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LUST_FOR_ALTRUISM

                                             September 16, 2009


   In the film "Genius of Charles Darwin",
   Richard Dawkins presents a thumbnail
   description of altruism, perhaps a
   cartoon version of altruism...

       When he sees someone crying
       in distress, he feels an
       overwhelming urge to go over
       and try to comfort them, to
       try to help.

       I am not at all sure that I feel
       such an urge.  In my world, a
       stranger displaying these public            So I have an opposite
       symptoms of distress is quite               impulse, but it's very
       likely to be someone with                   much a cultivated
       something seriously wrong with              impulse, the result of
       them-- one of the many drunks,              a conscious policy.
       addicts and crazies that
       unfortunately populate the streets             People who don't
       of my fair city.                               have this armor
                                                      have a hard time
       These people can be an infinite sink           getting by in an
       of energy, try to help them as you             urban environment.
       will, they'll find ways to return to
       their valley of despair.  They're
       very much parasites that live off of
       the urge to altruism that Dawkins
       describes, hanging on to that
       helping hand with a death grip and
       latching on to another when the
       opportunity presents.

            Do you try to pick and choose among
            them, to identify the ones that are
            worth you're time?

            Do that and you're almost certainly
            going to fall into some sort of
            affinity trap, e.g. racism.

            I have to watch the impulse to
            cater to the demands of cute          I have my doubts that
            young white girls, and perhaps        the later-day deadheads
            snubbing an old black guy.            of Haight Street are any
                                                  more worthy of my time
                                                  than a 6th street drunk.


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