With the current headlines about Trump's transactional philosophy coloring his perceptions of military or civil service, I'm really curious how many people view every human relationship or action they make as only being a transactional exchange for money, power, or status. We all to one degree or another want something for our actions, but religion and cultural traditions teach us some interactions and people are not to be treated this way, that certain actions should be based on higher moral principles of helping others selflessly. One could argue that this trait is what is responsible for the human species evolving. But now, in the 21st century, under a Trump presidency, we seem to be forced to face this question because Trump is probably the most transactional president we have ever had. The very things that define most of us as empathetic human beings are now being swept away in defense of an amoral president who seems incapable of empathy. Where do you gauge yourself on the empathy scale?
I voted for the third option. General good is important, but it was too often manipulated by government for all the "die as a Hero" for wars benefiting them. Most of the time, the notion of general good is corrupted by religious or political elites. People who pretend saying they do "good for the benefit of society" are for many of them hypocrites, as the good of society is strangely what would benefit them. They're not always aware to see general benefit as other. Helping people can bring a true joy, and I suppose that joy is itself a transaction good enough and I often try to not except much more than that joy, otherwise it can lead to disappointment.
I should have included whether one's belief is grounded in a win/lose or win/win approach. Not enough coffee yet this morning, but I'm interested in what I'm seeing throughout my life as a stronger selfish undercurrent that seems to have gripped America at this time.
I tend to have more a win/win approach then. Considering power and empathy, I red somewhere that potentially people having sociopathic/psychopathic traits tended to perform well in political life, as they're good manipulators with low empathy. From what I see, both Biden and Trump tend to display such traits, but I'm no expert psychologist, even if I had to develop observation on those kind of traits, for diverse personal reasons.
Yeah boys Trump, Trump, Trump, what else is there? The societal shift from "women and children first" to "every man for himself, Devil take the hindmost" likely has it's roots with the dawn of the Industrial age and mass marketing, ably aided by each advance in mass communication. Cheap printed books, cinema, radio, television, and the internet; for generations industrial societies have been relentlessly brainwashed with the image that the acquisition of wealth and power, along with the latest shiny new goodies, wine ,women, and song it can purchase is the goal of a successful, admired life. Altruism, if depicted at all, consists of either naïve dreamers or feckless schmucks being manipulated for the enrichment of others, so is it any wonder so many have been conditioned to believe the "good life" is to be unapologetically pursued at any cost? It started long before Trump, and will continue long after he's a footnote in history.
I have no idea how to answer. I assume that most people who do what is good for them also assume that would be good for people like them and therefore good for the community and maybe the country. For that reason, I find your premise that Trump is an "amoral president who seems incapable of empathy," suspect. Just because he doesn't empathize with you and your kinds does not mean he isn't empathetic or amoral. He is wildly inconsistent but a clock can be right twice a day.
As far as Trump goes, he does seem to be, on the issue of foreign policy, the most transactional President that we've had in decades. Trump foreign policy is a return to realpolitik, which used to be the Nixon-era Republican view on foreign policy. So you may hate the abandonment of the globalist two party consensus that's dominated since the end of the cold war, but I regard it as a failed experiment that will give us decades of clean up to do. What's your alternative to transactional foreign policy?
Back in the 1970's there was a pop-psy book called Transactional Analysis. http://www.ericberne.com/transactional-analysis/ A more concise explanation from here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans... (TA) is a,a basis for understanding behavior. If one were to use the above to understand the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief he operates out of Child mode and engages in GAME PLAYING in order to achieve his nefarious ends. More simply stated he REWARDS those that kiss his YUUUUUGE orange ass and he PUNISHES those that don't. There are ways to ALTER this kind of NEGATIVE behavior in small children and it will even work on RATIONAL adults. However the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief is NOT a rational person and becomes petulant and angry when thwarted. He uses money and power as a WEAPON and does NOT give a crap who gets HURT because he LACKS any semblance of EMPATHY and/or COMPASSION. His abhorrent behavior should NOT be emulated and should be CONDEMNED by everyone. When it comes to my own personal choices I am OPPOSED to any and all politicians and policies that cause HARM to We the People and our global environment. I apply the same standards to how I "vote" with my spending. I refrain from supporting any corporation that causes HARM. Transactions can be harmful but it is up to ourselves to avoid those that are harmful whether they are private or public. I am not going to stop being charitable or helping those less fortunate than myself because we have a sociopathic mental 3 year old in the Oval office. As an ADULT I will continue to do what is right rather than what is expedient or enriches myself at the expense of others. My reason is straightforward, I have to live with myself and the choices that I make.
There is no such thing as being selfless. Every action a human takes is because they are getting something they want from it more than they are giving up. Every single one is based on selfishness. For the transaction part you can simply do what the philosophers do and substitute reward......so what is the reward everyone gets for doing something.......every action taken by a human rewards them in some way. You didn't have that obvious answer as one of your options however.
I believe Trump gets a bad rap on many of the things he says and tweets. He came into the White House with an agenda of promises he made. Like many of us we got tired of politicians saying they were going to do this and that and nothing was done. Trump comes from the business world and see's things from that angle. He is impatient with incompetent personal and the foot dragging opposition to programs he is trying to push. Every week, it seems, there is a new topic to talk about and many times very controversial. Nothing gets him going like "You can't do that Mr. President". Oh! Really. Watch me. Your fired. Even John Bolton, who has no love for Trump, said this weekend that the Military establishment Generals despise Trump because he isn't overseas dropping bombs. There go all those cushy retirement jobs with Defense contractors . When he came into office an ISIS Caliphat was one of the biggest concerns in the Middle East. We have to go slow to avoid collateral damage. Oh! Really. Drop some pamphlets and tell the civilians to get out and then bomb and destroy there strongholds. No more ISIS. Kim Jong and North Korea are ready to go to war with us. Oh! Really. Set up a meeting in North Korea. WHAT????? Do it. Hey Kim we love you and want to help your country join the world. Good. Thanks for returning some of our soldiers from the past war and could you please quit lobbing those missile's toward Japan. Were scared of Russia - I ain't. Put sanctions on them. Tell Ukraine were sending tanks not pillows. Were scared of China - I ain't. Put tariff's on them until they quit stealing our intellectual property. We can't offend Iran, we have a treaty. - Oh! Really. Tear it up. They have violated the terms. Put sanctions on. How come NATO and the UN are not paying their fair share? I Don't know? Just the way it's been done. I'll take care of it. Your fired. Some black college administrators to see you about funding. Send them in. What do you mean you have come up here every year and beg for money. Give them enough money for 10 years. Next OK. Tim I want you to go set up enterprise zones in minority communities. People need work. Next. Kanye and Kim. What can I do for you. Didn't realize Obama and Biden haven't fixed this. I 'll get you some justice reform. Next. Sir, Pelosi and the Dems have voted for impeachment. Tell them self-serving bastards to shove it. We got the peoples business to take care of. There ready to sign a new Mexico/Canada/USA deal. Good. Get me GM on the phone.
"Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for – for things not to get worse."
It's one of the themes from an 80's series about a decayed U.S.... "[The Soviet coup] worked because you lost your country before we ever got here," says the Soviet leader. "You had political freedom, but you lost your passion [...] How could we not win?" This theme is echoed by Devin Milford later in the film: "Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for – for things not to get worse." Further dialogue, by politician Peter Bradford, lashes out at apathetic U.S. attitudes: "Damn, I'm so tired of this "I'm an American" bull! Where was all that patriotism when it counted? Where was that willingness to sacrifice? Nobody wanted to join the damn army to defend the country unless they got paid well! Nobody wanted to give any time to public service unless they could make a career out of it! And I didn't notice a lot of us giving up our lives in the last 10 years!"
I'm a student of Abraham Maslow and B. F. Skinner, and that's behind why I voted, "Everyone is transactional, it's a matter of how you get rewarded". Every day of the 70 or 80 years that we're alive, we prowl around on this planet in our "space-suit" human bodies NEEDING something. Everything we do has a "quid pro quo" interaction-behavior sewn in. Think about it.... I'm not certain of how "empathetic" that makes me, but I am fairly confident that I'm "realistic"... and that's a lot more important.
I voted the 4th option. But with a caveat- the recognition that most benefits to society ultimately benefit each of us individually.
As Jeff Goldblum's character Michael said in The Big Chill: Everyone does everything just to get laid.
I have to confess that I don't really understand the meaning of transactional philosophy. I think win/win interactions between people dominate, but there are obviously legitimate win/lose interactions as well.
If it is actually "sewn in".... by whom or what is it sewn in? Is it parents/society maybe that teaches/programs this transactional behavior? What if this transactional behavior is no more than another destructive human habit... which will eventually destroy all life and result in another uninhabitable planet?
I won't say that you are incorrect, because you may be right! We humans are intensely competitive, and in nearly everything we do, there's an expectation of 'getting something we want in return for something someone else wants'. Sometimes it's all subtle, and sometimes it's not. It can range from, "If I buy you dinner, I expect to get in your pants", to, "If I don't topple your government and kill everybody in your government, I expect you to play along with my foreign policy". Quid pro quo.... It's been that way forever....
