Selfishness

Everyone is selfish. Altruism does not exist. I always thought these were such pessimistic thoughts, but today in class I realized I was wrong. Everything a person does is to benefit themselves in some way. Whether it is listening to someone because you want to make him or her happy, or because you want to be their friend. Everything we do has a distinct purpose and we all would like to talk about ourselves. Honestly, if you do not agree take a second and think about it. Humans love to talk about themselves and what they have done or plan to do. This is what this whole novel is about for the underground man. He is writing about himself because he wants to learn more about himself. He currently doubts himself in some aspects and is trying to understand himself. This is something that I believe everyone in his or her lifetime will try to achieve.

The selfishness of humanity

Today's discussion was interesting in a lot of ways. It really made me understand where the Underground Man is coming from and a lot of what he says makes much more sense now. I never really entertained the thought that all humans are inherently selfish. In a way, it is rather depressing to think about, but it is extremely accurate. Humans only think about themselves and what they can possibly do to benefit themselves. The underground man is no different from the rest of humanity, as much as he would like to think he is. Although he speaks so condescendly of the human race and deems himself as so much more intelligent and superior to every other human being on this planet, he has an odd fixation on wanting to fit in and be accepted by the outside world. He is a man of many contradictions and a lot of those contradictions were cleared up in today's discussion.

Second Thoughts on Today's Discussion

      Today’s discussion covered a number of controversial topics, to say the least. The idea that the elderly become almost useless and a burden on society was argued from a variety of perspectives. Some people said that perhaps the youth should not care so much for the old that are not doing anything back for society. My opinion is that the elderly should be cared for to an extent. Specifically, I do not believe that people living entirely off of machines should be kept living just because of their relatives’ selfish nature. A second major idea that was brought up was the idea that we put ourselves in front of everyone else. I could not agree more with this statement because everything that we do in life is driven by our own self interests and benefits. Although some disagreed in the class, I believe that when it boils down to it, they would put their life before anyone else’s. 

The Divine vs Reality

    I feel it is necessary first of to state that I am not in fact “Mother Teresa” or the reincarnation of “Jesus”. I did not at all use the words but rather stated a fact about myself that my absolute truth is that when others talk to me I do not feel compelled to talk about myself. I do not even think about what I want to say to them unless it is a friend who I am quite comfortable with. I am content with listening to others without revealing my thoughts or impressions. Instead I listen carefully to what someone has to say to me as they feel it is of utmost importance. I listen not to gain a boost to my ego, but rather, I do it because I am just a humble optimist readily willing to listen to anyone who wants to talk to me. I guess people just are not familiar with the terms kindness and humility; but, it is not my problem that everyone believes they are inherently selfish. Maybe thats the problem with this world. It is possible that a shift of perspective and loss of selfishness could benefit this world for the better. I do not feel as if I am better than anyone else. I am who I am and am confident in what makes me Ari and do not need anyone else to tell me otherwise. Others can go on as they please but this is just my vantage point on a subject which I find to quite interesting,

Class Discussion (1/30/14) (Meagan Adler)

In today’s discussion, I was particularly intrigued by the part of the novel where the narrator says, “Who does live beyond forty? Answer that, sincerely and honestly.  I will tell you who do: fools and worthless fellows….I shall go on living to sixty myself.  To seventy!  To eighty!” (pg.3).  On a theoretical level, I agree with the idea that in trying to interfere and stop people from naturally dying, we are contributing to an inefficient society that consequently regresses as opposed to progresses; however, on a more practical level, I feel as if this idea is almost a robotic approach to take, for it is dehumanizing to get rid of the people we consider worthless in our society.  Furthermore, we need these people in order for the contributors to function; what would a doctor do without the sick patients he lives to take care of? What would the employees in a nursing home do without the elderly to take care of? What is the purpose of contributing to society if society never gives back to you?  In context of the novel, I agree with the idea that the narrator expresses about the worthlessness that comes with age; however, I cannot agree that this idea is one that can be morally corrected in reality.  

Discussion: 1/30

After today’s discussion about prolonging life, I have to say that I can understand both opposing point of views. It is definitely true that humans try to expand life as far as possible, never really thinking about the negatives of the situation; they are simply concerned with ensuring that the person lives. A few days ago, one of my parents’ friends lost his father after weeks of being on life support. As awful as it may sound, I saw how much of a burden the father’s poor health situation was for his family. I think that in theory, allowing people to die when it’s their time is rather logical. The weaker individuals will be gone, and society will be able to progress forward with the stronger and more intelligent. However, I think that in actuality, this type of mindset will not work. Humans become attached to one another, so it is difficult to just stand back and accept someone’s death, without even trying to keep that person alive.

2nd Class Discussion

            I found todays discussion sad, but somewhat true.  We keep people alive longer than they should be kept alive because we do not want to see them go.  They are a burden to us as we may keep someone on life support using tons of money.  However, I would still do this for any of my family or friends.  It may be a burden, but I would not want to see them go.  It may be bad for society to keep them alive for this long, but when it is a family member or friend we disregard the whole world and only think about ourselves.  Also, people don’t want to die because there is nothing left for them after they die.  They work all their life for money, so they can finally retire, and in the end they just die.  It is scary to think that after you work all your life for something, you just die and then you’re gone.  This is brought up on page three of the book when the narrator says, “last year a distant relation left me six thousand roubles in his will I immediately retired from the service and settled down in my corner,” (page 3).  This shows that the narrator worked until he had enough money to retire and settle down “underground” for the rest of his life.