But all people aren’t of equal worth. There isn’t an official arbitrator but we get to decide for ourselves, and there isn’t a much better way to evaluate them than their actions.
The “all men created equal” in the… US consitution or declaration or whatever is complete nonsense.
Edit: I do think everyone should be born with equal rights and should be given opportunities to be healthy and happy. I didn’t think the “created” part through, and meant that people aren’t “destined” to be equal, their actions separate them. Sorry about that last part.
I don’t understand why only things can have different values. People have different impact on the environment, the world, etc. and what you value determines their worth on that scale. If everything is equally important to you, good or evil, then i guess everything and everyone can have the same value? I don’t really understand this paradigm.
I want to point out a stronger contention in your favor: Republicans in the US are murdering their own citizens right now. I don’t think they are demonstrating much worth at the moment.
More fuel to add to the fire - compare a factory worker with a capitalist. The capitalist provides negative value to society, by actively stripping the value of others’ labour from them while contributing nothing themselves, whereas the factory worker creates value for those around them. I’d argue that the factory worker has more value than the capitalist.
That is a capitalist, neoliberal attitude at best. It is particularly popular in the USA, where children are taught to evaluate reality in quantitative terms. It is extremely important for US capitalism to promote this view of humanity, because it legitimizes the major social hierarchies in this society. It also legitimizes why children are allowed to go hungry, the poor are denied medical care, and other countries are exploited. After all, they are not worth it, otherwise they would not be in this situation. In the worst case, it is therefore the basis for right-wing ideology in the USA.
But ultimately, it is a normative decision that everyone makes for themselves. I cannot convince you with arguments. If you believe that people are fundamentally worth different amounts, then probably no argument can convince you otherwise. I can only say that I am glad not to have anyone like you in my circle.
I am not sure where anything i said means quantitative evaluation. I despise capitalism, but people’s actions do have impact and i am free to evaluate them on such. For example, my measurement could be the altruism and positive impact of their actions. You have jumped to some very negative conclusions and i am glad i don’t have you in my circle.
Edit: in addition, i never said anything about “fundamentally” being worth different amounts. I very specifically said actions are a good way to determine their value. There is nothing fundamental or intrinsic about that.
Edit 2: Wait, I see it now, sorry. It’s the all men created equal part. I do think everyone should be born with equal rights and should be given opportunities to be healthy and happy. I’ll make an amendment to the original comment. I didn’t think the “created” part through, and meant that people aren’t “destined” to be equal, their actions separate them.
But all people aren’t of equal worth. There isn’t an official arbitrator but we get to decide for ourselves, and there isn’t a much better way to evaluate them than their actions.
The “all men created equal” in the… US consitution or declaration or whatever is complete nonsense.
Edit: I do think everyone should be born with equal rights and should be given opportunities to be healthy and happy. I didn’t think the “created” part through, and meant that people aren’t “destined” to be equal, their actions separate them. Sorry about that last part.
Declaring people to have a certain value relative to each other strikes me as uncomfortably close to treating people as things.
I don’t understand why only things can have different values. People have different impact on the environment, the world, etc. and what you value determines their worth on that scale. If everything is equally important to you, good or evil, then i guess everything and everyone can have the same value? I don’t really understand this paradigm.
I want to point out a stronger contention in your favor: Republicans in the US are murdering their own citizens right now. I don’t think they are demonstrating much worth at the moment.
More fuel to add to the fire - compare a factory worker with a capitalist. The capitalist provides negative value to society, by actively stripping the value of others’ labour from them while contributing nothing themselves, whereas the factory worker creates value for those around them. I’d argue that the factory worker has more value than the capitalist.
That is a capitalist, neoliberal attitude at best. It is particularly popular in the USA, where children are taught to evaluate reality in quantitative terms. It is extremely important for US capitalism to promote this view of humanity, because it legitimizes the major social hierarchies in this society. It also legitimizes why children are allowed to go hungry, the poor are denied medical care, and other countries are exploited. After all, they are not worth it, otherwise they would not be in this situation. In the worst case, it is therefore the basis for right-wing ideology in the USA.
But ultimately, it is a normative decision that everyone makes for themselves. I cannot convince you with arguments. If you believe that people are fundamentally worth different amounts, then probably no argument can convince you otherwise. I can only say that I am glad not to have anyone like you in my circle.
I am not sure where anything i said means quantitative evaluation. I despise capitalism, but people’s actions do have impact and i am free to evaluate them on such. For example, my measurement could be the altruism and positive impact of their actions. You have jumped to some very negative conclusions and i am glad i don’t have you in my circle.
Edit: in addition, i never said anything about “fundamentally” being worth different amounts. I very specifically said actions are a good way to determine their value. There is nothing fundamental or intrinsic about that.
Edit 2: Wait, I see it now, sorry. It’s the all men created equal part. I do think everyone should be born with equal rights and should be given opportunities to be healthy and happy. I’ll make an amendment to the original comment. I didn’t think the “created” part through, and meant that people aren’t “destined” to be equal, their actions separate them.