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Rightness is defined with respect to a system of rules. If being "right" leaves you dead, were you really right? Maybe in a legal sense, but is that the system
by barrkel 9y ago
Rightness is defined with respect to a system of rules. If being "right" leaves you dead, were you really right? Maybe in a legal sense, but is that the system that matters?
- rdiddly 9y agoIt's the one that matters for the rest of us who aren't dead!
- barrkel 9y agoIt's precisely because you're not dead yet that you should act rightly according to the correctly chosen system. I'm a biker. I can drive, but only ever drive rentals; motorcycles are my primary mode. A sense of righteousness for being in the right on a bike will get you killed. You ride within the margin of not just your own error, but also those of other road users, and your own machine, with your best judgement and risk preference tradeoff. If your machine has a known tendency to do something bad in some situation, you avoid that situation, even if you have someone else to blame. Blame doesn't keep you alive.
- bookofjoe 9y ago"A sense of righteousness for being in the right on a bike will get you killed." Well put. When I was a boy growing up in Milwaukee in the 50s/60s, there was a public service announcement on TV for the Wisconsin Dept. of Motor Vehicles that ended "Don't be dead right." I liked it then and find its lesson has stayed with me and helped me avoid trouble many times outside the driving space.