The Corruption Of Understanding Caused By Selfishness
by Philip Atkinson (May 2008)
Without an unselfish moral code the selfish are unable to:
Determine right from wrong: for they can only know what they like or dislike. This means the dependent notions of justice and duty, are also lost by the adoption of selfishness. A crime the selfish dissemble by the pretence that the community should have a "Value Neutral" attitude; claiming that there are always shades of gray, so to pass a firm judgment is to fail to realise the existence of valid opposing points of view. This argument is irrational as understanding is the application of a set of values, which is an act of judgment. When the selfish call for "understanding", that is the very thing they wish to avoid. Value Neutral is a plea not to understand, for otherwise the selfish would stand condemned.
Separate Fact From Fancy: for they have no way of avoiding the prejudice of their emotions, which perverts their judgment. Hence:
When the year changed from 1999 to 2000 the community ignored arithmetic and celebrated the 1st of January 2000 as the first day of the 21st century: the next millennium. Whereas the first day of the 21st century was 1st of January 2001, the actual date of the start of the third millennium.
When our community is faced with alarmist claims about Global Warming and the AIDS plague, selfish citizens cannot resist their fear, but disregard the evidence and err.
These failure reveal the selfish are enemies of truth and incompetent: unable to solve problems.
The Extinction Of Genius
As Edward Gibbon noted in his History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, the decline of Rome was accompanied by a growth of immorality and the extinction of genius, for the inevitable result of immorality is the collapse of understanding.