Thoughts and Questions on Social Responsibility

[brasssun]

I've been thinking about social responsibility recently. What does the individual owe society, what does one individual owe every other individual? This comes up because I have three individuals in my life who I have reason to believe are in some kind of trouble. (At least the alcoholic/junkie is the easiest one to deal with because there's nothing

Comments

[sildra]

I once got into an argument along these lines with a Chinese coworker. Somehow Falun Gong came up, and I asked what was so bad about it, anyway. He said that people in Falun Gong believed in the healing power of prayer/the magical cult leader, and so didn't seek out medical aid. I said we had religions like that here, too, but we don't legislate against them, and only in rare circumstances do we even take their children away. He basically said it was the responsibility of society, and the state, to protect people from themselves, and I said that as long as they weren't hurting anyone but themselves they should be allowed personal liberty (thus, taking away their children is sometimes justified, but intervening in adults' lives is not

[brasssun]

I like the story about the homeless woman.

One issue that comes up fairly often in my office is domestic abuse. Do we protect people from being beaten up even if they try to reject that protection? Or do we allow people to be beaten up because they've been convinced by their abuser that they deserve it?

Do I only help people if they specifically request that assistance? I think part of my issue may be a conflict between Northern and Southern styles of hospitality. In New York City, you don't look at anyone else in the elevator. In Austin, you strike up a conversation. What's the difference between being nosy and being social?

And at this point, I'm just rambling so I'll stop that.

[sildra]

If they think they deserve it, does that mean they don't want it to stop? Or do they want it to stop, but don't feel that it's their place to try to make that happen--or request that others make it happen--because they think they deserve it? If it's the former... I don't know. If it's the latter, then yes, definitely step in and try to protect them, and see if they can be taught that they don't deserve it.

I think it is definitely cultural whether or not people want you to help them even if they haven't requested it. I got in an argument with qianian about this not too long ago. He had been in the hospital recently, and his mother had come and helped with everything. Then he'd gone home and found that his roommates would only help him if he asked. He didn't feel that he should be forced to ask for help, given that he was so clearly sick/injured, and so felt slightly resentful of his roommates. I responded that in my family, having someone help with everything would be unwelcome intrusion. If we needed help we would ask for it; if

[sildra]

Let me rephrase: in my family if we needed help we'd ask for it; wanting help is inconceivable. And that's where the difference is. Whether or not qianian needed help with any given task, he wanted it, as part of a feeling a community.

[brasssun]

I think the situation with the begger is different, since there is a person who is specifically asking, nay, begging for assistance, and when we pass them by we are specifically refraining from helping them. The shame of that is fairly well-defined, and the answer is easy: give them something. Even if it's not a lot, maybe some spare change or even just a smile to acknowledge their existence

[sildra]

But when your friend gets in his car and drives away after too many beers, what can you do? Call the police and have him arrested for drunk driving? Would that really improve the situation. Being a non-drinker, I was always a designated driver, and my grad school classmates knew this, and yet sometimes they still refused to let me drive them home, insisting on driving themselves. There really was nothing I could do when arguments just bounced off of them in their drunken state.