Showing posts with label Wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wealth. Show all posts

Monday, August 16, 2010

Social Justice? Social Envy:

Hand in hand with covetousness goes its close companion— invidia or envy—which hates to see other men happy. The names by which it offers itself to the world’s applause are right and justice, and it makes a great parade of these austere virtues. It begins by asking, plausibly, “Why should not I enjoy what others enjoy?” and it ends by demanding, “Why should others enjoy what I may not?” Envy is the great leveler. If it cannot level things up, it will level them down; and the words constantly in its mouth are “my rights” and “my wrongs.” 
--Dorothy Sayers, Letters to Diminished Church, Kindle location 1132.


Here is the truth by what usually names itself "social justice".

Monday, March 29, 2010

Wealth and Liberty

  It is commonly held that with wealth comes liberty.  I mean liberty or freedom in the classical sense: not so much the existence of choices but the removal of barriers that hinder one's goals.  One can easily imagine that a little more money, a slightly more secure situation, a larger pool of resources could open many doors that currently remain shut.  The doors might not be that obvious.  A liberal education is not cheap.  Certain social circles are hard to break into without the experiences that come with wealth.  Time comes at a price when one lives from paycheck to paycheck.  Philosophers will deny all this, but philosophers have generally come from privileged classes.
  Yet wealth comes with its own chains and burdens.