Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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After you give all your money that you can away to [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]African babies [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], shouldnt you then steal other people's money to [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]SAVE LIVES [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]?

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Africans should steal their own money.

Stealing isn't just wrong because God says so. It decreases society's overall wealth because in a world where property rights aren't respected, there is no incentive to be productive. Nobody will spend all day plowing the field if his vegetables are just going to be stolen anyway.

If everybody starts stealing, it will kill a lot more people (by general decreases in overall societal productivity) than the few lives that could be immediately saved with the loot.

So the trade-off between respecting property rights and saving lives is illusory.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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The closer someone is to me geographically, genetically, or spiritually, the more I care about them and the more responsibility I feel towards them. Also, the higher the population of the world, the less empathy I have towards each person. I believe these feelings are perfectly natural and similar for a large number of people, judging from their behavior. Admitting and articulating them is rather uncommon, though. I also believe the world would be a better place if people's words more closely matched their actions and therefore I applaud threads like these which challenge people to do just that.

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The usual after-the-fact justification of horrible thinking, just so I don't feel guilty syndrome. Pathetic.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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I completely agree with this. If 100 starving african children that I didn't know had to be pushed off a cliff to save my little brother's life, I'd toss them in a second.

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With thinking like that, I hope you go with them.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

If you tuely want to help make a long term change in the life of Africans, i suggest you travel to a needy area of Africa, and start digging wells, building shelters, passing along some uselful knowledge, or just generally be of physical help to these people.
A friend of mine spent a season in Western Africa (i think Senegal) with an organization called "engineers without borders" (think doctors, but structural instead of medical help). I'm quite sure he accomplised more long term good while there than if he had just saved his money for a few months and cut a check. When he left, the infrastructure he build and the knowledge he imparted reamained witht he needy. When a UN big bag of grain is gone, well, you need another big bag of grain.

Now thats somehwat tangential to your original question...yes, i have no problem with your Robin Hood idea, only that it will be both impractical and temporary. Unless you are teaching your children to do the same, and they will teach their children, and their children, then you havent really solved a problem.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

He would do it!

http://dvdmg.com/img/robinhood1938.jpg

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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With thinking like that, I hope you go with them.

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It's funny that in my value system, you could think something 100x worse and I wouldn't wish anything even 1/100th as harmful on you. And yet my thinking is supposedly evil!? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

Oh, thank god...

For a moment I thought I caught this post in the Politics fourm.

RB

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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With thinking like that, I hope you go with them.

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It's funny that in my value system, you could think something 100x worse and I wouldn't wish anything even 1/100th as harmful on you. And yet my thinking is supposedly evil!? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Yes. Hoping that one person dies is worse than your thinking that 100 people die? You may want to change your math again.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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With thinking like that, I hope you go with them.

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It's funny that in my value system, you could think something 100x worse and I wouldn't wish anything even 1/100th as harmful on you. And yet my thinking is supposedly evil!? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Actually, I wasn't even responding to you. I was responding to hmpoker.

Re: Why not steal money and give it to Africans?
 

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With thinking like that, I hope you go with them.

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It's funny that in my value system, you could think something 100x worse and I wouldn't wish anything even 1/100th as harmful on you. And yet my thinking is supposedly evil!? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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Yes. Hoping that one person dies is worse than your thinking that 100 people die? You may want to change your math again.

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No. The value of a human life is relative.

Pick the person you cherish most in your life; your brother, your mom, your significant other, whomever. Let's say he/she is dying of a deadly illness, and to save him/her, (practicality aside) you have to authorize someone to drop me, my siblings and my parents off a cliff. It is implied that no one will be able to link you to the event, and that no one you know will be emotionally or financially affected by it.

What'll it be?