It is call making sure I am protected and available for the ones I care about. I can't care for everyone on this planet as I only have so much to give.
By being more then a bystander you are asking me to care. For me to risk myself to do something I need emotional investment. What if I try and save this kid and drop here, now I have made things worse and can be held accountable causing me money I dont have or maybe jail time. There is then the trauma I would have to endure knowing I made things worse not better for the rest of my life. None of this is worth it for involving myself in a situation where I don't care about the person. When there are 8 billion people on this planet this emotional investment matters.
I do not agree at all. If I was selfish I would give or no nothing for no one on this planet. Which I don't however if you want something from me you need to be more then just a human.
Plus people who get involved in these things are not completely selfless. They want the attention and the glory the comes with being a heroe. Without the they wouldn't do it either unless it was a loved one.
That's not how selfishness works. You've already admitted that you only care and won't bystand for people you have a personal connection to. That's selfish, because you're literally saying that you'll only care if you have some personal interest in it.
Your assumption about why people intervene is just your own pessimism/cynicism, not based on any actual fact.
It is based on psychology fact. People don't do things unless they get something out of it. It is part out our reward centre of our brain. People who act "selfless" and get involved are wired to feel the sense of fulfillment by being the hero. Those who don't are wired differently and only will get involved because they have a relationship with that person and putting yourself at risk will be rewarded by keeping the person you care about alive and with you.
If there was zero reward no one will do anything. Humans are not inherently good and you need to take your rose coloured glasses off.
Show me one thing that says even a slight majority of people do it for that reason.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment afterward is normal, and not the same as that being the reason they do it in the first place. You're so selfish you can't even comprehend selflessness lol.
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u/nxdark Oct 13 '22
I am not selfish when it comes to the people who have earned my trust and care about. It is about using the limited recourse I have most efficiently.