TITLE: Other People's Best Interests
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: December 02, 2014  2:53 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
Yesterday I read:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 It's hard for me to figure out people voting against their
 own self-interests.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not linking to the source, because it wouldn't be fair to
single the speaker out, especially when so many other things
in the article are spot-on.  Besides, I hear many different
people express this sentiment from time time, people of
various political backgrounds and cultural experiences.  It
seems a natural human reaction when things don't turn out the
way we think they should.

Here is something I've learned from teaching and from working
with teams doing research and writing software:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 If you find yourself often thinking that people aren't acting
 in their own self-interests, maybe you don't know what their
 interests are.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

It certainly may be true that people are not acting in <EM>what
you think is</EM> their own self-interest.  But it's rather
presumptuous to think that you other people's best interest
better than they do.

Whenever I find myself in this position, I have some work to do.
I need to get to know my students, or my colleagues, or my
fellow citizens, better.  In cases where it's really true, and
I have strong reason to think they aren't acting in their own
best interest, I have an opportunity to help them learn.
This kind of conversation calls for great care, though, because
often we are dealing with people's identities and most
deeply-held believes.
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