The Pathological Altruist Gives Till Someone Hurts(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
The Pathological Altruist Gives Till Someone Hurts
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/science/04angier.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
4 comments
It's more than a little dodgy to describe behavior that imposes on someone else's time and resources purportedly to help others as "altruistic." (The first example in the submitted article was such an example.) People get credit for being generous when they redistribute resources properly belonging to other people (I'll refrain from giving examples) but I don't call that "altruism." I thought altruism is when you or I devote OUR OWN time and resources to help someone else. That said, the article makes the interesting point, while referring to an interesting new book, that some people may harm themselves and the other people they think they are helping while engaging in behavior that on the surface appears to be altruistic.
It's more than a little dodgy to describe behavior that imposes on someone else's time and resources purportedly to help others as "altruistic."
I came here to say the same thing. What does imposing undesired and excruciatingly painful medical procedures on a terminal cancer patient have to do with altruism??? I'd say it verges on evil! The doctor put his own ego above the patient's interests. This is arrogance, not altruism.
I came here to say the same thing. What does imposing undesired and excruciatingly painful medical procedures on a terminal cancer patient have to do with altruism??? I'd say it verges on evil! The doctor put his own ego above the patient's interests. This is arrogance, not altruism.
> Selflessness gone awry may play a role in a broad variety of disorders, including anorexia and animal hoarding, women who put up with abusive partners and men who abide alcoholic ones.
As an alcoholic man who has to put with an abusive partner, I find this paragraph offensive
As an alcoholic man who has to put with an abusive partner, I find this paragraph offensive
A relentless addiction to indignation
Those are exactly the words I've been looking for to describe my boss.
Those are exactly the words I've been looking for to describe my boss.
Wooooow! I can't believe that's actually in the NYT! Downvote me into oblivion, but I gotta say it. The NYT finally pegged contemporary liberalism =)