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Had an Epiphany

Posted by $ Abaco 6 years, 10 months ago to Philosophy
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This is embarrassingly simple. While listening to a podcast where somebody was railing about stuff going on in DC something dawned on me that brought me back to the last philosophy class in college. It was Philosophy 331: Ethics. As an engineer I didn't belong. I took it for the fun of it. With what I'm seeing going on here in California and in DC, combined with all the riots, fistfights on planes, ISIS throwing lbgt off of tall buildings, parents being threatened for not giving up a seat that they paid for on a flight, on and on...it hit me. "Leave each other alone." Pretty simple, huh? I do try to teach my kids the value in this regularly. Imagine if that was a basic value that society just cherished and instilled in their kids - agreed to live by. Just leave people the hell alone. When you see it violated, take a stand. The news would get so boring. People would live longer.

Instead, we agree to be bossed around by people in fancy suits that other people voted for, by rent-a-cops with glocks, etc. What a concept, I know. Just leave other people alone.

That's the first Jack Handy Deep Thought I've had in a long time. Back to reality...


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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 6 years, 10 months ago
    "The makers of the Constitution conferred the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by all civilized men—the right to be let alone." Justice Louis Brandeis (1928)
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  • Posted by chad 6 years, 10 months ago
    As I told my communist daughter, I don't care if you want Obamacare, the Federal Reserve or any of your other bad ideas. Just don't foist them on me. I might still try to convince you that you are wrong, but I won't impose myself on you. If I am free it won't be long before you realize that my way is better and you will want to participate with me. I won't use force against you and don't use it against me.
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  • Posted by Steven-Wells 6 years, 10 months ago
    A science fiction story I read long ago (I don't have the time to chase it down now) included someone's visit to a future society where there are only two laws, and they work well for that society:
    1. Try not to bother other people.
    2. If you're other people, try not to be bothered too easily.
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    • Posted by ReneeDaphne 6 years, 10 months ago
      Excellent! That fits right into the libertarian principle of "Interaction is by Voluntary Cooperation" Non-interference (toleration or voluntary ignor-ance) and non-agression (use of persuasion, cooperation and voluntary compliance in the exchange of goods and services).
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  • Posted by mminnick 6 years, 10 months ago
    Your phrase has been said many ties befor. to quote a few
    Do unto others as you would have them do to you
    Don't do that which is hurtful to others
    Do only good, not evil
    The list is long and most likely incomplete. I do like yours. It is simple and direct and covers the whole gamut .
    Well Said.

    +1
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 6 years, 10 months ago
    I'm an engineer, and there is an engineer's statement of ethics that says our duty is to make the lives of others less hazardous and more promising with our efforts. Otherwise we're just tinkerers playing around because it makes us happy.

    The Hippocratic oath captures a thought suitable for all of us: "First, do no harm."

    "Leave other people alone" sounds good, but what if you see they need help? All simplistic philosophical statements carry some baggage, even the Golden Rule. The do unto others part sounds good, but cultural differences can turn this upside down. Admonitions to "do good, not evil" carry the assumption that we all agree on which is good, and which is evil.

    The bad news is that the world is more complicated than we wish. The good news is that it's so complicated that there's always a solution if we look long enough to find it.
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    • Posted by ReneeDaphne 6 years, 10 months ago
      Since there is no definitive decision on right and wrong, I'm going with intention as being the key player, modifier and judgement caller. Two people with a knife, the actions of both result in the death of a third person. One of the people is a thief and the other a surgeon. One intended to save a life and the other intended to end it. Therein lies the judgement of "good" and "bad"..
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  • Posted by wiggys 6 years, 10 months ago
    Abaco,
    I recall when the repub turned demo senator fro PA.(dead now) had a town hall meeting pushing obamacare and one audience guy said can't you just leave us alone. government employees otherwise known as CIVIL SERVANTS (which they don't believe they are) don't know how to leave us alone. The government sets the agenda so that is how a major segment of the population function. That is also why we have a growing population of crooks. we the people except us on the gulch learn from the civil servants way of doing things.
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  • Posted by editormichael 6 years, 10 months ago
    Engineering student in philosophy? Ridiculous!
    Why, that's like a physics student in philosophy!
    Or a philosophy student in physics!
    Perish the thought!
    Anyone on Facebook is invited to visit the page DC delenda est and give it a like.
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  • Posted by roneida 6 years, 10 months ago
    Abaco...You.ve been reading my mail..Most earth shattering insights turn out to be so simple and straight forward, the discoverer is stunned that others are so confused. Engineers like yourself need a good education background and belief.... which can be taught and learned, but basic philosophy tends to be discovered. usually in a solitary setting. Best wishes...keep on thinkin' ..
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 10 months ago
    That's kinda what our forefathers were trying to get at.
    Also, that's the theory behind Mark Hamilton's Prime Law...which, I have observed, underlies our constitution.

    Leave me alone, if you screw with me, your toast. If I screw with you, I'm toast...with all this toast, we're gona run out of butter and jam.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 6 years, 10 months ago
    This is all true. The good thing is we're doing it. A human being today is far less likely to experience violence in various forms (including fights, riots, and murders) than in most of history. We're far more likely to be left alone and our rights respected: Our rights to say unpopular things, to protect ourselves, to own/control property, to privacy, to a fair criminal justice system. We're less likely to be judged by our physical attributes and group identity.

    We are FAR from perfect, but the arc of history bends slowly toward leaving one another in peace.
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    • Posted by $ 6 years, 10 months ago
      I see your point. Whereabouts do you live? I ask because I'm near the capitol of Crazyfornia and often seen institutional abuse of the citizenry here.
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 6 years, 10 months ago
        I am in Madison, WI. I've traveled to CA a lot, mostly to San Jose and Bakersfield. In Bakersfield people stop and take note of a light rain but ignore small earth quakes. I really liked Yosemite. I drove from there to Vegas. The terrain reminded me of another planet.

        Madison is nice. People are friendly, most people are educated, and there's a culture of stoicism and hard work. It's not for everyone because of the liberal politics and continental climate.

        I always hear that CA is crazy, but I never hear how. The fact that there are so many chemicals "known to the state of CA" to be hazardous, though, gives me an inkling.
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        • Posted by $ 6 years, 10 months ago
          My mom's side of the family settled in/is from Dodgeville. There's some old footage of me running down the dirt roads between the corn fields there when I was 3...
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  • Posted by bsmith51 6 years, 10 months ago
    The premise of those determined to meddle in your affairs consider themselves among, "those few who know," and you among the great mass of "those who do now know (or, the great unwashed)." Feeling smarter than you, they make it their obligation to tend to you as a shepherd does his flock, and how dare you think otherwise.
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  • Posted by LazarusLong 6 years, 10 months ago
    A great Libertarian philosophy. Don't force me to do something I find personally offensive. (operative word - personally). What you think is offensive may be just my life but it is mine and I want to live it as I see fit not how you think I should live.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 10 months ago
    There are many unfair things happening and being a Rand fan I think that I might try to fix things. I'll get involved in politics and lend my voice to those right thinking folks who can straighten out some of the messes we find ourselves in.Only then do I find that I'm the one-eyed man in the valley of the blind. I quickly realize that I don't want to be that guy. That was many years ago and things haven't imporoved since.
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  • Posted by brkssb 6 years, 10 months ago
    Yes, indeed. Sir, with respect, you have it upside down. Clearly the issue is muddled with your comment about government saying you’re an engineer and engineers protecting the public… Do the people in fancy suits include engineers? As an engineer you didn’t belong in a philosophy course? Laissez-faire. Then build a bridge or render advice on safety or take a stand to defend individual rights.
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    • Posted by $ 6 years, 10 months ago
      You lost me. I'm an engineer and some engineers protect the public. The official reason for licensure is to protect the public. I didn't say that's my position.
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