Can society thrive without taking advantage of someone?

1. 68

   A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years ago

   Why is that we thrive on taking advantage of other people, and in the worst way? From sex trafficking, to "subliminal messages" causing people to further themselves into debt via shopping, to "peer pressure," rape, the whole lot of it. Why do we get our jollies from people being taken advantage of somehow. Have we as human beings on a large scale stopped caring about other human beings? Isn't anyone ready to turn this world around so that it can be better for everyone?
   
   I think the simple statement "treat people as you would want them to treat you, if not better" applies here.
   
   We are so disconnected, I can't wrap my head around it.

   replyreport
   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You have just given the perfect description of how nature works, i.e., kill and steal to survive. Our species keeps trying to find a way around this, but we still haven't figured out how to completely circumvent this yet. Not our fault; we were handed this crap reality; we weren't the ones that created it.

      replyreport
      1. 68

         A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It's not impossible!

         replyreport
   2. 82

      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Many people are programmed to adopt a strictly survival consciousness of either me or you.   There is hardly any we consciousness.  Because of this survival consciousness, there are some people who are willing to do insidious things to each other in name of success.   
      
      In addition to that, people have been indoctrinated that there is only limited pieces of the pie.  According to that premise, many people are competing for a limited amount of goods whatever those goods are tangible or intangible.  So in order to obtain what is considered to be the best goods, some people view nothing no egregious nor too outlandish to obtain their said goal.   In other words, no matter what means should be employed, the end goal is that sweet success. 
      
      However, there are a few evolved people who believe that all of humanity is one.   They further portend that no one is better than another regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, class, and/or other related factors.   They assert that what occurs to one person or a group of people eventually affect all of humanity for good or ill.   Sadly, these people are in the distinct minority.

      replyreport
   3. 80

      Jason Marovichposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Desperation is usually what leads men to do the things you talk about in the OP.  I imagine you know as well as I do that men come to decision in their lives to break all the rules of nature and commit heinous crimes.  We like to blame others for their downfall, but the truth is, there is good and evil in all of us, even in teenage boys.  Some of us are unable to resist the pleasure that evil deeds bring.
      
      The only way to break this bondage is through youth education.  But it must come in a stable environment.

      replyreport
   4. 71

      rhamsonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When you live in a society that is capitalist in nature then you have those who would profit from just about anything.  America was founded as a continent that was to be exploited by first Spain and then England.  More labor was needed to run the plantations so in the climate of capitalism, the African slaves were imported to do the necessary labor for the profit of others.  This recent shift to Chinese labor is merely proof that we never got past the exploitation of others for our own gain.

      replyreport
2. 61

   John Holdenposted 12 years ago

   As far as I'm aware, I take advantage of nobody.

   replyreport
   1. 68

      A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think that may be the largest problem of all. Lack of an awareness of it.
      
      I watch porn. Or at least I did. Until I realized that a small percentage of the people participating actually want to. I'm all for being in touch with our more sensual nature, but at what cost and to whose benefit? If I know that sex trafficking is booming due to the current worldwide infatuation with pornography, can I continue to promote the websites and such that promote it until it is better regulated and sex trafficking nearly non-existent? I don't believe it's impossible.
      
      If I'm aware, honest, and care about other people and their physical, emotional, etc. well being, I will do, or stop doing, something that brings them serious harm. It is a lack of awareness, and if not, then a lack of caring that causes things to proceed.
      
      Awareness. Maybe that's what I need to spread. And caring. What if that was someone, whoever it is that's most special to you? Would you do nothing? Would you continue to use them so maliciously?

      replyreport
      1. 61

         John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think that my awareness is particularly lacking and I have never, ever used anybody maliciously!

         replyreport
         1. 68

            A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I wasn't saying you in particular. Sorry if you feel I've offended you. But awareness is still a major problem, which was really my point.

            replyreport
            1. 61

               John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               OK, accepted, but you must admit that the criticism was rather pointed.

               replyreport
               1. 68

                  A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  It seems that way, but as I don't even know you, I promise it wasn't. I should've added "you in general" at some point.

                  replyreport
3. 59

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   If one thinks they deserve more, for an infinite number of reasons, then someone else obviously deserves less for an equal number of reasons.

   replyreport
4. 59

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   Nature does not kill for profit.

   replyreport
   1. 61

      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is pretty much the only thing nature kills for!!! The profit of food! The profit of sex! The profit of remaining alive!

      replyreport
5. 77

   omo daddyposted 12 years ago

   Nature kills for profit. Animals depend on plants and lower animals for survival. In the same vein man takes advantage of the weaker ones in his society. From slave trade to brutal killings. Man's inhumanity to man is as old as time. Remember Cain and Abel?

   replyreport
6. 62

   prettydarkhorseposted 12 years ago

   It is impossible because others are greedy. Remember that society is composed of people. Governments are just structure and also they are composed of people. In every society and every time in our history some people emerged as more powerful by virtue of status, wealth because of the prevailing economic structure.

   replyreport
7. 63

   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   It's not in the nature of human beings who are beyond jungle-style thinking/living to take advantage of anyone else.  The world is full of people who are well beyond jungle-style living/thinking and who operate from a higher form of thinking.
   
   Society doesn't "thrive on" taking advantage of others.  It is damaged by it.  There's a difference between "taking advantage of" and a "win/win" situation (which is what business can thrive on).  Outside of the business setting, much of the rest of that stuff mentioned is essentially violence against others.  That stuff can lead not only to damaging/destroying the victim(s), but sometimes to their damage being passed on to others.
   
   Some people are more beyond evolutionary hard-wiring than others - no doubt about that.  Those aren't sufficiently beyond it, though, are those who "could use some improvement".  They aren't what is "how everyone is".  They're how "only some people are".  Maturity, emotional whole-ness (or at least "mostly wholeness"), and a normal amount of conscience, empathy, compassion and respect for others are the things that make most people beyond all but the most basic remnants of evolutionary hard-wiring.  Some "taking advantage" (at least the non-violent kind) can be the appearance of taking advantage when it really isn't that at all.  Or, it can be a matter of someone's not really it amounts to taking advantage, often because the person just hasn't thought it out well enough.  So, between the people who don't take advantage at all (if they can help it), those who seem to be but don't mean to, and those who do but wouldn't if they'd thought things out better - I don't really think the "human nature/society picture" is as bleak as a lot of people think it is.
   
   I think the biggest problems are that people are often too insecure to stay off "bandwagons", that people are often too timid to speak up and risk the opinion others have of them, that people are too often too "lazy" not to do what they want to do because it would mean inconvenience for them and/or not being able to do what they really want to do; and that a lot of people don't see things within the context of the larger picture (which involves others, the world, the future, etc.), rather than just their own, immediate, small picture.

   replyreport
8. 56

   Dame Scribeposted 12 years ago

   We can't forget, some people enjoy that 'predatory' state of mind for them, it's like an addiction. It's their 'high'. Some of us may recognize it for what it is and avoid them, maybe say nothing at all ('bystander' effect). They don't like being 'interfered' or 'interrupted' while in their 'high'. Weird? yes, strange? yes, odd? yes. Stopped? depends if they want help or not.

   replyreport
9. 61

   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   A theory..
   
   In school, from kindergarten through most of high school, it is the mentally and physically strong that prosper. In other words, it's the environment of our schools that teaches us that the laws of nature are the laws of man. Fix our schools, and you fix our society.

   replyreport
   1. 68

      A Thousand Wordsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting.

      replyreport
10. 52

    ChenardRobinsonposted 12 years ago

    Society doesn't thrive because no one in the world is thriving everyone is surviving. If the world was thriving then everyone would have food power and proper care and education. If we were thriving no one would have to pay for anything or work for anything or anyone. So first you have to realize what thriving means.

    replyreport