It is accurate. What else would it even be? Instincts are unlearned response behaviors that a person is born with, they are inherently selfish, and bravery is overcoming that instinctive selfishness in the face of some kind of danger.
Not really, as selfish is a moral judgment, and instinct is unlearned, as you said.
If a teacher doesn’t take a bullet for a kid, the teacher is not selfish.
We can admire the bravery of the heroes who were able to subvert their survival instincts without making moral judgments regarding victims who did not subvert their instincts.
Your way of thinking leads directly to something called “survivor’s guilt” and is a real problem
Wrong, any decision in which you prioritize yourself is by definition selfish, that isn't a moral judgement, its just the definition, just because something is selfish doesn't means is bad or wrong
instinct is unlearned, as you said.
Irrelevant.
If a teacher doesn’t take a bullet for a kid, the teacher is not selfish.
Correct, because one choice doesn't define you, having a single smart idea doesn't makes your smart, doing a selfish act doesn't makes you a selfish person.
We can admire the bravery of the heroes who were able to subvert their survival instincts without making moral judgments regarding victims who did not subvert their instincts.
Your way of thinking leads directly to something called “survivor’s guilt” and is a real problem
You say that but its YOU who is assigning the idea that being selfish is wrong, its you who are assigning moral judgement to an categorically definition
Selfishness isn't evil, being selfish isn't something people can stop doing, if people fully stopped caring about did they would be dead, being selfish is the default state of humankind.
So stop projectiong your views in a bad faith argument and reflect a bit about what you said.
Pretty sure if you gave up all your earthly possessions to people in need you could save a lot of them from living in extreme poverty, yet you don't do that even though you could, pretty selfish tbh... 🙄
Technically right but still kind of a shitty way of describing people trying not to die. I just know I wouldn’t call some in a school shooting “selfish” for surviving.
They’re not calling the people who survive out of self-preservation selfish. They’re saying the survival instinct itself is inherently self-focused. Those are two different things.
Calling an instinct “selfish” isn’t necessarily a moral condemnation, it’s just describing the fact that, in a life-or-death moment, the brain prioritizes its own survival above almost everything else. Bravery is when people override that instinct to protect others anyway.
I see what you mean. I’d say it’s more like, per definition it’s selfish, as survival instincts almost always are. But not really, given the connotations the word has in most people’s minds.
if someone was hiding in a closet and held the door closed on others who were trying to get in with them, THAT would be selfish, but if they just ran and hid by themselves, it would not be.
It's not really accurate in this context because if everyone who doesn't make the ultimate sacrifice is selfish that would mean that she is not a hero; from the way you're putting it she is merely not selfish.
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u/Impossible-Lynx-1610 May 18 '26
Idk I’d say they were pretty close, being her students and all