Should you help people?

[Skeleon]

The first rule of helping is not to endanger yourself.

A guy lies twitching in a puddle of water?
Then you don't go there before making sure there's no electricity running through it.

 

[antipunt]

No. I see things clearly, unlike you, who views the world through the veil of idealism.

You can't make the world a better place because humans are evil.

Max, I support your post for a particular reason. Yes, I like helping people. In Fallout3, I had Jesus-like Karma (and I roleplay in these kind of games). But at the same time, I don't think it is anyone's 'duty'. Unaffected by idealism, I am utterly and completely aware that my love of helping others is directly linked to the sense of satisfaction I receive when praised afterward. Don't get me wrong..it's not that I help others BECAUSE I want to get praised. It's just that, I am aware of my evolutionary programming, and how this all 'works'.

Thus, I never really say it's anyone's 'duty' to be 'helpful'. Everyone is programmed differently...we are -all- inherently selfish...and we all try to maximize our gains in 'different ways'

 

[barryween]

Help people when it is not directly and blatantly lethal to your person. Unless, you know, you WANT to die being a hero.

/thread That is what I think too.

 

[antipunt]

-My answer to this thread by the way-

'Should' you: no.
Should you in terms of the PC-societal view: yes.

Do I hope you will: yes.
Will most people: probably not.

 

[nicholaxxx]

Only if they are pregnant, a child, a friend of mine, or my family. Other than that, how do I know they DON'T deserve what's happening to them?

How do you know the people you listed didn't do something to deserve it?
Being pregnant or a child doesn't magically endow you with supernatural kindness.

following the same basic principles of hunting:
if it's pregnent, let it live
if it's its pregnent and in suffering, end its suffering
although, having said that, if they are under age and pregnent, thats a whole other story

children are our future (corny, eh?), every time we lose a child, we lose a (possible) contributor to society, who knows, maybe they will be the one to cure cancer?

if one of my friends DESERVES to die, then they wouldn't be my friend in the first place

and i don't think i need to elaborate on my family.

 

[Internet Kraken]

A man fell to his death while attempting to aid the occupants of an overturned car. They only suffered minor injuries.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31610587/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

That's just......sad. Such a depressing death.

Yes, we should all help each other. Why? Because when you end up in accident, you're going to wish that other people would stop and help you. Sadly, I would probably be one of those people who would just drive by.

 

[A random person]

Yes, helping people is fundamentally good (if you don't fuck it up, that is), unless you're helping someone to hurt someone, and sufficient good doesn't come from hurting said someone.

 

[Smiles]

When I was in my own horrible car accident, with my car teetering on the edge of a cliff, I couldn't help but wonder why those drivers would just drive by. I was waving my one good arm out of the broken window for help, and they just kept on driving... Why didn't they stop to help me? my brother almost died... I lost my faith in humanity after that...

 

[Calobi]

You can't make the world a better place because humans are evil.

I doubt that. Humans may be a lot of things, but evil probably isn't one of them. True evil takes work and independent thoughts, two things most people don't have. Now, lazy and indifferent to others, yea. I'd agree with that.

 

[Kikosemmek]

I think you're taking the wrong lesson from this article. The question isn't whether or not one should help others, but whether or not one should conduct some reconnaissance before treading on dangerous ground. The man didn't die because he wanted to help people. He died because he didn't notice the sudden lack of surface. Now, if there had been an arrangement that made him choose between his own life and the lives of the others, then you could say he made a sacrifice. He made no such choice however.

I fail to see the relevance of the question "should you help people." Not opportunity to show some altruism is exactly like the others. Decisions will ultimately vary on one's character. What ultimate wisdom could we be getting at?

 

[antipunt]

But the problem with that is this:
Is the inherent goodness of the act negated because of the reasons behind it?
A similar argument is: If you perform an "evil" act for a good reason, such as murdering someone to save lives, are you actually doing evil?

I remember entire philosophy courses dedicated to these matters. So in short: I have no fracking idea sir.

Well, actually, my piece is essentially: good and evil are highly subjective. Kind of a cop out answer, but eh, still true =]

 

[Rand-m]

The chances of this happening are so slim, it has no weight over changing a person's nature. Helping people goooood.

 

[nicholaxxx]

Max, I support your post for a particular reason. Yes, I like helping people. In Fallout3, I had Jesus-like Karma (and I roleplay in these kind of games). But at the same time, I don't think it is anyone's 'duty'. Unaffected by idealism, I am utterly and completely aware that my love of helping others is directly linked to the sense of satisfaction I receive when praised afterward. Don't get me wrong..it's not that I help others BECAUSE I want to get praised. It's just that, I am aware of my evolutionary programming, and how this all 'works'.

Thus, I never really say it's anyone's 'duty' to be 'helpful'. Everyone is programmed differently...we are -all- inherently selfish...and we all try to maximize our gains in 'different ways'

Exactly. People often help others for completely selfish reasons - it makes them feel good.
But the problem with that is this:
Is the inherent goodness of the act negated because of the reasons behind it?
A similar argument is: If you perform an "evil" act for a good reason, such as murdering someone to save lives, are you actually doing evil?

following the same basic principles of hunting:

although, having said that, if they are under age and pregnent, thats a whole other story

children are our future (corny, eh?), every time we lose a child, we lose a (possible) contributor to society, who knows, maybe they will be the one to cure cancer?

if one of my friends DESERVES to die, then they wouldn't be my friend in the first place

and i don't think i need to elaborate on my family.

Why is it a whole other story?

Fair enough, but every time a child dies, we also rid the world of one potential Hitler.

Fair enough.

Why? If a family member deserves to die, they're not your family anymore?

What I'm saying is, if they deserved to be in that situation, they wouldn't have been my friend prior to the accident.

it's a whole other story because if they are underage, then they are 'those' kind of people, you know, the one's who shouldn't have been breeding in the first place, the ones who stay up all night partying, drinking, getting high and laid, the ones who eventually become dead beats, the ones who raise your aforementioned potential Hitlers.

 

[Calobi]

following the same basic principles of hunting:

although, having said that, if they are under age and pregnent, thats a whole other story

children are our future (corny, eh?), every time we lose a child, we lose a (possible) contributor to society, who knows, maybe they will be the one to cure cancer?

if one of my friends DESERVES to die, then they wouldn't be my friend in the first place

and i don't think i need to elaborate on my family.

Why is it a whole other story?

Fair enough, but every time a child dies, we also rid the world of one potential Hitler.

Fair enough.

Why? If a family member deserves to die, they're not your family anymore?

What I'm saying is, if they deserved to be in that situation, they wouldn't have been my friend prior to the accident.

it's a whole other story because if they are underage, then they are 'those' kind of people, you know, the one's who shouldn't have been breeding in the first place, the ones who stay up all night partying, drinking, getting high and laid, the ones who eventually become dead beats, the ones who raise your aforementioned potential Hitlers.

What about rape victims? Do they fall into your category of "those people"? What if they chose to keep the child? Or what if the parents decide to keep the child and eventually turn out perfectly fine? I have several friends like that. Not everything is so nice as to be pigeon-holed as you seem to be doing.

And on the friend front, do people not deserve a second chance? Maybe someone you know made a mistake earlier in their life and now you would condemn them for it.

 

[Darkrain11]

A man fell to his death while attempting to aid the occupants of an overturned car. They only suffered minor injuries.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31610587/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

How unfortunate and all too common in today's society, the person trying to do a good thing usually gets the shaft. Although in this case it was from being dam unobservant on the man's part.

You should definitely help people when it does not endanger your life. I'm not going to rush into a store being held up by 3 gunmen to try and save the day but I would rush to the aid of a man being mugged in an ally provided the mugger(s) did not have weapons.