The sinking of the passenger shipping vessel The Titanic in 1912 revealed both tragedy and nobility across social lines.
Some were selfish, the majority weren’t
Among the ship’s most strong and prosperous demographic, were the first-class men. Only one third of this group of individuals survived the sinking.
The less strong and prosperous groups of a second and third-class, including women and children, survived at higher rates.
This implies that while some men chose to selfishly save themselves, the majority sacrificed their lives so that those less fortunate could take the seats in the life-boats.
- 34 percent of third-class children and 46 percent of third-class women survived.
- 100 percent of second-class children and 86 percent of second-class women survived.
What this means
- This one example illustrates that many of the most powerful people in society do act selfishly, but the majority do not. The majority of the most powerful men gave their lives for those less powerful.
- In a world without taxation, we can expect many to be selfish but that the majority would voluntarily choose to share.
- Neither forced nor voluntary wealth redistribution leads to perfect wealth equality. However, trying to justify coercive taxation on the grounds that the rich would always be selfish is unhelpful.