let us approach the meaning of existence via
utilitarian values…
let us take some examples, the WIC program,
which is a special supplemental nutrition program
for women, infants and children…
at my work, I deal with the WIC program all the time,
it is basically dealing with products like milk, bread,
cheese, formula, items that are essential items for infants
and children… now conservatives have been trying to slash
or eliminate this program for years, along with SOCIAL SECURITY
and Medicare and Medicaid…
and what has been the conservative justification for slashing
or eliminating such beneficial programs?
The true value of conservatism which is a utilitarian value…
the conservative will always ask, how much does this
program, WIC, costs?
and that becomes their basis for judging a program, by it
cost to the government/taxpayers… saving children’s lives
is far less important than it monetary value…how much
does it cost? when the value of a program is reduced to “how
much does it cost?” then it has no value… regardless of the millions
of children that can eat because that program… the strict
utilitarian value of the WIC program is what matters, it isn’t
important if it saves children’s lives if it cost “too much”…
the lives of children are balanced against the monetary value
of the program… children’s live are weighed by money,
not by their individual value… that is the essence of
utilitarian values… the conservative measure programs and lives by strict adherence
to monetary values… if it “cost” too much it is gone… thus money
becomes the deciding value over children’s live, not the children’s
lives… that isn’t pro-life, that is pro-money… money is given
priority over children’s lives… and that is the utilitarian value
that has priority of the conservative/GOP/MAGA party…
they measure lives in terms of how much will it cost,
as opposed to how many children’s lives will be saved…
when lives are measured in terms of money, that is
utilitarian… which is defined in my handy dandy dictionary as:
- designed to be useful or practical, rather than attractive,
One of the problems of this conservative utilitarian valuing of
life, is that it ignores, as the conservative does ignore,
the question of justice… we can see how this strict holding
of utilitarian values can lead us to ignore justice…
for justice is the process of equality… to be just means
to be equal… treat everyone as equal… of course
the conservative denies equality as a matter of course…
one can see this in their hatred/fear of trans/gay/ rights
and in their refusal to treat women equal, or to treat
people of color as equal… why do you think that the
GOP/MAGA party has spent the last couple of years, trying
to prevent voting rights to minorities or people of color?
the radical right-wing hates/fears equality of all kinds,
the entire “replacement theory” of theirs is predicated on
preventing justice/equality to people of color…
unequal treatment based on such accidental virtues such
as color, race, gender, nationality…
and their justification for such inequality lies in their flawed
theory of utilitarian values…
what are its values according to it use is conservative,
as opposed to the liberal idea that all human beings have value
regardless of how much it cost or its possible usage…
and let us explore that idea for a bit… for a conservative,
people only have value if, IF they are being “productive” in
society… if they are creating value in society, that is the only
way one has value to the conservative…thus a worker, has
minimal value in society, the poor have no value to the conservative
because they aren’t being “productive”, creating wealth
this strict utilitarian understanding of human lives… if they can
be “productive” they have value, if they cannot be “productive”
they have no value… hence the conservative hatred of
the poor, mothers, the old, children, the homeless,
the mentally ill… they, in the eyes of the conservative,
produce little or nothing, thus they have no value for
the conservative… they have no worth, why bother giving
them money, time, effort, when they have no value?
Does this sound “pro-life” to you?
something only as value if it is “productive”… as it
is clear that the right wing, conservative only holds
to utilitarian values, that something only as value if it
is “productive” that leads one to wonder about their pretend
“pro-live” allegiance to unborn babies? Why is that?
It is just another pretend ''culture war"
issue that only has value because it appeals to people’s
sensibilities, to their values, the GOP has no such value
of being “pro-life”… it is just another example of the
conservative utilitarian approach… that pretend “pro-life” value
is simply a crass attempt to gain votes with no other value to it…
another utilitarian approach… is it “productive”… does it achieve
the goal of the GOP/MAGA party? YES, so it has value…
and is kept, and when it no longer is “productive” gets
them votes, they will dump their “pro-life” pretense
faster than a hot potato… and why? Because it has
no purpose anymore… and the conservative only
acts and believes within a utilitarian understanding
of the universe…as long as it serves a purpose, it
remains, once it purpose is gone/done, so is that value…
and that is utilitarian to the core… thus we will see
the end of the Pro-life movement of the radical right wing soon,
why, because it will no longer attract votes, and that is it value,
and they will move on to something else…
all this is just a long way of saying that the radical right wing,
holds to situational values… the situation defines the values,
the situation holds that to gain power, the right wing needs
something to attract voters/customers and that “value”
right now, is “pro-life”… and when the situation changes,
so will their values… Pro-life will exists as long as it serves
its purpose, remember the right believes in utilitarian values,
it must be “productive” or it is gone…
Kropotkin