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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (78272)	10/23/2003 4:19:39 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Dot # 1: The life raft metaphor places 12 people into a position where they are afraid for their lives. It is not a given that they will survive or die. They have material resources that should support them in surviving and being able to reclaim their property, wealth, and possessions once rescued. If anything puts these material resources at risk their sense of fear would be heightened. They represent society. The scenario is challenged when a thirteenth man persuades them on an appeal to their sense of humanity to sacrifice some of their feelings of security as an act of charity to save his life (recognize his membership on the basis of personhood alone). So, the appeal to the twelve is to their sense of personhood (fear # 2) vs their sense of material security (fear # 1). Dot # 2: They sacrifice some of their sense of material security (fear # 1) in an effort to save the life of the other person. He offered nothing of use to their strategy to survive in the world so his whole appeal represented the second type of fear. If they denied that the person deserved their regard even though he had nothing to contribute, they risk some loss or damage to their sense of moral, sentimental, and emotional personhood (fear # 2). They chose to ignore the material fears in order to protect their sense of moral, sentimental and emotional personhood. Had the metaphor ended here with the life raft being recovered by rescue efforts, the twelve would have been honored by society for their willingness to sacrifice for the sake of a fellow human being. If the raft sinks and they all drown, they have lost material resources and have left material existence all together. If some essential personhood transcends material existence then they have not lost or damaged this (fear #2) in the process. In either event their sense of personhood remains undamaged. The loss of material security is easily dismissed once the rescue occurs and is of no consequence if they are dead. Dot # 3: We are all likely to some extent to represent the thirteenth man, since our existence as adults in society has in most cases been bolstered by the charity of others. Honorable conduct is generally seen as kindness extended to others that is not associated with material gain. Dot # 4: When the 13th man who owed his very existence to nothing more than the honorable sacrifice (based on fear # 2) made by the 12, he considered only his material fears (fear #1) to deal with the same appeal directed to him. Dot # 5: Practical applications are many. For example: Usually the person at the bottom of the pecking order appeals to the sense of compassion to raise his level of esteem among peers. The same person is the most likely to peck at the persons below him.