Monday, September 17, 2012
welfare states
We were having an in-class debate in PoliSci class just now and I swear to God I wanted to slap people.
I didn't say a single thing during the debate, just smiled meekly throughout, but inside I was, at points, furious. It didn't help that most of the people on my 'dislike list' for the class was on the opposing team.
Digressing a little – I get pissed at some people because of their quirks or just for things in general they do that irk me. So one day when I was bored in class I made a chart categorizing people from my different classes into the groups "Nice", "Strange" and "Idiots".
So during the debate just now, two out of three members under the "Idiots" category for my Political Science class were in the opposing team.
One of them was this girl, she reminds me of Snooki from Jersey Shore. I think that's a strong image to convoke in my mind, considering the fact that my only brush with Jersey Shore was when I watched like 5 minutes of an episode while I was on a plane. For those of you unacquainted with Snooki and therefore how this girl looks like, I shall describe to you how she looks. Think tanned skin, very tanned for an angmoh and unnaturally raven black hair which is curled (angmohs can never have full-on black hair like Asians do unless they dye it). She wears heavy makeup, cleavage showing tops and an air of pomposity and arrogance. Her favorite activities include eye-rolling (I suspect she can't control her eyeballs), and constant punctuation of her sentences with the terms "like", "I don't know", "I mean like".
The other one is this guy who always sits in front of me in class, although for this debate we had to move to separate sides of the classroom depending on which team you were on. This guy, coincidentally, shares the same name as one of my ex-boyfriends /coughs coughs coughs Anyway he's annoying because he has such a fiery passion and zeal for the subject of Political Science. Whenever he sits in front of me (which is, oh, just about every single class), I see him propping his chin up with his hand, his elbow against the table as a pivot point. Whenever he wants to establish his opinion, or answer questions to show how attentive and dedicated he is, he swings his hand out, causing his lower arm to form a perpendicular angle against the table top of his seat. Now, this is just one thing I noticed about him. When you think about it, it shouldn't be annoying. But can you imagine how annoying it is when he wants to make opinions on just about after every single point Professor Mattiace says? Just thinking about it gets me mad. And when Professor Mattiace intentionally ignores him (because he talks too much and she wants to give other people chances to make their points), he doesn't relent and after some time he just sticks his hand up in the air. I know you're enthusiastic but why must you be so desperate to make your point?!??!?!?! I hate people who dominate the discussion and he is definitely one such person. The worst part is, he doesn't get the hint even after Professor Mattiace flicks her eyes past his raised hand and calls on someone else to answer the question instead.
The debate was on whether the government should care for all its citizens or whether private institutions and individuals should take up that role. Basically we were debating on the topic of welfare states, and the degree of government intervention in providing a welfare system.
I was on the side that supported having a stronger welfare state. When we split into our teams (we had a choice of which team we want to be in) I automatically assumed people on the other team were mostly Republicans lol. Throughout our debate it struck me how selfish people can be. Some of the points made involve how there's always going to be rich and there's always going to be poor, and economic inequality is not something we can avoid. Why should people who work hard let people who haven't done anything reap the benefits of their effort?
All were solid points but just look at the welfare systems we have in Germany and Sweden. Why are the happiest countries found in Northern Europe? The system of capitalism is founded upon the principles of hard work, competition, and therefore supposed equality because everyone gets a chance to make it big. But what about people who were disadvantaged to begin with, how then are they going to get a chance to be successful? They're going to work even harder than a normal person who have to to achieve the same amount of success the normal guy who attain with maybe just some effort.
Because we are human and because we are selfish, there are always going to be people who will let themselves be overcome with sloth and greed, and just take in benefits contributed by the hard work of everybody else. I think the most pitiful thing about humans is how we are never satisfied. By saying this I know I'm shooting myself in the foot but it's true. If only we could all learn to be content, the world would be a better place. You can work hard and do the things you love to do, and I don't believe that you need copious amounts of money to do that. I'm not saying everyone has to be the same because yes, economic inequality will always exist. What I'm suggesting is to attempt to narrow the gap because then the poor will be able to lead a more comfortable life too.
I don't understand why the rich are so hard-pressed to give – oh wait, actually I do, it's because human beings are selfish. But honestly, so what if people are living off your contributions and effort? Why can't we just be the bigger person, a better person, and think about the good that the contributions make?
Another point they made was how providing too much healthcare benefits to people would not help because Americans have more health problems (i.e. Americans are fat and obese, therefore they succumb to illnesses more easily) and excessive expenditure on healthcare would mean less money invested in economic growth. Hello, it's your own problem for being fat!!! If you all were not so fat the society would be more productive. I almost feel like the American government should instill weight loss programs to make people lose weight.
Snooki Lookalike and The Dude Who Sits In Front Of Me were arguing their points throughout the debate and mostly I wanted to slap Snooki because she kept rolling her eyes and acting like we were stupid. I hate how they debated their points thinking our opinions were stupid. But then again isn't that how a debate always is – we always feel that views that differ from our own are fallacies.
Screw you Republicans.
Maybe I am naive, misguided, and ignorant. Maybe my views don't even make sense but I do feel very strongly that people should be more generous than selfish.
Oh well I guess this marks an epoch in my interest in Political Science. At first I thought it was a very dry subject but now it's becoming increasingly riveting. Now if only I could develop such an interest in Women's Studies, all would be perfect.
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