"If we are crunching the numbers, though, it seems like the flip side is much much more common, i.e. people doing things to benefit themselves under ostensibly altruistic motivations. "
Well, this is typical behavior, we all know that.
That is why I was puzzled by the phenomenon when everything happens in reverse.
But a much more common situation is when people clearly indicate and voice their position: they enter into interaction with others for the mutual formal benefit of both parties (nothing personal, it's just business), or for altruistic reasons.
But what my observation reveals, and what is probably even more common, is that people interact very often simultaneously satisfying both needs - for the good of others (you can call it altruism) and for their own good
If we talk about rationality in the broad sense of the word, as it is used on lesswrong, and not about rationalization in the narrow sense (and in general, these are different words with different meanings, although one-rooted), then rationality means "how a person should think and act in order to maximize the benefit of all, and the concept of "all" includes all people equally, and therefore himself"
It follows - I've seen it too many times. Of course, I myself thought about this effect, that such an effect takes place, that I understand the words, but still, since English is not my native language, I can abstract from the meaning of the words and focus all my directed attention on the music and on my feelings from it.
Gluecifer - Easy Living "coz i’m feeling shitty"
The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony
U2 - One "Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?"
"Sets himself idealistic but illusory goals. Has been bitterly disappointed and turns his back on life in weary self-disgust. Wants to forget it all and recover in a comfortable, problem-free situation" [easy living]
But even if we talk in this way about those for whom English is their native language, we can say that music and text simultaneously affect a person, enhancing the artistic effect of each other. The main thing here for me is that the color test allows you to convey to the listener that they experienced a specific emotional state that coincided with the original mood of the song's author. Then the question arises: how many of us have been in this emotional state?
In this regard, it is interesting to go to the meta level in the song Jeff Rowe - Stolen Songs. Stolen songs are a kind of metaphorical reflection of the fact that the audience can feel the same way as it is sung in the song, and assign this right to themselves. The performer does not have an exclusive right to the artistic content, but only to the form. But the paradox of music is that form and content define each other.
"Sing me a secret that's hidden behind chords you say that you can't find, sing for me me one more time... Play me a stolen song, the one we knew we'd steal. Sooner or later we just might steal them all and claim them for our own. Who cares if they know"
Ironically, even if someone gets the copyright to smile and forbids me to smile when expressing joy, I will have to steal the smile as a form of expressing joy, because that's how I express joy