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From: laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Who deserves what?
Message-ID: <5284@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Mar-85 14:37:06 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5284
Posted: Mon Mar 18 14:37:06 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 18-Mar-85 14:37:06 EST
References: <356@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <5183@utzoo.UUCP>, <754@bunker.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 28

My definition of ``deserve'' is not founded on equality. It makes sense
to look at poor people and ask ``did they deserve this?''. Generally, the
answer is ``No.''. However, when you want to find out what injustice has
occurred, it is better to find certain people who have made terrible
choices than to say that in some magic way it is all ``the rich'''s fault.
Since I am a firm non-beliver in ``the White Man's burden'' that I am
wealthier than the third world inhabitants does not automatically make
me think that in some way I do not deserve what I have. If you go back to
a pre-industrial society, everybody in the world can be seen as being
relatively equally wealthy (except for feudal barons, kings and the like).
Everybody has a >75% infant mortality rate and starvation is common
everywhere. Now we are all equal -- this seems to be the natural state of
mankind.

If you say ``nobody deserves to live that way'' then you have a complaint
against God, perhaps, but hardly the current rich. It is also interesting
that if you decided to kill 1/3rd of the population of the globe, killing
the poorest (no, people, I do not advocate this, never have, and never
will) you will see that we still have more people than existed in the
middle ages, and the standard of living is much higher. This implies that
people fill nitches where they can starve and live in misery and poverty
whenever they can. Poverty may be an unending struggle unless you can
sterilize, or otherwise convince the poor to stop breeding more poor
people while you are trying to help them to raise their standard of living.
They may breed faster than you can industrialise.

Laura Creighton
utzoo!laura