Darth Vader's Family Values - New York Times

[bloom]

He says he could never betray the Jedi because they're his family, but then the chancellor puts the family question in perspective: "Learn to know the dark side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death." Anakin promptly recognizes the limits of altruism, just as Adam Smith did in the 18th century.

Smith knew that some people professed love for all humanity, but he realized that a man's love for "the members of his own family" is "more precise and determinate, than it can be with the greater part of other people." Hence his famous warning not to rely on the kindness of strangers outside your family: if you want bread, it's better to count on the baker's self-interest rather than his generosity.

This has never been a popular bit of advice because selfishness is not admired in human societies any more than among Jedi knights. We know it exists, but it feels wrong. We are born with an instinct for altruism because we evolved in clans of hunter-gatherers who would not have survived if they hadn't helped one another through hard times.

The result is an enduring political paradox: we no longer live in clans small enough for altruism to be practical, but we still respond to politicians who promise to make us all part of one big selfless community. We want everyone to be bound together with a shared set of values, a yearning that Daniel Klein, an economist, dubs the People's Romance in the summer issue of The Independent Review.

The People's Romance is his explanation for why so many Americans have come to love bigger government over the past century. Their specific objectives in Washington differed - liberals stressed charity and social programs for all, while conservatives promoted patriotism and spending on national security - but they both expanded the government in their quest for a national sense of shared purpose.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/21/opinion/21tierney.html?th&emc=th

[bloom]

1. ...

I think people need to think about the benefits of what's best for all in the abstract.

In the past the rich have been able to stay above the fray.

While that can happen to some degree - I think that is ending with the planet in meltdown mode under the strain of toxins, pollution, etc.

If people were able to go to cleaner planets like in Star Wars - it might be different - the rich could escape. I think it's time for people to enter reality - if they want what is best for their families and their clan.

[Kagemusha]

2. Ok, I admit it. I'm sick of Darth Vader's Republican apologists.

I was sick of it last film and I'm beyond sick of it now.

[bloom]

3. I didn't really pay attention to them before...

Plus, this film seems far more political.

I think they are having to work at it to make Star Wars something they can enjoy.

I find it rather humorous.

[housewolf]

4. I found this article to be quite interestsing

It looked at several aspects of societal life and brought in ideas that gave me pause and some things to think about.

Thanks for posting it.