Robber Baron? Or capitalism in action?

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

I don't buy anything from Amazon. I have no need to. And I think Bezos is a bozos

Thank you for that succinct and amusing reply.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

That's not an assumption, it's a cold, hard fact for anybody who knows anything about human nature and history.

Yet clearly millions and millions of people [presumably including yourself] do not behave in that manner. Therefore to contend that it is a "cold, hard fact" pertaining to "human nature and history" is fallacious.

[shunyadragon]

It doesn't ignore it. It's just what it is. Do you still buy goods from human rights violator and sweatshop using china?

I lived in China, and by far the overwhelming amount of imports from China particularly technology products are made in special commercial and industrial zexport ones where the labor standards are high. Actually a great deal of sweatshop and child labor is in India and Central America.

I do buy USA when available. Unfortunately, minimum wage amd other standards in the USA are behind the standards of our European allies including the socalled socialist countries.

In the USA the unfortunate recent history of easy cheap bank money and embarrassing low taxes for the wealthy has caused the vast majority of the wealth in the hands of a select few robber barons.

[shunyadragon]

I lived in China, and by far the overwhelming amount of imports from China particularly technology products are made in special commercial and industrial export zones where the labor standards are high. Actually a great deal of sweatshop and child labor is in India and Central America.

I do buy USA when available. Unfortunately, minimum wage amd other standards in the USA are behind the standards of our European allies including the socalled socialist countries.

In the USA the unfortunate recent history of easy cheap bank money and embarrassing low taxes for the wealthy has caused the vast majority of the wealth in the hands of a select few robber barons.

Corrected error

[Mountain Man]

Yet clearly millions and millions of people [presumably including yourself] do not behave in that manner. Therefore to contend that it is a "cold, hard fact" pertaining to "human nature and history" is fallacious.

We are all inherently selfish and must actively guard against it in ourselves, but there are enough people in the world who don't, and every economic system is vulnerable to them if there are no checks against it.

[rogue06]

Yet clearly millions and millions of people [presumably including yourself] do not behave in that manner. Therefore to contend that it is a "cold, hard fact" pertaining to "human nature and history" is fallacious.

Perhaps the most significant difference between humans and the rest of animal kind is our ability to resist our instincts or basic nature. I don't mean with training like a dog but to make the decision on our own.

[Mountain Man]

Perhaps the most significant difference between humans and the rest of animal kind is our ability to resist our instincts or basic nature. I don't mean with training like a dog but to make the decision on our own.

It's worth noting that children must be taught to share.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Perhaps the most significant difference between humans and the rest of animal kind is our ability to resist our instincts or basic nature. I don't mean with training like a dog but to make the decision on our own.

Yet animals often do resist their instincts certainly in human domestic situations.

It's worth noting that children must be taught to share.

Not necessarily. An interesting experiment here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvVFW85IcU

Babies as young as three months recognise helpfulness and older babies will recognise "punishment" for unpleasant or unhelpful behaviour.

[Mountain Man]

Babies as young as three months recognise helpfulness and older babies will recognise "punishment" for unpleasant or unhelpful behaviour.

Yes, punishment is part of the teaching process.

But here's the rub: somebody sufficiently rich and powerful can easily avoid the punishment, and humans are generally inclined to gravitate towards this.

Somebody might say that it is in our best self-interest to adopt a moral life-style. But clearly, that is not always true: we all know situations in which self-interest runs smack in the face of morality. Moreover, if one is sufficiently powerful, like a Ferdinand Marcos or a Papa Doc Duvalier or even a Donald Trump, then one can pretty much ignore the dictates of conscience and safely live in self-indulgence. Historian Stewart C. Easton sums it up well when he writes, “There is no objective reason why man should be moral, unless morality ‘pays off’ in his social life or makes him ‘feel good.’ There is no objective reason why man should do anything save for the pleasure it affords him.”

https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writ...od-without-god

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Yes, punishment is part of the teaching process.

Did you watch the video?

[Mountain Man]

Did you watch the video?

Did you read the rest of my post?

[Gondwanaland]

Yet animals often do resist their instincts certainly in human domestic situations.

Even outside of them. Altruism in animals is a pretty wide-spread thing observable in both vertebrates and some invertebrates.

Not necessarily. An interesting experiment here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRvVFW85IcU

Babies as young as three months recognise helpfulness and older babies will recognise "punishment" for unpleasant or unhelpful behaviour.

Yep.

[rogue06]

Yet animals often do resist their instincts certainly in human domestic situations.

facepalm3.gif You literally posted that in response to two sentences, the second of which is

I don't mean with training like a dog but to make the decision on our own.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

facepalm3.gif You literally posted that in response to two sentences, the second of which is

I don't mean with training like a dog but to make the decision on our own.

Once again rogue06 leaps to conclusions.

Where did I state I was referring to dogs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCDCClXkvFo

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

Even outside of them. Altruism in animals is a pretty wide-spread thing observable in both vertebrates and some invertebrates.

Yep.

I have no idea how this footage was obtained but the question still persists "Why?" Perhaps she did kill it later - I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRUXU172vGg