Wacky Wednesday--Selfishness Is A Virtue

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~You’re supposed to love your neighbor as you love yourself. If selfishness isn’t a virtue, then what do you call it when you love yourself? How can you possibly love your neighbor if you don’t first understand self-love?
~If you don’t take care of yourself, who will take care of you?
~How much prosperity do we currently enjoy precisely because we have a system designed to channel selfishness into productive motivation?
~A selfish person is fairly reasonable and can be persuaded, as opposed to an ideologue who will be irrationally committed to any project he’s into.
~We must believe it’s good since it’s one of the primary things we use to train children to behave properly.
~If selfishness isn’t a virtue, why are we so hard-wired with it?
~A lot of people would be significantly more useful to society if they simply worried more about themselves instead of intruding into everyone else’s business.
~Some people let themselves get taken advantage of because they aren’t selfish enough, and this often leads them to be overwhelmed with things because they are too nice to simply say, “No.”
~We all need “me-time.”