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Socialism is the way forward for society, yes.
Removed by modNow convince me, and I want to be convinced, of the reason to build this project without bringing up selfishness or selflessness. If I am a human living here, right now, why fucking bother?
I have no children to think of and that also counts as selfishness if that's the whole reason.
Edit: the reason for selfishness not being brought up is because there's zero chance I see the fruition of this project in my lifetime, which as far as I can tell is all we get, and selflessness is because of the same reason.
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If when you die there's nothing in the world you care about more than yourself, it's going to really fucking suck.
"It is not I who will die, it is the world that will end" is one of the most radioactive and toxic things Ayn Rand ever vomited onto a page.
That solipstistic mentality is ruinous to an apocalyptic degree, especially if the solipsist has access to nuclear weapons.
I would reflect first on why you have chosen to embrace absolute and nihilistic egotism and selfishness. This is ultimately a choice you’ve made. It’s like asking “why don’t I just stay at home masturbating all day?” You can do that and no-one will stop you, but it may not be a very rewarding life, and eventually you will regret such a shallow and unnatural mode of existence. Something inside you must crave meaning, even if you’re trying to repress it. The escape from egotism isn’t always easy, but it is an essential part of growing up. Embrace the desire for something beyond your self.
Once you understand the innate baseness and falsehood of pure egotism, you will probably also come to appreciate that the lives of other people, in general, have the same worth and validity as your own. Then the absurdity and cruelty of capitalism will be apparent, even if you don’t necessarily feel you suffer from it personally (which I would assume is the case, given the nature of your question).You can just grill
if you don't want to help. We won't stop you.Show
Like if you don't find helping people intrinsically motivating and rewarding I got nothing for you.
without bringing up selfishness or selflessness
There isn't a third thing. Your motivation to do something is towards your benefit and/or the benefit of something that isn't you. You have to decide why you're living your life. Socialism can't really help with that.
Even the selfless/selfish paradigm is often a false dichotomy. Selflessness and altruism are powerful tools for winning the evolutionary lottery. When you share 99%+ of your genes with all the other hairless apes on the planet working together is really, really good for the odds of your genes surviving. Evolutionary advantage isn't a reason to do anything, but I do think it's worth noting that the idea we sometimes fall in to that an act must be selfless or selfish isn't really true. Hell, Kropotkin got it right - it's mutual aid. Cooperation and altruism help everyone, including the one doing it.
Admittedly it was the Orangutans who delcares Homo Sapiens to be "Hairless apes" and the Orangs are somewhat biased.
joining a union for example is objecttively the better move in terms of self interest for a worker than trying to negotiate on their own individual bargaining power
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit
-some greek personWe are, willing or unwilling, subjects of history. Born into a story that has already begun, shaped by the pages that come before and shaping the pages to be. Today, all our actions - everyone's - combine to make tomorrow. And you can't opt out. There is no action that registers as non-participation. You can live you life as you please; but however that may be, it is as much a part of history as anything else.
For me, picturing the arc of living through history, through this day/month/year/decade/century, and seeing it not somehow contributing to something, some event in the historical narrative; that seems like a waste. Like, if I'm here in history, I may as well be doing something in it. Something more than spending today manufacturing a tomorrow that is identical-yet-slightly-worse. As you say, socialism is the way forward for society. So, spending my time in history working towards that seems preferable to not doing that.
Is that a selfish explanation? I don't know, I don't really understand the question.
if you’re not already interested in contributing to something bigger than yourself or aren’t surrounded by people trying to build some sort of socialist project, you probably shouldn’t worry about socialism (other than it being an interesting topic you wanna learn about)
It'd be mighty cool if the place I grew up that wasn't a ecological disaster zone and everyone wasnt so poor thaf theyre stealing and fighting all the time. They fucked you over too with the same attitude, you really want to be like those fucking morons?
what do you mean you don't believe in selfishness and selflessness. What do you value.
Even if the success rate was zero percent (which it isn't, it never was, and it will keep growing as capitalism eats itself), that would just make it even more important for every single person to bring those odds up by even a fraction of a percent
