Toby, since you didn’t answer my question, I will guess that you do not have any children and do not plan to have any children.
So then the question comes: Who will tend to the needs of the children and grandchildren of the impoverished folks you are helping now? If history is any guide, the folks you are helping will have a lot of descendants and they will all be very needy.
Even if you are having children, it is likely that your descendants will be far fewer in number than the descendents of the poor folks you are helping.
So respectfully, it seems to me you are being selfish by helping to create problems in the future which other peoples’ children will be forced to help address. All so you can feel good about yourself by reducing your cognitive dissonance.
One like the above is “I was only trying to make you think”. Two others that would need separate discussion are “political correctness”, and “I am not someone who is in thrall to the prevailing reality distortion field”.
Now I’m curious why you’re against the phrase “political correctness”, which I like. As Paul Graham put it,
You can attack labels with meta-labels: labels that refer to the use of labels to prevent discussion. The spread of the term “political correctness” meant the beginning of the end of political correctness, because it enabled one to attack the phenomenon as a whole without being accused of any of the specific heresies it sought to suppress.
Toby, I am curious: How many children do you have or plan to have?
Couldn’t one argue that the expense of having a child in the West is like buying 100,000 Starbuck’s lattes?
Toby, since you didn’t answer my question, I will guess that you do not have any children and do not plan to have any children.
So then the question comes: Who will tend to the needs of the children and grandchildren of the impoverished folks you are helping now? If history is any guide, the folks you are helping will have a lot of descendants and they will all be very needy.
Even if you are having children, it is likely that your descendants will be far fewer in number than the descendents of the poor folks you are helping.
So respectfully, it seems to me you are being selfish by helping to create problems in the future which other peoples’ children will be forced to help address. All so you can feel good about yourself by reducing your cognitive dissonance.
JMHO
Enter the esoteric doctrine.
Economic development tends to decrease population growth.
Well how exactly would you use outside money to stimulate economic development in places like Liberia, Zambia, Nigeria, or Mali?
I am compiling a list of phrases never to use; that’s one of them.
I would love to know what else is on your list.
One like the above is “I was only trying to make you think”. Two others that would need separate discussion are “political correctness”, and “I am not someone who is in thrall to the prevailing reality distortion field”.
Now I’m curious why you’re against the phrase “political correctness”, which I like. As Paul Graham put it,
Going up to the meta-level is often itself a way of preventing discussion.
That one might need a post of its own...
If you ever feel like making it, I’d be interested. Short summary?