Is it normal i don't see why i should care about other people?

I just don't get it. Everyone takes it for granted that we're just supposed to want good things to happen to others and to do what we can to make sure other people get the best they can. It doesn't make any sense. There's no reason I should put any effort into doing something that gets a good result for anyone other than me. Other people have always done everything they could to make my life worse, I don't see why I shouldn't return the favor. And even if they didn't ruin everything, doing good for others provides no benefit to me. That's why I don't like politics. They discuss things like welfare and health care in terms of what's best of the people at large. I don't see why that should even be a factor. It's the silly. It's the type of thing that should only seem to make sense to children, not adults. The only reason I should ever do something good for someone is to gain favor or get something back for it later, and most acts of kindness don't receive any such rewards.

Getting into the habit of helping others only makes you susceptible to being taken advantage of or harmed. You might think you're making friends, but most people will only pretend to like you for as long as it suits them. They'll betray you as soon as doing so gets them something better than what you're giving them. By not copying their ways, you're only hurting yourself. The Farmer and the Viper perfectly explains what happens to those who think kindness is something to be given out freely, but it's not a popular tale because it contains an inconvenient truth that society doesn't want to accept. Life doesn't reward you for what good you do, it only uses it as a springboard to amp up the cruelty and perversity of events. So don't give it the chance.

Another delusion is that doing good things for people is, well, good for people. Not only is kindness illogical, it's not even internally consistent. Kind acts don't make life better, they only redistribute the misery. Give food to a homeless person and you're only giving him the energy he'll use to rob a store or mug someone later. At best, you're taking a chance. Save someone's life, they may go on to kill ten people who would be alive if you hadn't done anything. That that's even a possibility prevents helping other from being a completely good thing, because there's so many possibilities that ultimately you're gambling with other people's lives. That means the motives for kindness are false. So why help people? People are the ones who do everything bad in the first place, and helping them only empowers them to do more of it. They won't be inspired to be better people by your kindness, they'll only use you as a stepping stone. They're animals, and the only way to beat them is to use their own methods. How can egalitarians possibly claim that helping people is in any way right? It's people who have committed every atrocity in the world. It's people who are motivated by an ancient children's fairy tale to wipe out entire nations. It was people who raped and murdered my sister, robbing me of the last person I could ever believe had my best interests at heart. A common line of populist and socialist rhetoric is something along the lines of "we are all united, we are all one people" and so on. Okay, fine. You share a personhood with those people. So you won't mind if I hold you to it and hold you responsible for everything that has happened to me and everything that people have done, since that's the type of thinking that follows from your endorsement of united identity. Your idiotic policies are probably what gave half of them the means to do so in the first place. Once you realize that the real world is every man for himself and thinking otherwise is the definition of foolishness, I'll expect compensation for everything that's been done to me by your singular identity of people. The sooner one accepts that a traditional view of morality is completely backwards from how life actually works, the sooner one can start working toward the benefit of the only person who matters and can be trusted: oneself.

Voting Results
60% Normal
Based on 53 votes (32 yes)
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Comments ( 29 )
  • shade_ilmaendu

    I feel obligated to comment on this, but this mindset bothers me so much I don't even know what to say.

    Native Americans knew where it was at... they didn't have theivery, they didn't have crime. If someone was too poor, the community would pull together to give them what was needed. Mankind has lost it's empathy and without community there is only chaos. You think the world is fucked up now? Well it's fucked up because lots of people think the same way you do, look out for your own skin no matter who you have to step on to get there... whereas if we were all simply good to one another, there would be no problems in the world.

    I've been taken advantage of in the past, so I know what it's like. I'm more cautious now... I will be generous with you but only to a point. If I feel I'm being taken advantage of, I get myself away from that person. I've started to find better circles of people, and am finally seeing a bit of that kindness I passed around being paid back to me. It's quite nice. :x

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  • NeuroNeptunian

    The people that hurt you most likely thought like you as well...

    If your mode of thinking was more common (as it is getting), the world would become a much worse place.

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  • I don't see why you should care about people who don't care about you.

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  • RockerRoseanne

    I understand what you are saying, many people will disagree with you but I don't. To an extent you need to be kind to get by, but the majority of the time I find it to be rather pointless.

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  • "Save someone's life, they may go on to kill ten people who would be alive if you hadn't done anything."

    The guy who escaped Jeff Dahmer and called the cops went up on murder charges recently, what a world.

    But you share the same point of view is as many people. It comes from logical thinking yes, but imagine if it were to come true? If everyone thought like that only the strongest and meanest people would survive the horror that would unfold. If everyone was sociopathic, mankind would become extinct very quickly indeed.

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    • NeuroNeptunian

      I'd like to point out that contrary to what a lot of people believe (that if the world were truly yo keep to the principles of "Survival of the Fittest"), OP would probably not make the cut regarding who lives and who dies.

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      • Exactly, because he'd be killed by someone first.

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        • NeuroNeptunian

          Exactly.

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  • howaminotmyself

    I am happiest when I am surrounded by happy people. If the people I surround myself with are content and feel safe, then I feel the same. If I'm only ever surrounded by jerks, I get grumpy and try to do something about it. It's really quite simple.

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  • fpssource

    I dont give a shit about others too.. when i see ppl die on t.v im like... meh .. 1 in 7billion ...

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    • AbnormallyAwesome

      True or sarcasm?
      Sorry, I can't see your facial expression.

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  • charli.m

    I feel very sad for you if you are serious.

    We help other people for shared benefits. This can be motivated by personal gain, too.

    We help other people because we care about them and their welfare.

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    • malkiot

      We care about how their welfare affects our own, that's all.

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      • charli.m

        That is intrinsic motivation, I believe. But I'm open to correction. I always fuck up when I use complicated terms and my psych classes were aaages ago :)

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  • Because Jesus said so.

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  • malkiot

    You are disillusioned but do not yet see the larger picture. People do not help others for the sole purpose of helping them, they help them to help themselves. The people who posted here are examples of this. They help others so that they themselves will at one point be helped (the good feeling is a biological reward which promotes this as an evolutionary trait).

    Politics looks after the general welfare of all for some rather obvious reasons:
    1. They need votes
    2. Unhappy people rebel (historical evidence)
    3. People with no money lower everyone’s quality of life (if you've ever been to an African country you understand this).
    It'd be a pretty shitty place to live, where someone can simply punch you in the street, or didn't help you if you were injured.

    So helping others as long a s it does not inconvenience you affects your quality of life positively. Altruism on the other hand is self-delusion.

    Egalitarians have it right imo. Objectively all human life has the same value initially, none whatsoever. Subjectively it has differing values (lowest to highest) for the genepool, society, different individuals and yourself.

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  • dappled

    Community exists for the mutual benefit of its members. You put something in and help others out, other people put in and help you out. If you don't want to put anything in, and only want to take others for granted, you may soon find yourself unwelcome in any community you exist in, and invited to leave and fend for yourself. You'd be surprised how much people do to help each other and how much you'd miss it if it was gone.

    There's no major problem with being selfish. Everyone is to some extent. Community itself is selfish and self-preserving. But it's constructive selfishness. You don't have to be Mother Teresa, but you do need to learn to play the game. For your own sake, as much as anyone else's.

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  • I'd still help you if you needed me

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  • thinkingaboutit

    "people have always done everything they could to make my life worse"

    that's your real problem. you think your a victim.

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  • alv1592

    Idk if this is normal or not...most normal humans naturally feel empathy for others, or at least their family, friends, etc. I find it sad if anyone dies before their time no matter who it is. But from reading this site, unfortunately it seems normal to be selfish and uncaring. I won't say anymore, I've already pissed people off here which is why I'm not here as much as I used to be. But I'm not changing my way of thinking.

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    • charli.m

      :( You are appreciated here. I'm sorry you feel like you've pissed people off, I can't imagine how that could happen.

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      • alv1592

        I hope that's not sarcasm, but I've seen your comments here and there and you seem nice. People have accused me of making "arbitrary" statements and don't like me insulting certain celebrities..lol oh well.

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        • charli.m

          Bah no! Not sarcastic at all :(

          People can be odd. Ignore them. Particularly for such silly 'criticisms' - you're allowed your opinion, that's the whole point of IIN!

          I've always liked your comments, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

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  • Moonbow

    There are a lot of people who do not deserve the consideration of others, but if you don't care about people in general, you've got a problem. What are you going to do if you're stranded beside the road somewhere with a winter storm approaching and nobody stops because they're all like you and don't care about others? (And don't even think about saying you'll use your cellphone to call for help because in such situations, all the tow trucks, etc. will be busy elsewhere.) Or what if you trip and fall crossing the street and break your ankle or leg and nobody bothers to help you across? People get out of life what they give and what goes around comes around and I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when it starts "coming around"!

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  • dom180

    Sometimes people do bad things to other people. If you act as if all people will only do bad things to you then you end all possibility that they will do good things for you.

    Just because there are some bad people in the world, does not make every person in the world bad, and treating everyone with suspicion will not make them likely to treat you well.

    You say that saving a person's life might lead to more suffering because they might hurt people later. Well, no shit. But the chances of saving someone's life and then that person becoming a murderer or something are too low to even consider them when forming a logical opinion. My best guess is that that would happen one time in a thousand at the most. Much more likely is that if you help someone who needs help they won't stab you in the back, because hurting someone who helped you removes a likely future source of help. It's illogical, and only works logically if you refuse to think beyond the present. If we took the same line as you we might as well kill everybody to prevent the tiny chance that they might become a serial killer or a rapist or a tyrant.

    Most people will say you're being too cold and logical. I disagree with them. I think you have terribly flawed logic. You, as a suspicious and untrusting person, are part of the problem of the cruelty of the world.

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  • scary12

    Most things have good and bad consequences. You put forth a lot of good arguments about how doing good will just lead to bad consequences for yourself. However, with the points you made, it can also go the other way and it can lead to good consequences for yourself.

    Here is one good reason why as a society people should hold that it is best to do good for others: The golden rue...Treat others the way you would like to be treated.

    Imagine your in a car accident, and your totally squished, in pain, all your bones are broken, you can't move, and at any moment your car can just catch on fire and you can burn alive. In this situation would you like someone to save you? I sure you would. That is why we treat others the way we would like to be treated. We teach society to do this so that, in situations like this, others will help you the way they would want to be helped if they were in your situation. If people are taught to treat others the way they would like to be treated and follow this rule it benefits society, and the survival of our species.

    There is another reason why people should do good which is the guilty conscious. If you are human you have a guilty conscious (unless you have mental problems) and doing wrong will lead to feelings of guilt and remorse. If you do evil to a person, you are doing harm to yourself, because you will feel guilty about your evil doing. The act my have been beneficial to you in the moment, but in the long run it will be harmful to you because you will feel guilty.

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  • whats left without it

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  • commoner

    you shouldn't care about other people...

    nobdy cares about you..

    people just talk crap...they do not care....

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  • NothingSpecial

    If you think this theory is abnormal then you probably have never heard of Ayn Rand or objectivism. More people believe this theory than you think.

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