Last weekend an Australian athlete won a Hyrox event (some crazy exercise trend in gyms across the world) after she had soiled herself. This is not uncommon under extreme physical conditions, with it happening relatively regularly in marathons. However, Hyrox is indoors on a circuit, with equipment, meaning that the "trail of shit" affected everyone. At the time, there were no rules in place to stop her, so she kept on going. This was a sporting event, not life or death, and there were toilets available to use, though that would have likely cost her the win as it is timed.
Should this behaviour be celebrated?
Sure, on one hand it shows the dedication and drive, but one has to question the decisions to subject fellow competitors to this level of hygiene risk. And I wonder, would the woman be as calm as saying "a win is a win" (as she apparently did on her social media) if she had been behind the winner having to push through someone else's crap?
I don't think so.
But maybe it is more an extreme example of the selfishness and entitlement of people today, where achieving our own goals, getting our own win is paramount, no matter what kind of conditions we subject others to, or what detriment we may cause them. It is another sign of do not protect or help others, if it gets in the way of our own arbitrary desires.
How much would you sell someone out for?
We might often talk about corruption in politics, but those politicians are just people who have come through the same cultures as ourselves. So while they might take a bribe for millions, or tens of thousands, what are we willing to do to gain an advantage, and for what price? If the choice is doing the right thing or doing something wrong that benefits us, what amount are we willing to do it for?
I used to work a lot with sellers and there was one who would find every way he could to maximise his cut of the deal, even when it was obviously detrimental to his colleagues. Not only that, he was already earning more than those colleagues who would only get a small percentage bonus, but he would jump through hoops to stop them getting anything, even though the percentage gain for him was largely irrelevant. The lengths he would go to was almost pathological, as he would plan and connive his way into get a few more euros - and he had no shame.
Maximise the self?
I think that this self-maximisation mindset has always been there in the sense that we do want what is best for ourselves, but over the last few decades it is shifting into extremes, as far as general society operates. A big part of it has been driven by individualism and disconnection from each other, but I also think that it has been catalysed by the drive of "self-branding" that has been pushed by social media, which has turned us all into mini corporations.
Corporations are amoral.
Yes, people tend to lead corporations (though this is getting highly debateable with the usage of AI), but those people are beholden to the underlying and core rule of maximising shareholder wealth. Those shareholders are largely unknowns also, but are still treated as the core reason for the business. It isn't the product or the outcomes, it is for profit. Without profit, the business collapses, no matter how much good it does. Corporations are entities that can own like humans, but have special privileges above humans - like lower tax rates, no inheritance transfer tax, and they never need die.
Personal branding doesn't overcome our death, but what it does do is put ourselves before everything else, and makes us who engage in it far more like politicians than me might want to admit, by playing a game of marketing and manipulation in order to satisfy our own desires. And just like power corrupts politicians, the power we get from this game is going to corrupt our own decisions and actions, but usually for far less in value than a politician would get. That means that we could be considered worse than a politician, if we are willing to act like them, for less.
And do it shamelessly.
Shame.
Go for a walk into the local market, and shit yourself in front of everyone and see if you feel any sense of shame or embarrassment. See how strong your ego is, and whether your "I don't care what others think of me" muscle holds up. Shame and guilt seem to have been washed out of a lot of what we do, because a lot of what we do isn't seen publicly, and our worst behaviours we can hide. But, that doesn't mean we wouldn't feel them if we were seen.
Corporations are shameless, because they aren't human.
And, as I see it, the more we break away from other people, disconnect, hide behind screens and only look to maximise ourselves, the less shame and guilt we will feel, and the more bad behaviour we will engage in. As a result, we will create the conditions for others that will lead them down the same path and make the "Me for me" approach the standard, the culture. We will lose even more respect for each other, care less for each other, be less compassionate, less empathetic, less human.
We will still need to shit.
Taraz
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