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I think Aaron Greenspan is (as I am, to a lesser extent) a moral mysophobe. Most people know the world is run by scumbags and human garbage, but they adapt. It

I think Aaron Greenspan is (as I am, to a lesser extent) a moral mysophobe. Most people know the world is run by scumbags and human garbage, but they adapt. It just becomes another landscape feature to them, like bad weather or dogshit on the sidewalk. Then there are other people who see unethical behavior and, for whatever reason, can't "just get over it" like normal people. They end up taking some immensely energy-consuming moral stands that often aren't in their individual interests. Such people are immensely beneficial to society, but it's not fun to be one.

katbyte 14y ago
I kinda think its sad that "just getting over it" is considered normal.
- protomyth 14y ago
  Well, you could go out and protest in a nice ways, but the media will just make jokes and tell people you believe something you don't. "Just getting over it" might be the sane thing to do.
  - jrochkind1 14y ago
    if you can forget about it and get on with your life -- you (like me) have already got more power/comfort/privilege than most people, who are reminded all the time how much power jerks have to make the lives of those without power miserable.
    - protomyth 14y ago
      Oh, I never said I would forget about it. The government is quite able to make everyones live miserable (check the stupid sale tax law).
  - droidist2 14y ago
    That's true, the media has become extremely effective at making a big joke out of any sort of movement or counter culture that emerges.
    - cinquemb 14y ago
      Unless ones views lead them down the path to end up taking the lives of innocent people who have for the most part "just get over it" when it comes to nearly everything in their life, then the media will try to seek every nook and cranny out to try to rationalize the incident in such a manor that there will be those in power who will use it for their own purposes (whatever they may be) ultimately drowning out any deeper discussion on how such a an incident came to be.
coffeemug 14y ago
You mean the Don Quixotes of modern society?
- PavlovsCat 14y ago
  Why Don Quixote? Why not Sophie Scholl?
comatose_kid 14y ago
I'm not sure what most people know, but I think calling the group of people who 'run the world' scumbags is extreme
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
> Such people are immensely beneficial to society, but it's not fun to be one. It is when you win.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  If you win. And that's a big if.
will_brown 14y ago
>Then there are other people who see unethical behavior and, for whatever reason, can't "just get over it" like normal people. They end up taking some immensely energy-consuming moral stands that often aren't in their individual interests. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela fall in that category to name a few. It is no coincidence all three suffered similar injustices to the extent they did including subjugation by the Government (Powers that be)not limited to incarceration, but when most would give up their spirit prevailed and they never waivered in their sense of justice.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  For every Gandhi, King, and Mandela, there were a thousand others like them who were subjugated or killed without ever seeing any success in creating social change. Don't allow survivorship bias[0] to cloud your logic. 0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
glurgh 14y ago
The entire notion of calling a broad class of people whom you seemingly know nothing of beside accusing them of 'running the world' (itself an idea worthy of closer examination) 'scumbags' and 'human garbage' ought to be giving you very, very serious moral pause.
- olefoo 14y ago
  To be powerful in a corrupt society is a sign of corruption is it not? When you live in a world where the highest levels of society are literally "above the law", torture as policy is considered acceptable, might makes right, and democracy has been for sale for so long that it's newsworthy when a politician refuses sponsorship; it is very hard to make an argument that anyone who pays attention to the news does not have a very clear idea of the moral status of our ruling elites.
  - glurgh 14y ago
    It doesn't really matter what you or I think or whether we agree on the moral status of 'our ruling elites'. We do have, though, concrete empirical evidence of the eventual consequences of casually thinking of and referring to others, any others at all, as 'human garbage'. The moral status of that line of thought is much more clear - it's noxious and if there's some sort of moral thing we ought to agree on is that it's to be rejected and opposed, wherever it pops up. [Edit: and to completely Godwin up this thread - if there's a day to take 30 seconds to think about the implications of such rhetoric, today, V-E day, is a good one].
    - olefoo 14y ago
      Well, if we're going full Godwin; it might be good for you and all those of us who are US Citizens to reflect on the fact that our country is currently the one running the most notorious concentration camp on the planet and has admitted to running such camps in Iraq, Afghanistan and even Diego Garcia. When the histories of this era are written we probably won't be the good guys; if we ever were.
      - 14y ago

katbyte 14y ago

I kinda think its sad that "just getting over it" is considered normal.

protomyth 14y ago
Well, you could go out and protest in a nice ways, but the media will just make jokes and tell people you believe something you don't. "Just getting over it" might be the sane thing to do.
- jrochkind1 14y ago
  if you can forget about it and get on with your life -- you (like me) have already got more power/comfort/privilege than most people, who are reminded all the time how much power jerks have to make the lives of those without power miserable.
  - protomyth 14y ago
    Oh, I never said I would forget about it. The government is quite able to make everyones live miserable (check the stupid sale tax law).
- droidist2 14y ago
  That's true, the media has become extremely effective at making a big joke out of any sort of movement or counter culture that emerges.
  - cinquemb 14y ago
    Unless ones views lead them down the path to end up taking the lives of innocent people who have for the most part "just get over it" when it comes to nearly everything in their life, then the media will try to seek every nook and cranny out to try to rationalize the incident in such a manor that there will be those in power who will use it for their own purposes (whatever they may be) ultimately drowning out any deeper discussion on how such a an incident came to be.

coffeemug 14y ago

You mean the Don Quixotes of modern society?

PavlovsCat 14y ago
Why Don Quixote? Why not Sophie Scholl?

comatose_kid 14y ago

I'm not sure what most people know, but I think calling the group of people who 'run the world' scumbags is extreme

hcarvalhoalves 14y ago

> Such people are immensely beneficial to society, but it's not fun to be one. It is when you win.

enraged_camel 14y ago
If you win. And that's a big if.

will_brown 14y ago

>Then there are other people who see unethical behavior and, for whatever reason, can't "just get over it" like normal people. They end up taking some immensely energy-consuming moral stands that often aren't in their individual interests. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela fall in that category to name a few. It is no coincidence all three suffered similar injustices to the extent they did including subjugation by the Government (Powers that be)not limited to incarceration, but when most would give up their spirit prevailed and they never waivered in their sense of justice.

w1ntermute 14y ago
For every Gandhi, King, and Mandela, there were a thousand others like them who were subjugated or killed without ever seeing any success in creating social change. Don't allow survivorship bias[0] to cloud your logic. 0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

glurgh 14y ago

The entire notion of calling a broad class of people whom you seemingly know nothing of beside accusing them of 'running the world' (itself an idea worthy of closer examination) 'scumbags' and 'human garbage' ought to be giving you very, very serious moral pause.

olefoo 14y ago
To be powerful in a corrupt society is a sign of corruption is it not? When you live in a world where the highest levels of society are literally "above the law", torture as policy is considered acceptable, might makes right, and democracy has been for sale for so long that it's newsworthy when a politician refuses sponsorship; it is very hard to make an argument that anyone who pays attention to the news does not have a very clear idea of the moral status of our ruling elites.
- glurgh 14y ago
  It doesn't really matter what you or I think or whether we agree on the moral status of 'our ruling elites'. We do have, though, concrete empirical evidence of the eventual consequences of casually thinking of and referring to others, any others at all, as 'human garbage'. The moral status of that line of thought is much more clear - it's noxious and if there's some sort of moral thing we ought to agree on is that it's to be rejected and opposed, wherever it pops up. [Edit: and to completely Godwin up this thread - if there's a day to take 30 seconds to think about the implications of such rhetoric, today, V-E day, is a good one].
  - olefoo 14y ago
    Well, if we're going full Godwin; it might be good for you and all those of us who are US Citizens to reflect on the fact that our country is currently the one running the most notorious concentration camp on the planet and has admitted to running such camps in Iraq, Afghanistan and even Diego Garcia. When the histories of this era are written we probably won't be the good guys; if we ever were.
    - 14y ago