Saturday, August 29, 2009

Do more people want to keep what they have, or do more people want more?

Disregarding the altruistic and social justice aspects, the purely selfish aspect of my politics can be reduced to "I have some good things. I don't want to lose them." I don't particularly care whether or not I gain more good things. The selfish part of me doesn't particularly care whether or not other people gain more good things (the altruistic part thinks everyone should have access to the good things I have if they're interested). The primary focus is just not losing what I have.

I think there are some people whose primary goal is not to keep what they have, but rather to gain more. There also seem to be people who are focused on what other people have, and seem not to want other people to have more than them, or to gain new things at a greater rate than they themselves are.

It would be interesting to study what percentage of society falls into which categories.

I don't intend this judgmentally - I realize it's very easy to say you don't need more once you have enough - I just think it would be interesting to take the pulse of society from this perspective.

2 comments:

laura k said...

I think there are some people whose primary goal is not to keep what they have, but rather to gain more.

Lots and lots and lots of people. Many people see this as the primary goal in life.

Du said...

Why there is “Impulsive purchase” in this world, because “there are some people whose primary goal is not to keep what they have, but rather to gain more.”
Ce sujet est très intéressant, chaque fois, quand le lis le blogue, je voulais placoter avec la écrivaine. Moi, je veux obtenir plus de chose mentalement pas physiquement.
My favorite saying here to share with the friends :
Lao tzu said « Be content with what you have ».