Ok, let me start with a confession. I am an
elderly white male – full of white privilege and very fortunate. I know a bit
about self interest. I have it, big time, even when I am not conscious of
it.
This self interest, i.e. this primordial
concern for one’s own survival, seems to be built into every living species on
the planet. If we did not have self interest, we surely would not have survived
in a brutally competitive world where others are also motivated by their own self
interest.
However, it seems like the self-interest gene
has leapt out of control. We in the western world now exalt in our “freedom”! We
are distinct, we are different, and we are not afraid to flaunt it – in our
clothes, our tattoos, our piercings, our hairdos, in all of our material
accoutrements, cars, homes, etc.
