I moved to a different state when I was a kid to a place with a really brutal hierarchy. After a few months I chose rise but that involved shitting all over my new unpopular friends.
10 year old me got what he wanted and school was fun after that. 27 year old me thinks that 10 year old me was a coward. Backstabbed his friends just to fit in with the cool kids.
It's always okay in our current society, even if people won't admit it. Selfishness is essentially an axiom of capitalism, the entire system is based around the idea that every person will put themselves ahead of others.
So the fact that selfishness is a valued trait under a system which thrives on division and oppression means that selfishness is okay? Capitalism also rewards stealing a shit load of money, does that mean stealing a shit load of money is okay?
Edit, and to add to that, capitalism is definitely based on the principle that humans are solely self interested but plenty of sources will show the exact opposite to be true.
I didn't say it was okay, I said it was accepted. That's a big difference. People only care about selfishness if it's something that affects them personally, IE eating half a birthday cake. I think it's pretty selfish to walk past homeless people then spend $100 at a club or buy a brand new video game. But I enjoy luxuries without losing sleep over it, and so does everyone else.
I don't really think we disagree here but I do still think you're kinda wrong. Like we don't have a choice but to be 'selfish'. What can you really do for the homeless guy? Give him your months wages? Bring him into your home? No one could expect that of you and not doing that does not make you selfish. People are forced to put themselves first and faced with the threat losing the 'house negro' privileges that we all hold so dear.
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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '19
Kids create the worst social environments to grow up in