Kids Are Selfish People Like The Rest of Us

My kids are out to make themselves satisfied. They will do this by whatever means makes sense to attain their desired goals. They will complain, cry, get angry, cooperate, ask nicely, play on internal feelings of guilt, work for it, lie, negotiate, hit, or sometimes even decide it isn’t worth the costs and move on. Counter to some ideas of peaceful parents, kids aren’t innately kind, good, altruistic or benevolent. They are selfish beings out to get their desires met. This makes them no different from adults.

What if Everyone Was Forced to go to Auto Mechanic School?

There’s nothing bad about auto mechanic school.  But it’s easy to spot the absurdity of forcing every person to spend 12 or 16 or 20 years in it and telling them it will be valuable no matter their interests, goals, or future career.  It’s no less absurd to do what we currently do and force everyone to go to professor school for most of their young life.

Why Not Be a Psychopath?

Those who believe there’s no basis for ethics without a god, or at least a religion, can’t see there’s a downside to violating others absent a supernatural referee. I understand why they might feel that way. It’s the same sort of thinking behind acceptance of government courts and police. Why not be a thug if no one is looking over your shoulder and holding you accountable?

Corruption

I heard a radio program, this morning addressing the issue of politicians accused of dirty politics in our justice system.  In the particular cases, the alleged corruption-mongers skated based on narrow technical interpretations of laws under which the prosecution had, perhaps unwisely, chosen to proceed.  The short-term lesson seemed to be that the laws were not sufficient to stop the corrupt behavior.