An idea that has been made popular especially in the New Age movement is that   
   everyone is responsible for everything that happens to them, and that nobody   
   can either help or hurt anyone else. I find this idea to be morally wrong as   
   well as factually    
   wrong.   
      
   I do not “whine” about my life; my life has been an enviable one, and I   
   know it. Instead I place credit where credit is due. I had a wonderful mother,   
   excellent teachers, and the influence of all kinds of good people. Similarly   
   the New Agers have    
   also had the influence of all kinds of good people – the teachers who   
   educated them, the police and the military that protect them, the scientists   
   whose work is at the root of most of business sells, and both the businessmen   
   and the laborers who have    
   produced their prosperity. People have all sorts of effect on all sorts of   
   other people, both for good and for ill, and denying this is not   
   responsibility, it is blindness.   
      
   Is responsibility a virtue? Of course it is. But externalization of costs and   
   misplacement of credit is not. When the Texas Oil poisons the oceans and the   
   air, or when the Brazilian farmers burn down Amazonian rainforest, all sorts   
   of people and all    
   sorts of conscious life suffer or die. It is not the fault of those who die;   
   it is the fault of Texas Oil and Brazilian farmers. The claim that everyone is   
   responsible for everything that happens to them enables these people in the   
   crimes that they    
   commit, and the material and political success that they achieve through   
   wrongful methods gets rewarded under the false claim that it is their   
   responsibility.   
      
   True responsibility presupposes knowledge. Without knowledge people do things   
   that they regard as being responsible but are not. They drive Hummers. They   
   poison the oceans and the air. They destroy countless treasures that they   
   cannot conceivably    
   recreate. They beat up on the “nerds” and the “sluts.” They credit   
   themselves for their temporary prosperity while denying the role that science,   
   education, and government infrastructure and government protection of property   
   rights has had in    
   making it possible. None of these actions are remotely responsible.   
      
   A family member of mine had a sign on her fridge that said, “You are   
   responsible for everything you are. That is not the truth; it is a place to   
   start.” If something is not the truth, then it is definitely not the place   
   to start. Anything that is not    
   based on the truth is going to come crashing down. This is likewise in no way   
   a responsible behavior. It is a behavior that creates false starts that work   
   for a while, then turn into a turkey.   
      
   Nor is talking about social issues “whining” or “blaming” or anything   
   of the sort. The first step toward solving a problem is articulating it. Real   
   solutions do not come from acting like a grade-school coach; they come from   
   real insight and real    
   understanding of the issues involved.   
      
   In “Goodbye Lenin,” a person from West Germany was telling a person from   
   East Germany that his mother was a whiner because she was talking about social   
   issues. His response was that she was not whining; she was offering   
   constructive criticisms that    
   people could use in order to improve. I do the exact same thing, and I am   
   continuing to do so with all sorts of places every day. That likewise is not   
   “whining” or “blaming.” That is actual responsibility.   
      
   This, then, becomes the actual place of the intellectual. America has a long   
   history of hating intellectuals; but it owes its nationhood to ones. Without   
   them damn intellectuals like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin, most Americans   
   would be serfs under    
   one or another European monarchy, and they would be taking responsibility for   
   a life of tilling a two-acre plot of land, living till age of 30, and having   
   their sons drafted into the military and their daughters into domestic   
   servitude.   
      
   Instead this attitude fails to place credit where credit is legitimately due.   
   These people owe greatly to scientists, teachers, the military, the police,   
   business, labor and many others; and they take credit for a privileged   
   position that is owed, not to    
   them, but to many others besides them. Many of them had a role in getting to   
   where they are, but they do not begin to deserve the full credit for it. Much   
   of it is owed to many other people besides them. And in claiming that nobody   
   can either help or    
   hurt another, they are failing to credit all sorts of people to whom they owe   
   what they have.   
      
   The baby boomers started out wanting to change the world. Then they were met   
   with a greater force; at which point they went totally into themselves and   
   created a religion of self. For this they are hated by many, especially   
   Generation X and any number of    
   people in my generation. Some of them did in fact become effective people, and   
   they do deserve credit for that. But their parents were likewise effective,   
   and they believed in no such thing; and their reputation has been far better.   
      
   Once again, I do not “whine” about my life. My life has been a privileged   
   one. I do not credit for this my “consciousness” or anything of the sort;   
   I credit for this the influences that I have had. I have had both successes   
   and failures, both for    
   all sorts of reasons of which I am well aware. At this point my concern is   
   neither my happiness nor my freedom nor my peace of mind. At this point my   
   concern is leaving a better world for our children than we have found it.   
      
   Which, in fact, demands a far greater amount of responsibility than does   
   merely seeking one's freedom or peace of mind.   
      
   If all you care about is your freedom or peace of mind, then do by all means   
   take the advice of the New Agers. But I have other concerns. I do not want my   
   daughter to grow up in a toxic hell or to be prey of Muslim or right-wing   
   cultures that want to    
   treat her as a punching bag. Nor do I want to see her being maliciously   
   attacked by Third Wave feminists for being pretty and kind and unwilling to   
   practice their vicious party line. You may get a better degree of personal   
   freedom and peace of mind by    
   not putting yourself in harm's way; but sometimes it's necessary to put   
   oneself in harm's way to protect what one loves. I am not “whining” about   
   this; I am taking responsibility for correcting wrongs and addressing social   
   issues.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)