by AnnaLivia » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:31 pm
As another who would certainly miss Ellie’s thoughtful contributions if she left, I still must offer this very different view on the new RI shop:<br><br>If there is a concern about making money off the unfortunate experiences of others, I am happy for that to be discussed, but in this case I think I see the money being made, being used for something advantageous to those who were hurt. Namely, a site that increases awareness of their hurts, and offers support to those hurt, stays online. The site owner cannot keep it online if he must do other work that eats the time he needs for this work. To me, as long as jeff keeps the site up, he can sell shirts and it is an example of money completing its cycle. It looks like useful money to me.<br><br>And then there’s this:<br><br>It is our duty not to be poor, as much as it is our duty not to be rich. The greatest contribution I could make to the future is to have passed on this over-arching nugget of truth, and to have been one who helped it become “ingrained” in human thought. People can no longer, in this age of “advanced” weaponry, and high-speed communication and transportation (the threats move faster now) (but so does education which is why we will win), afford to accept being poor. To accept being poor is to help ensure others will be poor…that there will always be poor others…(not to mention ensuring yourself far more misery than was intended for you). You don’t have to take a vow of poverty to save the world. In fact, if you do, you’re hurting and not helping. To save the world, you need to pursue wealth and power…meaning you must insist on finally having your fair share of wealth and power (no less/no more). You must insist that everyone who contributes, gets equitable re-numeration for their sacrifices made in contributing. These sacrifices are the time they spent and the level of their effort. These are the correct things by which to measure just compensation.<br><br>Currently, the amount we can possibly contribute is limited (and will always be limited because the limit is applied by nature), while the re-numeration one can legally receive, is not. This is the fatal imbalance that turned capitalism into corporate feudalism. We need mechanisms that constantly re-correct for the “invisible” drift of earnings from earners to non-earners, but these mechanisms are prevented by those few with the power to do the preventing, who cannot see what true price they are paying for this injustice…yet.<br><br>About capitalism: if a drunk runs a car off the road, do we blame the car or the drunkdriver? I am not convinced that capitalism is not just a good workhorse, worked badly. <br><br>Jeff is right to work and earn. If jeff doesn’t do that, I have to take care of jeff. Self-earned money is very very good. Self-earned money deprives no one else of their right to their own earnings. Money is shelter, food, clean water, education, healthcare, clothing…money is all your needs and most of your wants. It is precisely because having money is so very good, that not having money is so very bad.<br><br>I can’t see a problem with jeff earning a living off his efforts. In my opinion, jeff is good at what he does and what he does contributes to society.<br><br>Note: you do realize I’m using jeff as an example here, right? We’re all the “jeffs”.<br><br>What jeff must realize is that there is a trade-off point. There is a point he might cross where he is receiving more than his share…more than he can have contributed…and at that point the unfair share is coming from someone who isn’t getting all that they earned. and tomorrow, jeff and that person may find they have traded places. <br><br>No matter how good what jeff is contributing is, there is a point…the point of overpaying jeff…that turns it into an actual detriment. There is a point where Jeff must realize that having the wealth that someone else earned in his pocket, does the opposite of serve his own best interests, because it makes him a target of never-ending attack by those he took from. What does jeff want most? To live in peace and safety and happiness, or to pile up a heap of wealth to use to defend himself from the surely-coming attacks?<br><br>Jeff must be savvy enough to realize that the system which gave one person the earnings of another, must be sanely regulated to bring it back closer to justice IN ORDER FOR HE, HIMSELF, TO HAVE MAXIMUM HAPPINESS. (screw the altruism for its unecessariness. We are talking about sane self-interest here. It’s as simple as you can’t have a safest, happiest life while you deprive the others you live with of theirs.)<br><br>No system that humans create will ever be perfect. Our systems need constant tweaking, as flaws are revealed. Flaws are revealed because humans do not always adhere to their abundant noble qualities, and will always have failures of integrity and character. Any system people can create, people can get around. (if only the ruthless were also inept!) Therefore, giving humans temptation to get billions of times out of the system what they contributed, seems diabolically stupid, does it not? Until we stop dangling the carrot, we cannot expect them to stop going after it.<br><br>In short, when jeff has reached the point of profit from these shirts where he is taking more from society than he is giving to it, then we should by all means tax jeff the difference to bring the system back into alignment with justice….for jeff’s own good.<br><br>We think we are loving a paul mccartney by heaping great wealth upon him. All we are REALLY doing is giving him a sadder and more dangerous society in which to live. We must find another way to adore paul, if we really adore paul.<br><br>Back to the shirts; personally, I don’t wear many shirts with graphics on them (a simple matter of my “tastes”), so I chose the one with just the words. I am always gauging things by my yardstick “how does this help us towards peace and happiness”, and yes, I find it helpful to chuck that little idea into the heads of anyone who might notice the slogan: “what you don’t know can’t hurt them”.<br><br>Awareness is on the rise, if you ask me. that’s a beautiful beast I’ll feed any day.<br><br>The ONE reservation I do have, is that nagging voice that says “we’re over-consumptive as it is. Is this just more of that?”<br><br>So, because of my personal convictions, I’ll wait until I need a shirt, not just want. Then I’ll buy jeff’s.<br> <p></p><i></i>
