[fixed_truth]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Maori must be the cause of their own problems. Certainly there could be no larger forces at play which undermines people's ability to make sound decisions, vulnerable groups being most obviously impacted.

Reading an article the other day that gave an evolutionary explanation as to why we believe in freewill. Basically that when we don’t, we’re more likely to behave immorally.
Sam Harris responds that this underlying freewill assumption also hinders empathy and from this restricts the best course of action to achieve outcomes we want to see in society.

Whereas the evidence from Kathleen Vohs and her colleagues suggests that social problems may arise from seeing our own actions as determined by forces beyond our control—weakening our morals, our motivation, and our sense of the meaningfulness of life—Harris thinks that social benefits will result from seeing other people’s behavior in the very same light. From that vantage point, the moral implications of determinism look very different, and quite a lot better.

“We need to know what are the levers we can pull as a society to encourage people to be the best version of themselves they can be.”

I’ve always has this problem with (for lack of a better term) “right-wing” ideology because with this innate assumption about freewill & personal responsibility does come a restriction on the levers that as a society we need to be pulling. These assumptions are so ingrained that you can even point out that research shows types of community service/welfare intervention to have positive outcomes and people still have ideological objections based on personal responsibility and fairness. While all this focus on the cost of & morality of spending is going on society is paying the price for not considering the cost of not intervening.