• CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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    7 days ago

    Your neighbor’s house is on fire, do you:

    • Call the firefighters, maybe try and help yourself, provide comfort and shelter until they can figure out what’s next.
    • Call in a complaint about the smoke.
    • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      In our age, a depressing number of people would choose option 2. We as a society are getting more & more selfish each year.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 days ago

        I don’t know about that. People have been saying similar things since Socrates, but normality has always continued.

        The new American foreign policy, though, clearly is that selfish.

        • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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          6 days ago

          Normality may have always continued but it constantly changes. What was normal back in ancient Greece is not what is normal today. I think it was Camus who said that the word “normal” should always be used with quotation marks. That being said, regardless of where you are in history, human nature has remained a constant.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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            6 days ago

            Interesting. I do see that done sometimes, but I always feel like it’s denying the existence of abnormal, which is not helpful when you’re it and you know.

            That’s all true. And a simple corollary is that modern people, including your favourite ones, would do all the messed up shit from history if it was culturally condoned.

            • DriftingLynx@lemmy.ca
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              5 days ago

              You’re half right, but it’s the concept of “normal” that even makes “abnormal” a thing. If you stop believing in “normal” we’re all just people and no one is abnormal cause we’re all just ourselves.

              It’s actually freeing in my opinion. “Normal” is mostly used as a cudgel to exclude those deemed “abnormal”.

              • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                4 days ago

                Nah, the cudgel is when you get actively, materially excluded from things and opportunities because people don’t get you. I get the intention, but reframing it that way makes me feel erased, not better.