Imagine this. You are living in an apartment of four people and out of the four of them two provide all the resources and the other two are free riders. Except, here is the catch. The two free riders aren’t in collaboration but in opposition. The two free riders begin a game of chicken on who can do the least while doing the most and maintain for the most part a free rider lifestyle. This is just one way that the situations described in the article, The Seven Deadly Dilemmas can overlay and intertwine. What is the purpose of knowing the dilemmas? Well, as someone who has lived through the not so imaginary dilemma stated above it can help with a lot of problems solving. However, it beckons the questions why should we care about other people’s concerns if it hinders are? Compromise seems more like an ethical one than a logical one. But, compromise is mandatoy in order to maintain justice and order.
Your past experience is a really good example of one of the complicated factors in free-riding. Striving to be the one who is a free-rider, without the label of free-rider, by not being the largest free-rider is something that comes up a lot with people our age. Group projects, living situations, etc, everyone wants to free-ride but do it strategically so someone else is identified as THE free-rider.
I really liked your post and the ideas you made. The reason why we need to care about others being free-riders is that they are drains on society. They rely upon others to provide for them. That is why I belive we should care about others problems.
I liked your last few sentences because they are very thought provoking. Why do we compromise? I think that compromise is easier when we know our partner in the action and care about/value their opinion in some way or if we share a common goal and understand that a compromise is the best way to get there.