This outlook only serves the postmodern ideology (Altruism out of Mysticism, out of Neoplatonism - sacrifice to the invisible hand / the collective / the leader / writer of the narrative asking you to do that to begin with… e.g. every totalitarian ruler ever).
Society is constructed and preserved by individuals willing to become their best versions and work hard in their chosen field (often influenced by inclination and disposition, even talent which varies), to chase meaning, beauty and (self-first-)fulfilment. All thanks to human rational intellect, and our ability to creatively reflect and envision creative, exponentially efficient solutions to problems. We can’t change reality, but we can choose our emotional disposition and create tools to help us suit our environment to our needs and aspirations.
Sacrifice narratives attract us mostly due to education on traditional mystifying substructures… but also because we realize deep down that, unfortunately, some will have to sacrifice themselves when faced with an existential situation. But not everybody, and not in the same way. That simply has to be the case if a species is to continue propagating (numbers need to go up over time…).
What’s absurd is that human beings, for all our reflexive capacities, often make each other sacrifice ourselves and one another, because of a refusal to put down our superficial differences and to see even temporary cooperation for long-term fulfilment as a naturally preferable goal, which it objectively is (biologically, reflected historically via trial and error).
The “sacrifice or be sacrificed” alternative is a false dilemma, as more recent history and modern values have proven. Nobody has to fully sacrifice in a state/period of individual freedom, opportunity and peace. Rather, invest time+effort and trade knowledge with other people to create new meaning and grow value exponentially. Test out ideas that create inanimate things that im/explode, rather than ourselves in the flesh (whether it’s tranquilizer vs tiger, or a probe to mars).
Unfortunately, instead of the Tiger devouring you in pre-modernity, under POST-modernism, we’re back to the snake instinct + uncanny ape v ape – mis-using reason and progress (technology, information, etc) to exaggerate and reward the worst parts of human nature to facilitate mutually assured self-destruction. Willful Regression / AKA Devolution.
“Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism” ~Ayn Rand. (Apply to All Intersectionality)
Tribalism = socialism of the mind #shorts #individualism (youtube.com) Nikos Sotirakopoulos
“Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species” ~E.O. Wilson, Journey to the Ants
We avoid that exactly by upholding the opposite of self-sacrifice. Self-interest, in opportune collaboration, because no human being is all-knowing or omnipotent. We’re not deities, nor machines, nor ants, nor mere apes. “We’re not gods or dogs… We’re humans…” ~Edward Elric, from Hiromo Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist (+some positivism!)