Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Selfish Shellfish

So, I was talking to Meghan at this awesome Tea Shop that has an overwhelming amount of tea options. Great story huh? No! Sorry. But we got on the topic of being selfish and it led to a deep analyzing of what selfish means. The overall verdict is that everyone is selfish. No one is completely selfless. That seems like a good end to the conversation, but it doesn't end there. There are two kinds of selfishness, good and bad, positive and negative, light and dark, good and evil, and last but not least, up and down. Wait, up and down, never mind that one.
(The following is very string of thought and relies on vague definitions of selfish, so if you don't agree or whatever, don't blame me. I just like finding and getting into confusing conversations that I don't necessarily agree with. Sorry in advance)
Anyways, going off of the idea that everyone is selfish, it's not that simple. You can be selfish in a good way and in a bad way. Good selfish is when no one gets very hurt or offended by the selfish action. If I buy a camera for myself. The money could go to so many other things, like college or charity, but I spend it on a camera. The gain to me is greater than the gain to others and I still bought it. So it is selfish, but not really that bad is it? It's hard to describe good selfish, really. But if we take the opinion that any action is dictated selfish or not, most actions turn out to be selfish. It's a extremely vague definition, but bear with me. Bad selfish would be if I was using someone to get what I want, and the other person is not aware of my intentions and will get hurt by the results, and I know this. Wow, good examples are hard to come by. I guess I should've expected that, but yeah.
There are somethings that are hard to classify and really depend on the person. But one extreme example I like toying with is relationships. If you take the definition of selfish as taking an action on something you want for your personal gain, all relationships start out of selfishness. Boy likes girl, boy asks girl out, boy is selfish. It makes everyone that has asked someone out guilty. But then all the people who sit by and don't take action on anything are not selfish. But what if they would be happier in the relationship. If being selfish results in personal gain in the way of being happier, is it so bad? And so is being selfish really bad in any way? Well, sure. But I think people see being selfish as a bad thing, and we avoid practicing it. But we are all selfish. So we make a natural behavior into a sin and give it negativity. I dunno, it just doesn't seem healthy. So I practice the guide of cartman: "whatever, whatever, I do what I want." Because life is short and all that talk about enjoying it while it lasts.

2 comments:

  1. At least to me, selfishness has a negative connotation to it.

    Self interest, at least superficially doesn't. Now, if you only look out for your self interest at the expense of others, then you're being harmful. Arguably, by your definition, event the most basic example, eating in order to survive, is selfish. Presumably "good selfish", but still selfish.

    Hoarding all the food for yourself? Same concept, but probably "bad selfish". While I agree with your concept, where's the line drawn?

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  2. I agree woth the part about relationships. Relationships are very selfish. I think people rarely get more possessive. For example, I would let someone use my computer to check their email. However, if I had a boyfriend, I would not let someone use my boyfriend for kissing or any sort of sexual behavior.

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