On Sunday, I hosted another episode of my live Rationally Selfish Webcast, where I answered questions from viewers on practical ethics and the principles of living well. The live webcasts are held every Sunday at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. The webcast consists of me broadcasting on video, Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers on audio, and the audience in a text chat.
As usual, an audio recording of Sunday’s live webcast is now available as a NoodleCast podcast. To get these podcasts automatically, you can subscribe to the feed in iTunes — just choose either the enhanced M4A format or the standard MP3 format. They’re the same content, but the M4A format breaks each question into its own “chapter.”
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The Video
The full video for the webcast is only available to live attendees. Now, you can listen and/or download the audio podcast. However, I’ll post my favorite segments of video to my YouTube channel later this week.
The Podcast
Listen Now
Duration: 1:01:31
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- Download the Enhanced M4A File (29.0 MB)
- Download the Standard MP3 File (28.2 MB)
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In This Episode
The following segments are marked as chapters in the M4A version of the podcast. Thanks to Tammy Perkins for helping compile the show notes!
Introduction (0:00)
Current Projects:
- Mostly, I’ve been tending to Dr. Gimpy! Also, on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I recommend John Lewis’ new essay: 9/11 Ten Years Later: The Fruits of the Philosophy of Self-Abnegation.
Question 1: Activism as a Moral Imperative (4:51)
Should every person engage in some kind of political or cultural activism? Given the current abysmal state of the culture, might a moral person choose to live his own life based on rational principles, without advocating those principles? Is it moral to overlook the ever-increasing rights-violations by our government, rather than speaking out? Is it enough to offer moral support and/or financial support to other activists?
My Answer, In Brief: A person should not engage in activism as a grim moral duty, but rather as an expression and defense of his own values.
Links:
- My prior discussion of this topic can be found in NoodleCast #64.
Question 2: The Morality of Extreme Couponing (22:05)
Is “extreme couponing” moral? Earlier this year, the Boston Globe wrote about people who engage in “extreme couponing.” Basically, they find ways to redeem store coupons in a fashion that still abides by the rules, but they get free stuff out of the deal. Are these people moral, or are they parasites because they don’t actually live by trading value for value? Are they violating rights?
My Answer, In Brief: There’s nothing immoral about seeking out great savings as a consumer, provided that you’re honest and the sale is voluntary.
Links:
Question 3: Sexting as Cheating (31:05)
Is sexting a form of cheating? If you are married or in a committed relationship and you send sexually explicit texts or emails to another person, is that cheating?
My Answer, In Brief: Sexting is cheating — and it ought to be regarded as a major warning and offense in a relationship.
Question 4: Gifting Valuable Memorabilia to the Team (37:49)
Is it dumb to return a valuable home run baseball to the team? When NY Yankees star Derek Jeter hit a home run for his 3000th hit, the fan in the stands Christian Lopez who caught the ball returned it to the Yankees, even though he was legally entitled to keep it. Some experts estimate it could have been sold on eBay for up to $250,000. The Yankees did give him some season tickets and team memorabilia but nowhere near as valuable. (In fact, he may have to pay thousands of dollars of taxes for those gifts he received from the Yankees.) Some people praised Mr. Lopez for doing the “right thing.” Other said he was foolish for giving up something valuable that could have, say, paid for his kids’ college or been used for other important life goals. Was he moral or immoral for returning the baseball with no expectation of reward.
My Answer, In Brief: A person in possession of such a windfall should think carefully about how to use it to serve his best interests. For this person to give the ball to the Yankees was probably a major sacrifice.
Links:
Rapid Fire Questions (47:33)
In this segment, I answered a variety of questions off-the-cuff. The questions were:
- Should a person give back money found in a newly-purchased house if the heirs sold the house because the owner was senile, but he’s still living?
- Should organ donation be opt-in or opt-out?
- What does it mean to say that the interests of rational people don’t conflict?
- When and why would an egoist help the poor?
- If everyone was an egoist, would anyone be a soldier, policeman, or firefighter?
- Doesn’t parenting require self-sacrifice for the sake of the children?
- Don’t most seemingly altruistic acts have some core of self-interest, even if only the pleasure of doing the act itself?
- Didn’t selfishness and greed cause the financial crisis?
Conclusion (1:00:27)
Comments or questions? Contact us!
- Diana Hsieh: DianaHsieh.com: diana@RationallySelfish.com
- Greg Perkins: Objectivist Answers: greg@eCosmos.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please don’t forget to contribute to our tip jar! Also, remember to submit and vote on questions in the the ongoing question queue!
