Believing that life is fair might make you a terrible person

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07 Feb 2015, 12:25 pm

Contrary to what many conservatives think the world is not fair.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/oliver-burkeman-column/2015/feb/03/believing-that-life-is-fair-might-make-you-a-terrible-person?CMP=share_btn_tw

AspieUtah
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07 Feb 2015, 12:28 pm

God (or nature) gives every human an equal, fair chance. This is probably what conservatives are trying to describe. Other humans frequently interfere with that chance, and conservatives sometimes ignore that fact. So, yes, I would say that, for some, life isn't fair.

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Fnord
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07 Feb 2015, 12:32 pm

News Flash: The world is not fair!

I've been telling that to everyone who whines about how unfair it is that the world doesn't give them enough hand-outs to support them in luxury.

Well, boo-hoo! Either deal with it or do something about it. Either way, stop your whining!

:roll:

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Raptor
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07 Feb 2015, 12:55 pm

Tollorin wrote:

Contrary to what many conservatives think the world is not fair.

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luan78zao
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07 Feb 2015, 1:27 pm

Tollorin wrote:

many conservatives

Who? Kindly supply quotations.

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Fnord
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07 Feb 2015, 1:32 pm

Actually, believing that life should be fair might make you a miserable person.

StagtheStalker
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07 Feb 2015, 1:37 pm

Fnord wrote:

Actually, believing that life should be fair might make you a miserable person.

Life will never be fair.

People on the other hand might want to try it.

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07 Feb 2015, 1:53 pm

StagtheStalker wrote:

Fnord wrote:

Actually, believing that life should be fair might make you a miserable person.

Life will never be fair.

People on the other hand might want to try it.

Having said this the main problem with our current system isn't unfairness or people wanting luxurious(doubtful in my experience) handouts. But greed and corruption. It's the fact that a small group of greedy, well-off, well connected asshats want to centralize wealth and power to the point that most people are just plebs with little choice between sh***y soul-crushing jobs and slightly less sh***y soul-crushing jobs. Seriously now more than ever we could have system where much of the s**t that causes the MAJOR problems of human history could be softened to a significant degree. But we don't because some people can't stand the fact that might only have 40 billion instead of 50 billion.

What we need isn't just more fairness it's more power in the hands of ordinary everyday people. That can cause problems of it's own but I'm not operating from a point of utopia here. I'm operating from the idea that centralization of power, political or economic is a bad for human well-being.

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07 Feb 2015, 2:02 pm

Raptor wrote:

Tollorin wrote:

Contrary to what many conservatives think the world is not fair.

Good rhetoric, but I think it's missing the point. Refusing to acknowledge the inequality that exists in our society and how this inequality can hold people back can and does make someone a sh***y person.

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07 Feb 2015, 2:03 pm

AspieUtah wrote:

That is not so everyone does not get an equal, fair chance when they start out...some people are born with very disabling disabilities, some people are born with neurological conditions like autism/aspergers and based on genetics people can be more prone to get some sorts of physical and/or mental health problems than others. On top of that already existing 'unfairness' social factors including other people can effect a person and put them at a disadvantage as well.

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Sweetleaf
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07 Feb 2015, 2:08 pm

StagtheStalker wrote:

Fnord wrote:

Actually, believing that life should be fair might make you a miserable person.

Life will never be fair.

People on the other hand might want to try it.

Life will never be entirely fair...though I think it is reasonable to attempt to make it as fair as possible on the level of society at least...But some people prefer pseudo-survival of the fittest behavior, meaning they feel there needs to be poverty and disadvantaged people to make way for those who move up in the BS hierarchy so are in support of a system that helps put certain groups at a disadvantage moreso than the general nature stuff like genetic predisposition.

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Sweetleaf
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07 Feb 2015, 2:09 pm

StagtheStalker wrote:

Raptor wrote:

Tollorin wrote:

Contrary to what many conservatives think the world is not fair.

Or ignorant, sh*tty might be a stretch...in some cases.

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Fnord
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07 Feb 2015, 2:09 pm

StagtheStalker wrote:

... Refusing to acknowledge the inequality that exists in our society and how this inequality can hold people back can and does make someone a sh***y person.

So who's refusing to acknowledge inequality and unfairness? It exists, although I think that some people hold themselves back for believing that inequality and unfairness makes it impossible for anyone to be successful without cheating or doing something illegal.

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07 Feb 2015, 2:16 pm

StagtheStalker wrote:

Fnord wrote:

Actually, believing that life should be fair might make you a miserable person.

Life will never be fair.

People on the other hand might want to try it.

Lol yeah cause disability income, food stamps and medicaid is so very luxurious....why people have this weird idea people on any kind of welfare are looking for a bunch of free luxary hand-outs I am not really sure. I imagine most people on it legitimately need the help and are more concerned with being able to cover basic needs than luxary..at least that is my perspective being in that position. If I budget right I am able to afford a luxary here and there which is nice...I don't expect a bunch of 'hand outs' but see nothing wrong with having applied for and gotten the financial help I qualify for in this country considering it was needed as my parents cannot afford my expenses.

And nothing to add to the rest but I do tend to agree with that as well.

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Sweetleaf
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07 Feb 2015, 2:19 pm

Fnord wrote:

StagtheStalker wrote:

... Refusing to acknowledge the inequality that exists in our society and how this inequality can hold people back can and does make someone a sh***y person.

Has anyone here said that is the only way to be successful? I think it was more implied there are quite a lot of barriers to success, and its becoming more and more apparent honest hard work does not nessisarily bring success, and in fact you can still be struggling to make ends meet, working your a** off and still end up needing EBT or other government help.

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TheAP
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07 Feb 2015, 2:26 pm

I can see how believing life is fair might make you a terrible person--if you believed that everyone deserves what they get. But there is another kind of "believing life is fair"--that is, pretending unfairness doesn't exist in the world. I don't think that makes you a terrible person, exactly--just clueless.

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