And I'm totally with you on the not understanding those who think that if something is not done out of purely altruistic love of humanity divorced of possible benefit to one's self, it's not really a good deed. One of my favorite Friends episodes shows the ultimate futility of trying to do a selfless good deed. By the end, Phoebe was searching for something to do that made someone else happy, but made her absolutely miserable, just so she could be sure that she was doing a good deed without any hope of personal payback, even to the smallest amount of personal satisfaction.
The thing about Friends was that we weren't supposed to see her quest as the good and commendable one to take. It was fine to do good if you were doing it because it made you happy. Hell, it was great! You're doing good! You're helping people! You're giving to charity! Where's the bad there?
Funny how a sitcom got that and Joss' great dramatic work that he thinks changed the world forever couldn't grasp the concept.
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Date: 2003-08-06 06:41 pm (UTC)And I'm totally with you on the not understanding those who think that if something is not done out of purely altruistic love of humanity divorced of possible benefit to one's self, it's not really a good deed. One of my favorite Friends episodes shows the ultimate futility of trying to do a selfless good deed. By the end, Phoebe was searching for something to do that made someone else happy, but made her absolutely miserable, just so she could be sure that she was doing a good deed without any hope of personal payback, even to the smallest amount of personal satisfaction.
The thing about Friends was that we weren't supposed to see her quest as the good and commendable one to take. It was fine to do good if you were doing it because it made you happy. Hell, it was great! You're doing good! You're helping people! You're giving to charity! Where's the bad there?
Funny how a sitcom got that and Joss' great dramatic work that he thinks changed the world forever couldn't grasp the concept.