I am mortally scared of delusional intellects who root for the good of mankind! The pages of history are soaked with the blood of people who have been slaughtered, maimed and tortured at the altar of the super ego of great people who claimed to be working for the larger interest of mankind. The world today is comparatively civilised place; which is to say that we don’t burn our heretics piecemeal but butcher them en masse using modern technology. Unfortunately, while physical violence still manages to grab international attention, the financial and societal persecution of people in the interest of greater good continues unabated and does not draw much attention. Intellectuals pass off such persecution in the guise of various esoteric ‘isms’ which pervade the globe today. Communism is the first such philosophy which comes to my mind. Let us not overlook the harsh fact that in most instances, pursuit of larger good has made the pursuer rich and powerful while doing precious little for the mankind in the long run.
Such examples are abundant in our daily life also. For example, the teacher who lowers the standard of question paper for the lowest rung of student to pass is guilty of this act too! Recently, I came across an interesting explanation of working for the interest of larger group. The proponent quoted Asimov’s Zeroth Law of Robotics. Now there was a phase in my life when the world was divided in two distinct halves – people who read Asimov and people who did not! People who read Asimov had the capacity for creative and lateral thinking whereas people who did not were plain wimps. For the uninitiated (and I no longer consider non Asimov readers to be wimps) the Zeroth Law was laid down after a particular robot faces the million dollar dilemma – whether to obey the extant law and prevent harm to an individual or to use his positronic brains innovatively and prevent harm to humanity by sacrificing the individual. The Zeroth Law empowers the robot to act for the greater good of humanity. So, the proponent said, if Asimov could propagate the Zeroth law, there obviously is nothing wrong in acting for the greater good of humanity at the expense of a few individuals. I have only one observation – the last time an individual seriously sacrificed himself at the altar of greater good, it was 2010 years ago. And frankly speaking it wasn’t a bad deal – a few days of torture and crucification in exchange for immortality!
Me – I believe in good old fashioned capitalist value sans hypocrisy and the need to hide behind wimpy excuses. If we all work for our individual good, we – by and large- work for collective good also. And I am not eager to donate my hard work and intelligence for the sake of the undeserving indolent.
Nadeem,
I like your writings though I am not sure about your statement which is also oft-quoted by proponents of capitalism and free-society – “If we all work for our individual good, we – by and large- work for collective good also”. In theory, it is arguable at best and in practice we have seen that greed is contagious, shifts focus from needs to wants – bigger houses, more personal goods, more fancy vacations, and on and on it goes – without any abatement of the desire that propels us to seek these things. What we percieve as individual good may or may not be good for the individual; we are imperfect beings in delusion about what is good for us. Quite morbid thoughts, these. Good God! let me stop.
“If we all work for our individual good, we – by and large- work for collective good also”. Am with you all the way in this.
The problem is the definition of ‘good’ is in the hands of the person defining it and hence the paradox!
So much depends on the value system of the society we live in!