Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 1114624" data-attributes="member: 10201">Ok, here are two worldviews:A: we must help those who sufferB: every person is responsible for their own fateWhich one is "good", and which "evil"?Now, let's take those a bit further, and postulate some behaviors:A: the State should provide support for those who cannot support themselves; to do otherwise would be mercilessB: the State should let natural forces (market, social, and otherwise) determine how people live; to do otherwise would be unfair to those who have managed to guide their fate wellNow which one is good?Finally, i'll add some consequences:A: while it is true no one is miserable, no one is well-off, either, because the redistribution of resources leaves everyone just barely getting by, with none having truly good health or sufficient food--no one has the resources to help any one else, reallyB: by letting a few live in squalor, the vast majority lead existences of good health and sufficient food, and a few live comfortable lives with more than sufficient food and resources--and some of them, in turn, use their resources to help the very poorSo, which is evil: causing all to suffer equally, but sligthly, or allowing a few to suffer greatly so that the rest may suffer not at all?[n.b.: this is not a parable of modern society--i've vastly oversimplified things to make a point.]Evil is not so easily diagnosed, nor is Good.  And those who believe that Evil can be identified--or, more dangerously, that they are Good--are the cause of much of the ills of the modern world.</blockquote>

Verification