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Comment by webXL | Hacker News Reader

> but is it really necessary to shout it from the rooftops?

Pot calling the kettle black? And I'm not so sure commenting on HN is the rooftops.

What you identify as greed and selfishness, I identify as prudence. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring and acting like it would not only improve my life, but those around me as well. I can make life for family and friends better by preparing for the worst.

> Some people work for the government to make the world a better place...

Some believe they are making the world a better place even at Facebook, but "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Group-think that occurs in any large organization is dangerous, and that's why we shouldn't assign hard problems and our security to groups susceptible to group-think. Look out for yourself or your group, because ultimately everyone else is.

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> I can make life for family and friends better

You realize that that is also selfish, right? Why are your family and friends more important than anyone else's? I understand that many people these days don't feel any need to care about the larger world around them, but I do not understand why they need to be so brash and proud of it.

Tell me why are random strangers just as important as my family and friends? Yours, too?

The onus shouldn't be on me to prove to you why I want to favor my network or ensure their security with my own hard-earned resources. It's on you.

> Tell me why are random strangers just as important as my family and friends? Yours, too?

Because if you think you are more an important that the greater world around you, you become a liability to the rest of the world. The rest of us now need to protect ourselves from you because you have no regard for our well being. You are a burden. I realize you were not raised properly and much of that is not your fault, so I do not blame you. I only feel sorry for the world that now has to deal with you.

I never said I think I'm more important, but even if I did, how does that make me have no regard for your well being?

If I'm taller than my dog, does that mean my dog has no height?

Look, I'm not saying society should value me more than someone else. I'm saying I value myself and my loved ones more than some random person. Your ideals may tell you that you value all living things equally and that "greater world" follows suit, but you don't have to read too much to know that you're fooling yourself.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – Animal Farm

I don't get how people can down vote my defense of free market wages and doing something in the best interest of one's family. This is not greed, downvoters; it's a recognition and appreciation for scarce resources and getting paid to fulfill some need in the marketplace. The government as a monopoly, cannot allocate resources as efficiently as made apparent by the soaring prices in health costs of which well more than half is directly paid by government programs, and this rollout of Obamacare.

It's pretty typical - and accepted - to care about one's own self, family, and friends more than random strangers simply because you have more information about what will make your self, family, and friends happy than what will make random strangers happy. If you want to make the greatest positive impact possible on the world, focus your efforts on where you have the most information, so that you don't accidentally make things worse out of ignorance.

That's not to say that you can't also care about the world. But it's both illogical and immoral to ignore the good you can do right in front of you, for the abstract notion of good that you might do for the world.

I completely agree with that. I do not mean you should ignore those close to you, but instead meant that they should not be used as an excuse to have a negative impact on the world outside of that inner circle. Thank you for explaining that better than I was able to.

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