Hinder - Without You

Without you .. I live a little more everyday...

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

FOR THE GREATER GOOD ?

The phrase "For the greater good" has be used to justify countless killings by people through out history, from the Ancient Chinese Warlords to the Greeks, Romans, and even the crusade, to the World wars, but who decide on who is to live or die in situation like these?

Who decide who is greater ? Why do we ignore the minorities ? Don't they have a say to their own fate?

If self sacrifice is an holy act ? Then why don't the people who are acting on our behalves sacrifice their own agenda ? Since what they are doing is for the greater good ?

It is a tough position to be in, in case of such a decision is to be made!


"Greed is possibly the greatest evil, as well as the greatest motivation"

4 comments:

sharene said...

how do we define "good"? something that is "good" to a person may not be "good" to another- in such a way, what kind of greater good can be produced? is there even such things as "greater good"s? arent they basically the same as "good"?

self sacrifices are never holy, it's just the intentions towards that act that separates it from suicide.

Technically, people who do so willing have their own objectives to accomplish- (eg: money for their families).

Then again, we must comprehend that humans are never perfect. With this thought in mind, we can then think of a person being truly selfless or still having a part of them that is selfish(little, but still there).

I agree that this has,is, and will forever be a tough position to be in- to put themselves first, or to achieve the original objective.

jjjgjsgjhj said...

As long as killings are justified, it will be for the greater good. Killing 4000 to save a nation, that is for a greater good.

We may not be able to play god, but with power, we are able to decide the fate of others.

Knowingly that killing is wrong, it is "all right" if the sacrifices are justified.

Self sacrifice are stupid. No "normal" human in the right mind will do that. But some still choose to do that, for the "greater good".

In normal english term, there is no such thing as "greater good" only good --> better --> best.

Kindly revise your english.

sharene said...

Excuse me? I'm not attacking/flaming/(or whatsoever that is called) Kaibin i'm just questioning it. :)

Hmm, but ultimately who justifies? Who can say that we have the right to judge each other? to have a judge, we have to have an example of an ideal specimen, however in this case- what then is the example?

In this case of justifying, we have (by our own knowledge) identified an ideal specimen/behaviour to "live". Right? :S (or at least, that is my assumption.)

I'm sorry, I still do not understand what is then considered "all right"? Maybe it's due to my lack of knowledge of the psychological aspect of humans. :/


But one other thing is still stuck in my head- that is,since we are not perfect and that we may commit mistakes at times- wont that mean that our justification might be flawed too?

In layman's terms, we cannot totally see the full story(two sides of the coin)-
so with that in mind, how can we decide what is good? And what is not when we ourselves are not always right?

And please, dont be so hasty to jump to conclusions :)

With that, I bid you HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D:D:D


Sharene
(P.S: Kaibin, please bully Ivy more :P )

Kaibin aka Rico said...

Hello my 2 frens which i seem u are i rather free to read my boring blog...
haha

Firstly...
My point of view...
YES!! Good to me may not be good to others and vice versa...
But......... Why are people being killed just because that their "Good" is not the majority's good? That is my question.... Im not asking what is good or evil...

Beng...
"Knowingly that killing is wrong, it is "all right" if the sacrifices are justified. "

But no matter how you justified, its still a life that not your's to decide the fate of... Why are people given the power to take away people's life?(Im not talking about convicts)

No matter how you justify it, you can always justify it back to the negative side.

Sha....
"self sacrifices are never holy, it's just the intentions towards that act that separates it from suicide."

I believe self sacrifices are holy,
Jesus, The Buddha, Guan Ying Goddess... All are regions holy being which had done self sacrificing.

I believe if someone was able to neglect his life/money/power to protect something that is already self sacrificing to some extend...

And to put suicide to such close relation with self sacrificing would be a disgrace to to it...

Indeed its rather impossilbe to find someone who is truly selfless,

and we can't judge who is right or wrong i guess only a higher being can do that...

Im a afraid humans can never be ideal species until they have no greed in them...

And yes our justifications are flawed towards what we want to see/hear most of the time....

but even if you fully seen both side of the story, the decision you make still falls how you are affected before it and how you would react to it...

Happy new year.... !!