FirstBorn
April 13, 2007, 09:05 AM
My fav author - Scott Adams - put forth a fantastic philosophical question on his blog:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/04/the_butlers_dil.html
In essence - the question is: Was Robin Hood a good guy - to rob the rich and help the poor?
What do you think?
Would you steal if you knew you wouldn't get caught - and could in return help a 1000 people survive?
Definition of Stealing:
To take and carry away, feloniously; to take without right
or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to steal
the personal goods of another.
Hi Ankesh,
Thanks for such a GREAT Question.
A Thief is a Theif.
ANYONE that STEALS from someone else, no matter the INTENTION, infringes on another person's well being, and, in My opinion, is making the WRONG choice.
So, Robin Hood was a 'Bad Guy' no matter HOW you look at it.
Of course, the liberal media makes him out to be a hero because
that is what they WANT the US to do to those that do well.
Punishing those that have more just because they have more does not make it right to take from them to 'redistribute the wealth.'
This is called Socialism:
A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
equitable distribution of property and labor.
Just My take.
(definitions above profided by: http://dict.die.net/)
I would enjoy seeing Michael Ross' response to this because it would be more clear than my explanations above (but I'm sure that I would agree.)
Two Stories will follow:
The Ant and the Grasshopper
***********************************
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Tom Daschle &John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.
The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
***********************************
College Student:
***********************************
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Republican. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs.
He stopped her and asked her, "How are you doing in school?"
She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and ever had time to go out and party. She didn't have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because she was spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else.
He asked, "How is your friend Mary?"
She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn't have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn't want to work. Why, she often didn't show up for classes because she was hung over.
Dad then asked his daughter why she didn't go to the Dean's office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she'd earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke.
The daughter angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I've worked for?"
The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party".
**********************************
Hope that You Enjoyed!
Christopher
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/04/the_butlers_dil.html
In essence - the question is: Was Robin Hood a good guy - to rob the rich and help the poor?
What do you think?
Would you steal if you knew you wouldn't get caught - and could in return help a 1000 people survive?
Definition of Stealing:
To take and carry away, feloniously; to take without right
or leave, and with intent to keep wrongfully; as, to steal
the personal goods of another.
Hi Ankesh,
Thanks for such a GREAT Question.
A Thief is a Theif.
ANYONE that STEALS from someone else, no matter the INTENTION, infringes on another person's well being, and, in My opinion, is making the WRONG choice.
So, Robin Hood was a 'Bad Guy' no matter HOW you look at it.
Of course, the liberal media makes him out to be a hero because
that is what they WANT the US to do to those that do well.
Punishing those that have more just because they have more does not make it right to take from them to 'redistribute the wealth.'
This is called Socialism:
A theory or system of social reform which contemplates a
complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and
equitable distribution of property and labor.
Just My take.
(definitions above profided by: http://dict.die.net/)
I would enjoy seeing Michael Ross' response to this because it would be more clear than my explanations above (but I'm sure that I would agree.)
Two Stories will follow:
The Ant and the Grasshopper
***********************************
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Tom Daschle &John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.
The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
***********************************
College Student:
***********************************
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Republican. One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs.
He stopped her and asked her, "How are you doing in school?"
She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and ever had time to go out and party. She didn't have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because she was spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else.
He asked, "How is your friend Mary?"
She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn't have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn't want to work. Why, she often didn't show up for classes because she was hung over.
Dad then asked his daughter why she didn't go to the Dean's office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she'd earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke.
The daughter angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I've worked for?"
The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party".
**********************************
Hope that You Enjoyed!
Christopher
