Greed, tell me what you think Options

[Dantrag]

Greed

Why are people so greedy? Greed is such a large problem in society today. Look around at all of the people that seem to care more about their personal finances than anything else, including their own moral values. There are greedy people everywhere that are putting more cash into their own pockets at the expense of others. Take for example, the Enron scandal, and all of the stories you hear about people suing large corporations because of their own stupidity.

Enron stole money from its own shareholders by cheating the stock market. The company reported its earnings as higher than they actually were, causing the price of their stocks to go up so that the company gained more money each time someone bought a share of Enron’s seemingly stable and promising company. When the scandal was exposed, and the executives in the company were found to be criminals, they cost their shareholders millions of dollars, and almost ran their company into the ground.

There is an increasing number of stupid and ridiculous lawsuits going on all across the United States. Smokers sue tobacco companies, obese people sue fast food restaurants, and people even go as far as suing hit television shows for stealing their name. Is it not the smoker’s own fault for smoking? Is it not the obese person’s job to watch their eating habits and exercise? Did Bob Croft not change his name to Jack boat before suing MTV’s hit show “jackass”? Why do these people want to place the blame unfairly on others and get something out of it? If they would accept responsibility for their own mistakes and condition, none of these problems would occur. It is out of utter selfishness that people press charges against these corporations. Does it make the smoker and the obese person feel more powerful because they can win a legal battle when they cannot win one against their own addictions? Does it make them feel better because they feel like the blame is lifted off of their shoulders, or is it because the big fat check they receive from the lawsuit makes them happy temporarily, covering up the feelings of guilt and stupidity?

Why has money suddenly become so much more important than everything else? Why is money more important than fellow human beings, and one’s own sense of morality?

Greed only serves to hurt everyone involved. Enron’s dishonest practice was revealed to the world, the company and their shareholders ended up losing large sums of money. Enron hurt itself as well as others. The obese person that wins a lawsuit against McDonalds soon acquires a mindset of “Why do I need to get healthy if being unhealthy gets me money?” and soon loses any motivation he or she had to change his or her habits. The smoker inadvertently harms the environment because the tobacco company has to increase productivity to make up for the money lost in the case, which requires farmers to grow more tobacco, which requires more land that is gained by deforestation. The person that sues a television show for stealing his name only wastes the time of lawyers, judges, and defendants, while making himself look like his own last name. Greed hurts the greedy, as well as the others around that person. Why does this senselessness continue? Do we not see that it gains us nothing? Money and other material things are not the most important things in life, and should not be treated as such.

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I wrote it as a short essay for english class, and I think it is very true. tell me what you think. (I know I over-generalized the situation with Enron, but that's okay.)

PS - don't give me corrections, it's only a rough draft

This post has been edited by Dantrag: Sep 13 2005, 02:26 AM

[DoomedOne]

Channler I was about to say the same thing. Greed exists in the fundamental idea that if you can have more, you should get more. That alone is not bad, it becomes greed when suddenly it's at the expense of others. It's not just money, but power in general.

Here's an example. When a nomadic people were moved to settlements by the government to try and live in a civilization back in the 1990s (I saw it on National Geographic) one woman from the tribe made a task for herself of accumulating blankets. Blankets were suddenly a very precious commidity in their community, and because she owned all the blankets she suddenly had all the power. This was something unheard of to nomadic tribes like this one. The reason is because Hunter/Gatherer people have no room in their society for greed, it would crumble if one took advantage of the others. They have to practice cooperation and mutualism if they want to be able to survive the winter.

As humans have evolved from Hunter/Gatherer to Hunter/Grower to Farmers and keepers of livestock and so on, they've occupied different niches in nature. We can see now as ape societies evolve (or are changed by God if you want) that they have started exercizing greed as well. In certain chimpanzee societies it has been recorded they they have started hunting monkeys, something they never did two hundred year ago. They don't require monkey meat in their diet. All the nutrients an ape needs is found in insects and plants. The meat has become a social tool, and the act of giving your monkey meat to another chimp has become, basically, like lobbying. When needed, who's the chimp more likely to help? The chimp that gave him meat or the one that didn't?

So, as humans occupy new niches, the need for cooperation is sort of slackened, at least for survival of the individual and their family. At the same time, humans were evolved (or made by God) as a cooperative species. That, in my opinion, is why it's like this. A cooperative species that no longer needs to practice cooperation for survival of the indivdual and the family is bound to corrupt.

What many humans do not realize is that we need to exercize cooperation for the survival of the community. There just happens to be so many humans that put themselves before community that it's not happening. Take political science's lables of two idealists, the liberalists and the realists. This has nothing to do with liberals and conservatives, by the way. Liberalists believe in cooperation, that everyone can work together and help each other out. Realists believe that they need to help their own country out and work toward benefiting their own country, even at the expense of of other countries. Liberalism sounds better, it sounds like the future of mankind where everyone can prosper. I find that when you believe in this, realists take advantage, so really our political system is dog-eat-dog and there's very little room for cooperation. It will always be like that until cooperation is necessary for survival of the individual.