Thomas Hobbes believed that people are inherently evil, selfish, and only care for their own well-being. When we first learned about this towards the beginning of the semester, I initially agreed with Mr. Hobbes. Yet, recent events have caused me to completely reverse my stance. Now, I agree with Mr. John Locke, and that people are inherently good.
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How does this at all tie into the Hobbes vs. Locke battle? Surely Sandy was inherently evil, but that's not my point. My point is that after so much hardship and despair, even more good came out of it. After the storm had passed, instead of seeing people look the other way, or just try to fend for themselves, I saw historic amounts of support. The whole country swarmed in to help the East Coast, especially the Jersey Shore. The President flew in to console victims himself. Electric workers from Alabama, Tennessee, and other states traveled in to help restore power to freezing victims. I also witnessed countless food drives, "rebuild the shore" funds, and Facebook statuses of those with power offering their home to anyone in need. Inherently evil people would not even consider doing such acts; selfish people would not give it the light of day. No, these are examples of how people are inherently good. We understand that people are all members of the same tribe, and in the face of a tragedy, we stand as one.
Even the people in our government, who we would expect to uphold their partisan stances, put politics aside. Chris Christie, the governor or New Jersey, did not even care about the presidential election or that he applauded Obama for his handling of the storm. Take a look:
A person who is inherently evil would clearly only care for their self-interest, and in this case, that would be supporting his own party (and not applauding the other). This is a prime example of how people are inherently good; one of the most conservative politicians in America stepped out and put aside differences to help others.
People are inherently good. I firmly believe that following the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and I implore someone to try to change my mind.
Therefore, on this Thanksgiving, when you're stuffing yourself with, well, stuffing, then think about good ol' John Locke. Think about how we have a holiday dedicated to the idea that in a state of nature, people are inherently good.
**Also, check out this link for some remarkable pictures from Hurricane Sandy: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/ **
I, like you, come from the East Coast. I have lived in Connecticut all my life and coming home for Thanksgiving has shown me what damage Sandy has caused to many homes in my neighborhood and many places that will always remain in my memory. Living right on the water, my parents snapped photos of houses that had crumbled and now pieces floated away out into the Sound. My parents were out of power for a week and had to be evacuated but we were lucky. But the outreach that was available was amazing. I'm really glad that you talked about this.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel like you might be looking at a slightly ideal version of reality. I'm not saying I am against what you are saying, I just mean to point out that your view has an argument against it. Chris Christie might just be saying that to give him a more appealing, honest, and down to earth image before a time of reelection. People could be helping out in order to satisfy their own feelings of guilt over watching someone else have more problems then they do. All of these actions could be inherently selfish. I'm not trying to be negative because my family was a part of the same disaster as yours…I just want to clarify how it could be seen in a whole new (and maybe darker) light.
Hey Josh. First of all, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading your post. I can tell you are naturally a funny guy and that made the post super enjoyable to read. I, too, read Thomas Hobbes back in early October and thought to myself, 'This guy nailed it. Everything we do is definitely for our personal benefit, we are greedy and selfish and that's all there is to it.' But after reading Locke, I took a little bit of a step back and rethought my position. Here's what I think now, there are always going to be exceptions, like James Holmes, who decided it was a grand idea to go kill a bunch of people in a Denver movie theatre for no apparent reason, but we are looking at mankind as a whole. Now, I am in agreement with you. When you walk around campus here at the University of Michigan, almost every door that you walk through, the person in front of you is holding the door for you. Are they gaining anything from that? Is there really personal satisfaction gained through doing such a simple task? No, they are just doing it to be nice. In response to Emma, yes, I realize that there is more than one point of view to the situation, and I know you were just pointing that out, but at the same time, what personal satisfaction is someone gaining by opening there home to complete strangers and feeding them and giving them a bed to sleep in? These people are just being helpful because they want to, because they are feeling sympathy and compassion for the victims of this tragedy, and because it is just something that inherently good people do.
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