Evil Selfishness
“Selfish behavior is often described as immoral. A good person thinks of others first.” This analysis from “Good, Neutral, and Bad Selfishness” written by John A. Jonathan perfectly describes what people view selfishness as. Most people would even confidently say that they are not selfish; a quality that usually means one is only concerned with themselves. The word has developed a negative connotation that nobody wants to be associated with, even though selfishness is not always awful. This should not be the case, especially in survival. When living is now a priority, people aren’t concerned with saving anyone but themselves and they get berated for thinking that way. Survival requires selfishness because that is what fuels the desire to live
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In other words, in order to survive, the yearning to live has to be prevalent. If it is not, then there is no point in trying. Edgar Quisenberry, a character from Alas, Babylon affirms this point. The text states, “This was the end. Civilization was ended...he found the old nickel-plated revolver...he put it to his temple, wondering whether it would work. It did” (Frank 122). Edgar did not have the drive to survive, nor was he concerned with himself and it resulted in his suicide. He did not even attempt at trying to live due to his negative will. On the contrary, one woman committed a selfish act and she survived, coincidently or not. From the argument “Is Survival Selfish”, “People were frozen or screaming, but nobody was moving toward the emergency exits, even as smoke began to fill the cabin. After realizing that the people around her were too paralyzed to react, she took direct action, crawling over several rows of people to get to the exit. She got out of the plan and survived. Very few others in the plane...did” (Wallace 318). The woman was selfish by focusing on self-preservation instead of attempting to save the others, but this led to her survival. If she had done otherwise by being selfless instead, she would have died with the rest of the passengers. The woman’s survival was granted due to her selfish actions, and she was selfish because she wanted to live. In addition to selfishness fueling the desire to
In other words, in order to survive, the yearning to live has to be prevalent. If it is not, then there is no point in trying. Edgar Quisenberry, a character from Alas, Babylon affirms this point. The text states, “This was the end. Civilization was ended...he found the old nickel-plated revolver...he put it to his temple, wondering whether it would work. It did” (Frank 122). Edgar did not have the drive to survive, nor was he concerned with himself and it resulted in his suicide. He did not even attempt at trying to live due to his negative will. On the contrary, one woman committed a selfish act and she survived, coincidently or not. From the argument “Is Survival Selfish”, “People were frozen or screaming, but nobody was moving toward the emergency exits, even as smoke began to fill the cabin. After realizing that the people around her were too paralyzed to react, she took direct action, crawling over several rows of people to get to the exit. She got out of the plan and survived. Very few others in the plane...did” (Wallace 318). The woman was selfish by focusing on self-preservation instead of attempting to save the others, but this led to her survival. If she had done otherwise by being selfless instead, she would have died with the rest of the passengers. The woman’s survival was granted due to her selfish actions, and she was selfish because she wanted to live. In addition to selfishness fueling the desire to