The Golden Rule

[ruu]

Originally posted by: Jack Ryan

I disagree, however, that the because the intent was good that the rule still holds true.

Many clueless people don't intend to be idiots or rude, but the fact is, they are.

This is a valid objection. It's true that many people are idiots or rude; whatever action that they undertake can lead to undesirable results, hurt feelings, ruining projects, etc. In this case, one or two applications of the Rule won't fix things.

However, I would like to restate that constant application of the rule will almost always lead to desirable results.

In the case of a bumbling fool who keeps screwing things up, the Golden Rule might suggest that you go to this person and tell them why they are a nuisance and why the situation could be made better if they just stayed out of it. After all, suppose that every action you undertook simply screwed things up and made everyone miserable. Wouldn't you like to be informed of it? Wouldn't it be better that someone told you so, so that even if it sucked to know you were a complete and total goon of a failure, you could at least take comfort in the fact that you've stopped and are no longer screwing things up?

I really believe that most people would like to know if they're honestly making someone else's life miserable. I really believe that most people do not deliberately delight in ruining things.

Also, nobody is a screw-up or an idiot or useless 100% of the time. The Golden Rule encourages us to give a person who's screwed up the benefit of the doubt and to properly thank them when they haven't.

That's perhaps the problem with the Golden Rule---it doesn't assure "success." It doesn't assure that people undertake the "correct" course of action in any given situation; it simply assures that---again, in the long run---people undertake the course of action that is least likely to cause suffering, harm, or ruinous injury to another human being.

And then it operates under the assumption that people who are not experiencing suffering or harm or ruinous injury can work together to undertake the correct course of action.

In my opinion, the Golden Rule is more about making everyone feel good or justified or ethical than about making everyone feel useful or correct or needed. Is that too sissy? Maybe. But I believe that a person who feels good about themselves will eventually undertake the useful or correct or needed course of action.

But perhaps the two don't correlate. Perhaps this lack of correlation is a flaw?

Discuss!