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Do you think someone is a hero because they have to choose to protect either their job or their health? Either way is a huge lose.
by pmiller2 5y ago
Do you think someone is a hero because they have to choose to protect either their job or their health? Either way is a huge lose.
- munificent 5y agoI do think it's fair to characterize someone as a "hero" if they take great or sacrifice in ways that benefit others, even if the person doesn't have complete liberty and agency at the moment that they do it. There are always forces and restrictions that affect our choices.
- pmiller2 5y agoWell, then we disagree. Making one of two bad choices doesn't make anyone a hero in my book. I don't believe most of the grocery store workers who continued to go to work amidst the danger of the pandemic without any idea that there would be enhanced unemployment benefits were at all "heroic." It's as another comment here put it: take money out of the equation, and I'm sure we would have seen a vastly different result. If the choice is to become homeless, along with all the difficulties that presents; versus maybe die of a nasty disease at some indefinite future point, I think the majority would choose the latter. That's just pragmatism, not heroism.
- munificent 5y agoSure, that's a logically coherent framework you can choose to believe. Personally, I like to interpret people's actions in a framework of maximum charity and compassion. Their work benefits others at risk to themselves, so why not take the opportunity to give them credit for that? You can do that while simultaneously criticizing the financial systems that make doing that work a less than perfectly free choice.