[152] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sourav K. Mandal)
Sat Apr 21 16:19:56 2001
Message-Id: <200104212019.QAA25926@dichotomy.dyn.dhs.org>
From: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
Reply-To: "Sourav K. Mandal" <Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com>
To: mit-talk@mit.edu
Cc: Chwanhai H Hsiung <hermyt@mit.edu>
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Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 16:19:32 -0400
"Chwanhai H Hsiung <hermyt@MIT.EDU>" wrote:
> 1) How do you know what that person's <whom you are referring to> motive is?
Ms. Smith argues for egalitarianism at any cost, and thus is clearly
employing envy as her ethical principle. I would ask Ms. Smith if she
agrees or disagrees with the following statement: "From each according
to his ability, to each according to his need."
> 2) When did being wealthy become inherently "good"?
In a laissez-faire system, wealth is created, not redistributed; in a
mixed-economy system with a strong rule of law (i.e. the US), the same
holds except for certain powerful special interests (e.g., retirees,
the farm lobby) and government bureaucrats. Hence, anyone who creates
wealth, for one's self and one's creditors/investors, is doing so by
providing a service that people are willing to pay for. Thus, wealth
is born of achievement, and is a Good Thing (tm).
> So is asking people to be courteous and nice to other people just as improper
> as paying taxes? [...]
It's wrong to make people "act nice," but it's not improper to prevent
harm, committed via thievery, violence, or fraud.
> [...] I'm essentially advocating stealing time and brainspace fr
> om "innocent" people, which, as the maxim goes, is at least as valuable as co
> ld hard cash.
Um, what do you mean? By posting this message? People can choose to
not read, or not respond if they do. As far as I know, the IRS gets
displeased if you politely decline to pay your taxes.
> Please, do not be so vehement about someone's faults and then commit them you
> rself. <I know, we're all fallible, but do try to keep it to a minimum.>
It's justifiable to denounce someone for faults that are real, though
such denunciation might be counterproductive in the context of a
multi-party discussion.
Regards,
Sourav
------------------------------------------------------------
Sourav K. Mandal
Sourav.Mandal@ikaran.com
http://www.ikaran.com/Sourav.Mandal/
