mental, psychological, and physical assets. Are you of help to others and yourself, and are you the type of person others would be willing to help if they came across you?
What can you contribute, to your own individual existance and those of others.
The whole notion of individual versus collective rights is an example of an ugly type of abstract thinking Western civilization is prone to, a type of thinking very useful in building bridges but less useful in other capacities.
Squaring circles can be a futile activity. In a sense, when you look at it, there is no collective commons, there are individuals, many individuals, of differening capacities gifts and weaknesses, some are dangerous, others are not.
The ability to discern potential and actual friend from foe, and to put situations in their fitting place is a matter of wisdom, it cannot be taught, but it can be untaught in the sense that much of what we are taught is patently bullshit and in the collapse scenario you are considering could be life endangering.
The dialectic of individualism vs. collectivism is specious. Real life is more complex.