Comments | neliobelmont: Tis the season to be critical

neliobelmont

Tis the season to be critical

Dec 05, 2006 03:20

I was thinking about it on the way to school today, and came to the conclusion that Christmas gifts (and arguable and tradition with a exchange of gifts) is a waste of finances. Allow me to give a example to help explain ( Read more... )

analytical

Comments 4

bluegodjanus December 5 2006, 19:55:57 UTC

I think traditions for no reason are silly. Some traditions have a good reason as to why people keep doing them, and thus are okay. A lot don't, though; people just do these things because 'it's always been done that way'.

I feel basically the same about a gift-giving holiday - when I want to (and am able to) give people things, I will just do so. I don't need a special excuse (or obligation, as it may be).

neliobelmont December 5 2006, 22:19:21 UTC

Yeah, that is a whole part of the subject I didn't touch on, but probably will later. Having a speical day where everyone is obligated to give one another gifts defeats the entire purpose of gift giving.

uberbeth December 6 2006, 19:34:18 UTC

Glad to hear my bi-weekly blood donations are either selfish or pointless.

It occurs to me you only analyze half the idea. For me to take any of this vaguely seriously, try analyzing the other side. Why do people do selfless things (suspend your disbelief for a moment for that one).

For instance, why do I throw a party every year for the holidays, buying hundreds of dollars in groceries, working numerous hours of cooking, for my friends. In fact, not even seeing some of these friends but once a year. Also, if you truly believe your theories, why do you come? It's a pointless tradition I have so I can get leverage over my friends, or to earn rewards from them.

If you want to paste my actions into your theory, fine. I do good and nice things because I like making people happy. These actions are something I enjoy so it MUST be selfish. I want to do good things to improve the world, or perhaps just a few lives. I enjoy it, I must be selfish.

neliobelmont December 7 2006, 03:46:15 UTC

I think there a little bit of a misunderstanding... Just because a reason is selfish doesn’t mean it is bad. People all over the world do selfish things that help other people, a good example is various cooperations that create jobs, yet ultimately they are looking out for themselves.

If you objection to my conclusion is that it implies actions you take are selfish, then I can see how you could be upset. The problem is that you can't prove that you are doing it for a selfless reason. This is where the issue of trust and faith come in.

In the case of you and your party, I believe you are doing it for ultimately good reasons. It is true that you derive enjoyment from it, and so that is a possible explanation for the party taking place (ie your ulterior motive). Realistically, there are a lot of reasons for you to do it, friendship, enjoyment, tradition, and probably some others that I am not thinking of right now. The main thing I was addressing in my original statement was that I viewed things based solely on tradition as ( ... )