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Do you see a future for your family and yourself? Yes.
How much will you give up for the rest of the planet, 6.3 billion people? All of them? (Actually, it's at least 6.9 now.) What are you asking me to give up? And how will it be distributed among all the people?
Uhh... If you're American it's about 6.287, but who is counting?
You seem rather complacent. What if I told you that you and your family are about to have to give up, dramatically, the lifestyle they've become accustomed to.
Uhh... If you're American it's about 6.287, but who is counting?
You seem rather complacent. What if I told you that you and your family are about to have to give up, dramatically, the lifestyle they've become accustomed to.
Why? Are we all gonna drown in a 100 foot rise in sea level in the next 10 years? Are we all gonna shrivel up because North America is gonna become like the Outback?
Uhh... If you're American it's about 6.287, but who is counting?
You seem rather complacent. What if I told you that you and your family are about to have to give up, dramatically, the lifestyle they've become accustomed to.
So "the rest of the planet" doesn't mean "everyone but SLL3454 and family." It means "everyone outside the United States." I misunderstood.
If you told me that my family and I are about to gave to give up our lifestyle, I'd say, "Who are you?"
What if I told you that you and your family are about to be abducted by multi-winged aliens?
Seriously, I'm not that attached to my lifestyle. I've lived in poverty, and I've lived in comfort (haven't tried luxury). Nothing to panic about either way. I'm a Christian and believe that this world isn't my final home, that God provides, and that if I die, no big deal.
Okay, you're not talking green or socialist. It's more of an alarmist, conspiracy-fearing thing. Or am I wrong again?
[quote=BigJon3475;19761982]Is your family important? Yes
Is your safety important? Yes
Is your current standard of living okay? Yes
Do you see a future for your family and yourself? Yes
How much will you give up for the rest of the planet, 6.3 billion people? About as much as I'm willing to give (or not give for that matter) to this thread.....2 sh***[/quote]
I put modest value on it, at best. I value other things much more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJon3475
Is your current standard of living okay?
It is within the realm of being sufficient. I have little need or want for a $60k+ salary, 2.5 children, 2 vehicles in the driveway, or most other suburia-hellhole stereotypes and ambitions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJon3475
Do you see a future for your family and yourself?
Don't have a family. Don't plan on having one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigJon3475
How much will you give up for the rest of the planet, 6.3 billion people?
How much? I don't know. How does one quantify that. Want a specific list of the things I will give up? Some things I would give up, others not.
In aggregate, I won't give up all that much. Overall, I do not believe that I am taking more than "my fair share" of resources. There are more than enough resources to go around and Malthusian concerns are not really justified. Nature put resources here for all Man and other living creatures to use, a view which I consider an a priori axiom, and my paltry use of the resources is not putting a strain on the overall resource.
Nor do I consider it overwhelmingly morally relevant to my liberties that people consider it their right to pop kids out of their squat and breed like irresponsible rabbits, causing billions of people to be born, who, in aggregate, will have an effect on the overall resource. That is a fact of life which is beyond my agency, and I cannot be held culpable for that fact, and it does not change my biological need for resource to survive. Any moral culpability that exists falls squarely on those who are proximate cause actors in population increase, and that means those who have kids, be they intended or unintended. Any sacrifice that is to be made to remedy resource problems shall fall on them, if indeed it falls on anyone. If any "sacrifice" is to be demanded, it should fall upon them, as the ones who caused the problem by their actions. Perhaps they should sacrifice a piece of their own share so that they may allot it to their spawn.
As for giving up certain liberties just to appease people, save a few very particularized exceptions which I may consider to be appreciable negative externalities, I'll pass. I don't consider most of the liberties I exercise on a routine basis (freedom of speech, etc...) as being an appreciable negative externality on other people, and so there exists no rational reason to give them up, unless I do so of my own volition.
Last edited by FreedomThroughAnarchism; 06-26-2011 at 03:37 PM..
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