Bullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t. Maybe you're full of sh*t, but that doesn't mean we all are.
A quote from Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" (chapter 2, where Shevek and his friend Tirin had locked their friend Kadvag in a fake, but sure, prison for 36 hours to see what imprisonment was like):
Quote:
Gibesh, who had been standing guard duty, came to Tirin and Shevek after dinner, looking uneasy. "I thought I heard Kad saying something in there. In a sort of funny voice."
There was a pause. "We'll let him out," Shevek said.
Tirin turned on him. "Com on, Shev, don't go mushy on us. Don't get altruistic! Let him finish it out and respect himself at the end of it."
"Altruistic, hell. I want to respect myself," Shevek said... |
We're not all incapable of empathising with others. Sure, if you've never been homeless, then you probably don't give a sh*t about the needs of the homeless (I have been homeless). If you've never had a father that had to work from picking jojoba beans and a mother who had to scrape by as a waitress or a roughly similar situation, then you probably don't sympathise with the working class (examples taken from my parents). If you've never had a sister who was deathly afraid of coming home and couldn't take care of a baby, then you probably wouldn't mind abortion clinics being staked out by snipers and bible thumpers (example - my sister). Etc, etc.
I'm with Rousseau on this one - many of us decide to take action because we have been where the suffering have been. And yet, not even this explains all things - I'm a vegetarian (freegan, actually) simply because I cringe at the sight of any suffering creature, and to not act in their defense makes me feel like sh*t. Sure, that's not exactly selfless - but I'm at least not doing it for the recognition.
And I'm an environmentalist - I can't honestly say what I get out of trying to stem the tide of environmental destruction besides the fact that if we don't stop it, our future generation and all the living creatures out there will suffer for our carelessness. I honestly can't pin down why I am an environmentalist - but something about it feels right. Sure, I'm gonna be dead before the real sh*t hits the fan, but I can't bring myself to just let that happen. It takes time out of my "oh-so-busy" schedule, but I do it. And it's 99% thankless work.
I don't think we're all full of sh*t. Just some of us...