hilzoy has a post called Diplomacy 101 that is very very good and makes me very very sad, since nothing she says is going to reach the people who actually need to hear it.
I've been trying all my life to get at the problem of explaining the fact that you shouldn't be a giant asshole on purpose for fun to people who respond to any such argument with a giant grin and a "Sure you should!" In this case hilzoy is even making an argument from self-interest, but no matter how persuasive the case, I doubt it will make a dent in the attitude of anyone who cheered on Bush for his "world's biggest polluter" air-punching--any more than it's likely to affect the bigger issue at hand, which is that the most powerful people in the United States government enjoy being assholes on purpose for fun, and value being assholes on purpose more highly than they value retaining the last shreds of our standing in the world.
Not only have I never made any inroads in the Problem of Assholes, I've yet to encounter anyone who has. If you have any insight, I'd love to hear about it.
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1 comments:
It’s hard. Some people have decided it’s okay to completely disregard other people’s well-being.
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