My point was that this is a kneejerk reaction and does not mean your action is the wrong choice for your or your goals.
OK, quick question here. Where do you attain your goals, if not from empathy? And don't say "biology," or I'm going to have to break out the is/ought gap.
Morality is usually what is best for everyone but yourself.
For the sake of argument, I'll assume you're right. So what?
I regard pushing [morality] aside when you need to as a strength. You see it as a weakness, given what you've said before. That is the crux of our argument as I understand it. You place a much higher value on morality in a person than I.
There's a difference between "is pushing morality/empathy aside a strength or a weakness?" and "how much value 'should' one place on morality?" In the latter case, I doubt we can come to any kind of accord. But the former claim, that pushing aside morality is a strength, honestly confuses me.
There's a reason most ethical theories and religions try so hard to convince you to do the right thing. It's because it's often really hard to do the right thing. I mean, it often involves putting oneself at great risk for a stranger; it's always much easier just to walk away. How is saying, in effect, "Screw you, I've got mine" strong in the least?
Frankly, it's very rare that I find a protagonist that matches with my beliefs to a significant degree and I've only found it about three times in all the fanfiction I've read. Perhaps this rarity explains the difference in our reading motivations and I might eventually covert to the same motivation you have.
There are a very large number of antihero fanfics in the Harry Potter fandom; turning Harry into a Dark Lord, after all, is one of the major time-honored tropes in the fandom. (Not to mention the "Harry gets sent to Azkaban, becomes the Count of Monte Cristo, and kills everyone" stories, but those tend to be quite bad needles to say.) I can give you some suggestions if you want.
no subject
OK, quick question here. Where do you attain your goals, if not from empathy? And don't say "biology," or I'm going to have to break out the is/ought gap.
Morality is usually what is best for everyone but yourself.
For the sake of argument, I'll assume you're right. So what?
I regard pushing [morality] aside when you need to as a strength. You see it as a weakness, given what you've said before. That is the crux of our argument as I understand it. You place a much higher value on morality in a person than I.
There's a difference between "is pushing morality/empathy aside a strength or a weakness?" and "how much value 'should' one place on morality?" In the latter case, I doubt we can come to any kind of accord. But the former claim, that pushing aside morality is a strength, honestly confuses me.
There's a reason most ethical theories and religions try so hard to convince you to do the right thing. It's because it's often really hard to do the right thing. I mean, it often involves putting oneself at great risk for a stranger; it's always much easier just to walk away. How is saying, in effect, "Screw you, I've got mine" strong in the least?
Frankly, it's very rare that I find a protagonist that matches with my beliefs to a significant degree and I've only found it about three times in all the fanfiction I've read. Perhaps this rarity explains the difference in our reading motivations and I might eventually covert to the same motivation you have.
There are a very large number of antihero fanfics in the Harry Potter fandom; turning Harry into a Dark Lord, after all, is one of the major time-honored tropes in the fandom. (Not to mention the "Harry gets sent to Azkaban, becomes the Count of Monte Cristo, and kills everyone" stories, but those tend to be quite bad needles to say.) I can give you some suggestions if you want.