A thought on the poor

[mahnmut]

How much a society is worth is measured not by the way it treats its Have-most-s, but by the way it treats its Have-not-s.

Thank you, Ani.

Reminds me of a good principle I know from mountaineering:

The group goes with the speed of the slowest walker.

Or else, it'll break up and you'll lose half your fellow mountaineers.

Also works for Arctic/Antarctic explorers. Which is why the frostbitten Lawrence Oates deliberately left Robert Scott's camp and plunged into the storm - to get his mates rid of himself, and give them a chance to proceed with increased speed. Of course it didn't end well, but you get the idea.

Maybe some of my conservative friends would propose that the poor get left out to die in the storm so that the rest of us could proceed with increased speed? I can see it at the tip of their tongue, but political correctness prevents (most of them) from pronouncing it.

Comments

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Why, I've heard the more sociopathic of them occasionally express such a sentiment.

The reasoning: if we don't leave some behind, all of us will die. That's nonsense. In fact if we don't leave the slowest behind we may proceed in a slightly slower speed, that's all. It's not like a society is constantly going through a permanent snow storm.

By the way Ani was spot on.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

Not being quite sure how serious your last sentence is.....


http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Nietzsche would concur with the last paragraph...