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Can a Person be "better" than Others?

Can a person be better than others?

  • Total voters
    29
Wake said:
Yet there are legions of proud and arrogant people across the world...

Especially those who higher-middle class and beyond.

Perhaps, in a way, communism, which punishes such greed and pride, is a good thing?
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:shock: :shock:
 
American said:
:shock: :shock:
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You were probably influenced to think it wrong.

This one aspect of communism, the backlash against the wealthy and proud, I like.

Pride and greed are disgusting, are they not?
 
Wake said:
You were probably influenced to think it wrong.

This one aspect of communism, the backlash against the wealthy and proud, I like.

Pride and greed are disgusting, are they not?
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I don't believe your premise.
 
Dirk Nowitzki is definitely a better basketball player than I am.

I am better at not watching basketball than he is.
 
Wake said:
You were probably influenced to think it wrong.

This one aspect of communism, the backlash against the wealthy and proud, I like.

Pride and greed are disgusting, are they not?
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Unjust pride is disgusting. Overweening pride, pride that forgets its humanity and its mortality, is disgusting. The justified and measured pride of someone who has accomplished something very difficult is, however, a thing to celebrate. Would you not be proud if you spent 20 years in a lab and emerged with a cure for cancer? I'd be proud of you.

Greed.... well greed is somewhat subjective. How much is too much, and who decides? Is a billionaire who gives tens of millions to charity annually a greedy person? If you ask someone who benefited from his charity, they will probably say no. Who is more greedy... a businessman who owns a $500,000 small business with 20 employees, who dreams of expanding to a $100 million biz with 2000 employees... or someone whose dream is to fleece him of his lawfully obtained profits, (made by providing something people want) and line their own pockets with money they didn't earn? (ie politicians, vote-buying, pork, welfare)

These questions are too complex for one-liners and slogans.
 
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"That all men are created equal...never has a bigger lie been told--or sold--to the American people."

I heard that quote once and don't remember from where. But, yes, I think that some people are better than others. Look at those that accomplish much through sacrafice and hard work vs. those that are lazy and live off the efforts of others, Mother Teresa vs. Hitler, etc.
 
Not really.

Culturally speaking, the people who are better are the ones who fit what is acceptable or appreciated the most. Sometimes it's arbitrary and sometimes it is based on what is actually useful.

In nature though... it's survival of the fittest, and frankly, the luckiest. You could be super intelligent or physical skilled, but it only takes one thing going wrong to kill you off.

So... I would say that it's more about who is luckier, not who is better.
 
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Better how? Intellectually? Musically? Athletically? etc., or More Deserving because they are better people? Better ‘morally’? Better because they make more money? Better because they are more ‘human’ than others?

ALL Humans are Equally human, by definition. We are all members of the same species. It is impossible to consider that any person is Not human, no matter what their sex, color, religion, heritage... or other attribute.

All people are equally human.

Our differences are many, of course, but they are differences of degree... of the various attributes that make us unique individuals. Our differences are Not differences of degree of being human. In this respect, no one is ‘better’ than another.

Of course, we also differ in the decisions we make. And sometimes we make the wrong decisions... but they are ours to make. And that’s o.k., as long as we haven’t interfered with the rights of someone else. And as long as we are not interfering with someone else’s right, we might be considered morally better than someone who does cause harm or otherwise interferes with others rights.

All rights have limitations, of course. The limitations are as simple as understanding the difference between Human Needs, and personal “wants” or desires. The concept that “your rights end, where mine begin” is a simple way to express the idea that each of us has the right to seek and attain those things that we need, so long as we do not interfere with the right of others to do the same (and visa versa, of course). The ‘Golden Rule’ too, is consistent with this concept.

It is also important to understand that equal rights are not “special” rights. No one is excluded. Everyone is included. No one person or group deserves more or less rights than another. On this level, no one is better than anyone else.

And, at least in the United States, all humans MUST be treated with the same dignity, and be honored with the same definition and the same degree, of the ideals espoused in our Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as well as discussed in the Federalist Papers. These ideals begin with the fundamental principle of Equality.

No one is ‘better’ than anyone else on the level that matters.
 
Oh yes absolutely, there are people I am better than, and people that are better than me.
 
My dog is much, much better than most people I know...including me.
 
Of course - what do you think marriage is all about? I married someone better than me (she would agree, of course). That's the way it's supposed to be to better the human race. I think even Darwinism addresses this... not just for mating purposes at the human level, it's more.
 
Supposing you believe in the soul, do you believe people can be "better" than others? Special?

Taking select aspects out of view and selecting the human itself, how do you make of this?


What of the fool, the creep, the killer? Are you better than them?

What of the soldier, the doctor, the nurse? Are they better than you?
 
Wake said:
Supposing you believe in the soul, do you believe people can be "better" than others? Special?
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Sure.

Wake said:
Taking select aspects out of view and selecting the human itself, how do you make of this?
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Wha?

Wake said:
What of the fool, the creep, the killer? Are you better than them?
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Mostly, though I guess there may be exceptions.

Wake said:
What of the soldier, the doctor, the nurse? Are they better than you?
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Depends.. maybe but then again, possibly not.
 
Wake said:
Supposing you believe in the soul, do you believe people can be "better" than others? Special?
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Yes. I believe some people are just better than others, and that this often stems from some innate spiritual superiority. Honor is a spiritual force that has manifestations in the real world.

Wake said:
What of the fool, the creep, the killer? Are you better than them?
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Only just. Barely at all. But yes.

Wake said:
What of the soldier, the doctor, the nurse? Are they better than you?
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A job's a job. All else being equal, people with those jobs are better than me because I have no job; my life serves no purpose. But if they're really bad people, their jobs aside, then I am still better.
 
How do you know this, Viktyr Korimir, with such surety?

How do any of you know with absolute certainty that your beliefs are correct?
 
better at what?
 
cpwill said:
better at what?
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There are two kinds of "better" in this discussion, cpwill.

1. Better in certain regards.

2. Better as in this person is better, superior, to others in general. More valuable, worthy, important, unique.
 
Wake said:
How do you know this, Viktyr Korimir, with such surety?

How do any of you know with absolute certainty that your beliefs are correct?
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I am not playing this game with you again.
 
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