[MD] Unreality of Equality

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

Platt, Khaled, SA below...

[Platt]
So I don't knock those who produce wealth. Without them, I'd be a lot 
worse off. I think you have a lot to be grateful for them, too. Not so? 

[Arlo]
Well, I've said many times the problem (as I see it) is the fixation on "my
personal wealth" above all other things. Certainly, I see no fault in reaping
social rewards, and I think that in our culture providing labor so that I can
pursue goals is just playing the game. I worked hard so that I can have a
Harley, for example. However, if I HAD to choose between owning a Harley and
the poor kid across the street having needed medicine, I'd choose the latter.
Luckily, I think we can find balance between receiving rewards for our labor,
and meeting the basic moral needs of valuing human life. Keeping that woman
alive in Florida, for example, who do you think paid for that? I had no problem
with some of my tax dollars supporting that, or an increase in my insurance
costs to cover those expenses.

So, again, for me the problem is not "money". The problem are those that somehow
feel that their accumulation of such somehow makes them more "valuable" people.
Not only does this feed false notions of supremecy, but drives people to
consume, consume, consume, in hopes that their consumption will deliver them to
righteousness (to wax poetic). And this, as I've already talked about, feeds a
destructive attitude towards the commons, community and public space.

Also, I do think that there are some things done in the pursuit of wealth that
can be immoral. I know this is right-wing heresy, but seeking money does not
justify all activity. We must know when seeking money is also not moral, and be
able to make decisions that may (gasp) lower profit, but "do good". Right now,
that is missing from the dialogue.

Something, for example, in the minds of the executives at Hawk's Nest mine in
West Virginia should have kicked in and said, "yeah, you know, we could end up
with a lot of money on this deal, but sending miners blindly into a situation
we know will likely kill them is not worth it".  That's one example, there are
always others.

Khaled has asked if we've learned from history, if we still need the FDA and
USDA, for example. Well, I do know that in Europe there are strict requirements
for produce, and food that is genetically engineered in any way has to be so
labeled. And the food does not sell. So it is redirected to the USA, where
lobbyists have fought against product labeling as "government intrusion", and
so that same produce that no one will buy in Europe is sold and consumed here,
without labels, by people who will never know it is genetically modified
because agribusiness has declared having to tell you as "intrusive". I also
know that when Americans became concerned about sugar levels in their foods,
the food manufactures replace sugar with "high fructose corn syrup". It worked
for years. And I know that consumer advocacy groups had to fight tooth and nail
to get the government to include warning labels on risk items, such as drugs
and the like. I don't mean the "duh" ones like "smoking can cause cancer", but
ones that link the use of product with serious side-effects. Believe me, they
did not want to have to tell you.

I'd wait for the manufactures to become "moral", and then I'd say we could
easily abolish the FDA and USDA. Plus, when was the last time YOU
(rhetorically) decided NOT to buy anything because of (1) treatment of workers,
(2) unethical business practices, (3) etc. Platt had demonstrated quite well in
our Walmart discussion that the primary thing that drives consumer choice is
price, and I'd say too the "quality of the object" in an SOMist sense (in ZMM
Pirsig likened the quality of production, including the care and mindfulness of
the labor, to the quality of the product, while the SOMist mind sees quality as
a feature only of the object). So, if the Nike shoes are priced right, or have
a good SOMist "quality", people will buy them, even if Nike was dumping toxic
chemicals on daycares in Taiwan or beating their laborers with acid soaked
bamboo.

I mean, I'd like to think we make our consumer choices based on a ZMMist
Quality, but that is hardly the case, is it?

Arlo