I figured this out during the pandemic

You misunderstood what I meant, so I must have communicated badly.

I meant, people who often say “leave me alone” are “libertarian” types who want to benefit from society without contributing as they’re able (with money or labor). Think of the kind of guy who says “leave me alone! I don’t want to pay taxes for some school. I don’t even have kids.” They benefit from public education, but they don’t see it that way, and they’d rather keep that 20% of their paycheck than have a fire department. I wouldn’t call a baby a “freeloader” because they’re not really capable of doing much. It’s when people can contribute but selfishly and self-destructively choose not to that I’m scornful.

In other words, when someone says their politics are “leave me alone” I am very suspicious of their understanding of society. They want the privileges of society without the obligations, typically.

I swear to fucking god that it’s not even that; it’s people that care for others, and people that are willfully ignorant that it’s actually pragmatically cheaper and more efficient to care for others than to treat them like shit.

Pandemic as an example : the more you stay indoors and try to stop the spread of the virus, the faster the pandemic ends and the faster YOU can get back to normal. FORGET that it also stops people dying and protects the vulnerable, it’s in YOUR SELFISH INTEREST.

Or having a basic system of social welfare : giving bread to a poor person costs the price of the bread. Having to imprison them, pay for cops, repair of broken things, investigations etc costs more fucking money. even if you hate people and want them to die, it’s fucking CHEAPER FOR YOU.

The Tragedy of the Commons is very tragic and very common.

don’t even bother having a society

Societies are the mechanism used to pass down historical accounts and ingrain in future generations the value of current cultural practices. The only way you have a functional state is with a current society of people who advocate, educate, and lead us towards its replication and expansion on behalf of future generations.

have them just kill and gang rape everyone they want to, it’s cheaper that way

There’s more to life than its spot price at auction.

I really don’t know how to convince people they should care about others.

I don’t know how to teach empathy.

Others are willing to give much more, but most people still have limits (for example, being willing to die for a cause is much rarer than people who are willing to go to a peaceful protest)

right, but I’m saying this in the context of things that are literally more beneficial. Dying is not literally more beneficial.

Like it costs $3 to give someone a loaf of bread. It costs $10k or something to shove them in jail for theft.

I don’t care about other people at all. Leave me alone and let me be.

But I also don’t believe that anyone should go homeless or hungry when we have billionaires with plenty of money to share, which is why I refuse to vote republican.

Bottom line is that people annoy me, but I still have empathy.

They do care about others, but only the ones they know.

People they don’t know, they don’t care about at all.

That is why when they meet someone of the “others” and they make a connection, they call them “one of the good ones”. The rest of the same group they still don’t care about, just that one person.

I know that you’re explaining the argument and not actually endorsing it, so this isn’t directed at you:

You know that they just get given food at jail, right? And it’s still your money paying for that. And now those people are literally restricted from participating in society. If we fed them without jailing them, they could hold a job and spend money and provide to their community; instead we are paying for a punishment hotel to house and feed them in isolation. So if you subtract the cost of food from both sides since we’re feeding them either way, you just want to pay a lot of money to make them miserable, and also waive any benefit that society could recoup from having them be fed.

1: Those who value human life

2: and those who don’t

It’s kind of the eternal struggle when you think about it

You misunderstood what I meant, so I must have communicated badly.

I meant, people who often say “leave me alone” are “libertarian” types who want to benefit from society without contributing as they’re able (with money or labor). Think of the kind of guy who says “leave me alone! I don’t want to pay taxes for some school. I don’t even have kids.” They benefit from public education, but they don’t see it that way, and they’d rather keep that 20% of their paycheck than have a fire department. I wouldn’t call a baby a “freeloader” because they’re not really capable of doing much. It’s when people can contribute but selfishly and self-destructively choose not to that I’m scornful.

In other words, when someone says their politics are “leave me alone” I am very suspicious of their understanding of society. They want the privileges of society without the obligations, typically.

When I say “leave me alone”, I mean:

• don’t come up to my table when I am studying, snatch what I am working on and run away…
• don’t bang/kick on my door when you only intend to run away…
• don’t steal stuff from my bag/locker/whatever container legally marked as mine…
• don’t, when you randomly see me walking on the road, minding my own business, come and beat me up or try to frame me for some random crime that you made up…

… just to then say, “oh! I’m just trying to make friends”.

If that is how you (whoever that is) make friends, leave me alone. I don’t want to be made into your “friend”.