Oh herro

[Tora]

[quote="Regulus"]Need more information.

Are the delivery choppers going to be shot with RPGs?

If the food is safely delivered, will the starving people actually eat it?

If they eat it, will they die anyway due to other living conditions?

Would those receiving the food become even more reliant on it, and only make the situation worse in the long run?

How much will the tax affect those who are forced to pay it, but can't due to their own harsh living conditions?[/quote]
Yes this also there are so many factors you must consider before making a decision.

[Azdgari]

There is no more information. The amount of the tax is irrelevant and unspecified. The point is that you are not giving of your own free will. Everyone is interpreting this question much more literally than it's meant.

[Regulus]

Well then, in that case, it doesn't matter.

If important information is left unknown, then making a proper decision is impossible.

[Azdgari]

You've completely missed the point of the question.


[quote]I would choose the 90 people through charity. This might come from my cozy feel-good perspective, but I may not be helping as many people, but I'm at least helping them out of my own free will based on my own ability and those people are knowing someone cares about their plight.[/quote]

[quote]I'd pick the 100 people with the mandated tax. While I certainly understand and appreciate the concept of charity, I think your average democratic society would of as a whole agreed to the tax. So I don't see it so much as forcing anyone as people agreeing to pay the tax and it is doing a lot of good.[/quote]

[quote]I would choose to help the 100 people. It's more important to me that the system functions smoothly than whether strangers feel good about helping one another. Health care just one more thing that my tax dollars go toward. There are some things that the government spends my money on that I don't like, but I accept that as the way things are.[/quote]

[quote]To answer your question, I would provide 90 impoverished people with food and water. To provide 100 people through a mandatory tax would be coercion.[/quote]

[Regulus]

It's a question about priorities. But without specifics, priorities cannot be weighed.

[Tora]

[quote="Azdgari"]The amount of the tax is irrelevant and unspecified.[/quote]
It must be relevant to make good judgement.
[quote="Azdgari"]The point is that you are not giving of your own free will.[/quote]
Yes technically it is happening, because not everyone will agree to pay this tax. They way democracy works is majority rules; therefore the minority has no say and is forced to pay. In a way free will is lost.

Without the information present it is impossible to make a decision. Making a decision without this important information is irresponsible and wrong.

[DGFone]

The point people are presenting here is that you can't simply ask a question like this willy-nilly and expect an answer. If we are going to answer a question like this, we need our own answers. And if these answers cannot be given, then we will not answer the question, because doing so is a stupid thing to do.

Sometimes, when you know that you don't have enough information, you don't answer the question. Because if you simply start making assumptions, you can be wrong, and you will be alone responsible for possible negative effects created by a careless act.

At the end of the day, if you don't know enough: don't act.

[Azdgari]

What specifics do you really want? I've said the amount of tax isn't relevant, so it's probably low enough not to really affect anyone.


Sorry to be frustrated. I appreciate the idea of situational pragmatism and I'll definitely think about that.

[Tora]

Where are the people that are receiving the food, and who is to say who gets the food? And the tax must be relevant as I have said, because the amount of tax even if it was a penny would severely out do a charitable donation for 90 people to be fed.

[Regulus]

If the tax is irrelevant, then that would clearly be the better of the two choices. But it doesn't just work that way, the tax is always going to be relevant, or else it wouldn't exist.