General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA man/woman is only worth what they contribute to the economy. Those who don't contribute...
are worth nothing. And those who contribute more are worth more (intrinsically).
This disgusting concept is at the heart of most of the arguments I get into with right wing douche bags. It's such a cold and heartless world view and they believe it to the very fibre of their being.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)I know some are lazy and do not contribute and some are retired. Many jobs have gone to other countries but Mitt forgot he sent some there. We have greedy executives who believe they produce everything the company turns out, suck all the profit off, fail to upgrade their companies, rob from company pension funds and vote their buddies raises while serving on boards because their buddies will do the same for them. Put all the money in one picket, keep the little guy down as far as possible and we wonder why our economy is stagnant. What brilliant executives we have. If the money was spread more, there would be more money back with more purchasing power.
Locut0s
(6,154 posts)The very second you mention people in need, the poor, deserving to receive more the knee jerk reaction you inevitable hear from these guys is "don'y you fucking touch my hard earned money". To them it's dog eat dog, eye or an eye don't to the very last person.
frostfern
(67 posts)I got mine, fuck you. It's a form of moral retardation. They are like 2 year olds.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)Locut0s
(6,154 posts)kurt_cagle
(534 posts)save that I think the currency is wrong, and that it is only meaningful to make such valuations after a person has died.
A firefighter who saves lives contributes far more to society than a commodities trader who enriches himself. A teacher who teaches the next generation of writers, scientists, artists or engineers is immensely valuable. A parish priest who counsels troubled teens and helps turn around lives is in his own way more valuable than a pope who serves to enrich the church. The scientist who discovers new laws of physics, the artist who challenges us to challenge our assumptions, the musician who creates and performs even when the crowds are not there, these people bring real value into our world.
On the flip side, there are people who are not worth the air they breathe. Some are lazy, selfish, deliberately ignorant, cruel for cruelty's sake. Others are greedy, taking advantage of others so regularly that they only see others as "marks". Some seek power in order to dominate others, enrich themselves or their patrons or see others suffer. Others profit directly from the suffering of others.
Most people who measure their worth in dollars have difficulty in understanding this, because devotion to duty, self-sacrifice, compassion, kindness, creativity and invention deriving from curiosity can seldom be measured in terms of dollars. They assume that because something is priceless, it is worthless. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
Locut0s
(6,154 posts)has serious life long mental health issues depression, bipolar or schizophrenia. Never violent belligerence but has never managed to hold down a job for more than a month or two due to his emotional demons. What is this mans worth?
shintao
(487 posts)He has given a host of people that surround his needs employment, from mental health, pharmacy, care giving, food from farmers, food storage and distribution, etc. Having worked with Schizophrenics in half-way houses, I would say these people have a lot of potential, and should be studied outside the psychological realm, for such experimental channeling across dimensions.
Another interesting area they could be contributing to is art from the visions they experience, and selling it to collectors and those working in the mental health field.
One of the problems with many mental clients, is after placement into community living, they stop taking their medications and lapse back into an unhealthy state again. This social cycle sends them back into emergency care, hospital care, halfway house, and finally back into the community living again. A terrible life to live.
I came up with an idea for a medication dispenser machine that is placed in their community home, and refilled monthly. It requires the client to activate the machine at select times, and the medication is delivered from the machine. The machine is hook into the phone trunk and monitored at a local mental health facility to ensure the client is activating twice daily at scheduled times. If not, they can call to check on the person, or go there and check on the mental health of the person. This would help stop cycling.
Locut0s
(6,154 posts)Would claim this man is worth nothing and deserves nothing simply because he could not "pull himself up by his own boot straps". We agree after all, just the wording is different
SouthernDonkey
(256 posts)In what currency? The very issue of worth in and of itself when refering to a human being is actually just as disgusting as the degree or dollar amount one might put on it, don't you think?
Perhaps this guy has some recessive gene, and they find him dead in an alley. But he's a John Doe, so they donate his body to science. Low and behold, using it they find a cure for cancer! Suppose a bus load of 8 year olds are on a field trip. They see him curled up sleeping in a gutter. It makes such a lifelong impression on them it literally molds their view of the world and shapes their whole lives...and they grow up to be Jonas Salks. We all have value and worth. It just might not be in the currency the douchebag right wingers deal in.
Jim Warren
(2,736 posts)"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
John Kenneth Galbraith
moondust
(20,019 posts)And if heirs like the Koch Brothers and the Walton family (and themselves?) are "worth" anything if they have no real talents or skills of their own and just hire somebody else to manage their inherited money to make them "worth" even more.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Denninmi
(6,581 posts)What more is there to say?
duhneece
(4,122 posts)THAT is the most disturbing part of their 'selfishness is a virtue' theme.
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)to contribute the most vocal against contributing?