I am amazed by all the people that, when faced with having to give up some of the first-world luxury they are used to, flip completely in their head. It is the opposite of not-in-my-backyard: Don’t take from my backyard, pls.
Yes, I would rather have the current distribution continue, where hundreds of millions are literally starving, where there are people who would kill to live like this, where people are walking through the desert and taking dinghies over oceans for shit like this, just so I can have my amenities.
Why are you amazed? Have you lived your whole life under a rock? People have always been like this, it’s never been hidden or even remotely pretended otherwise.
Oh come on, that is a pretty flawed argument. “Tell me, how me doing this particular, isolated thing, is directly causing this complicated big thing, otherwise you are wrong”.
But we are not arguing that: We are arguing about, what if I had a magical button that would magically give everyone in the world access to the “decent living standards” and nothing more? Would it be ethical, would you push this button? Even if you are, right now, way above the line?
And to that I say, yes, if it was possible to do this, I believe it would be the right thing to do. And I believe that anyone arguing we should not press the button, because pushing this button is hurting their lifestyle, is arguing that billions of people deserve to live a much worse life for being in the wrong place so that we can have our lifestyle.
Of course I do not have such a button. That is not the point.
I am amazed by all the people that, when faced with having to give up some of the first-world luxury they are used to, flip completely in their head. It is the opposite of not-in-my-backyard: Don’t take from my backyard, pls.
Yes, I would rather have the current distribution continue, where hundreds of millions are literally starving, where there are people who would kill to live like this, where people are walking through the desert and taking dinghies over oceans for shit like this, just so I can have my amenities.
Absolutely wild. We’re so doomed.
Why are you amazed? Have you lived your whole life under a rock? People have always been like this, it’s never been hidden or even remotely pretended otherwise.
Note that other people’s suffering is not always directly related to our lifestyle.
Explain to me how the sudanese war is caused by our consumption of meat?
Oh come on, that is a pretty flawed argument. “Tell me, how me doing this particular, isolated thing, is directly causing this complicated big thing, otherwise you are wrong”.
But we are not arguing that: We are arguing about, what if I had a magical button that would magically give everyone in the world access to the “decent living standards” and nothing more? Would it be ethical, would you push this button? Even if you are, right now, way above the line?
And to that I say, yes, if it was possible to do this, I believe it would be the right thing to do. And I believe that anyone arguing we should not press the button, because pushing this button is hurting their lifestyle, is arguing that billions of people deserve to live a much worse life for being in the wrong place so that we can have our lifestyle.
Of course I do not have such a button. That is not the point.