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Is there such a thing as a fair advantage?

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  • #16
    Originally posted by JimL View Post
    There is no such thing as a fair advantage, an advantage means that the advantaged start on an unequal footing.
    Life is tough. We deal with the cards we are dealt.

    In that respect, life is not fair in that we are not all born equal. But two people could be born with equal abilities and yet the one may have an unfair advantage than the other due to the circumstances they are born into. If you just happen to be born to parents who are educated and wealthy, then you would have an unfair advantage over another who is born to parents who are uneducated and poor.
    Who says life is fair?
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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    • #17
      Of course there can be such a thing as a fair advantage. Two people may have similar time and access to educational resources, but one may consistently choose to work hard while another loafs around, and consequently the hard worker earns a scholarship that gives him/her an advantage in applying to better schools and spending less money. Or there may be two professional athletes of roughly even talent level, but one chooses to use legal supplements to increase strength and stamina. Unfair advantages come into play when one person is born into circumstances that severely restrict the time and access to educational resources, or when an athlete uses illegal substances to increase strength.


      Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
      Life is tough. We deal with the cards we are dealt.
      Some people believe that the deck was essentially rigged for a few of the participants.

      Who says life is fair?
      No one, but many say that life ought to be fair, and consequently strive to make it so.
      Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.--Isaiah 1:17

      I don't think that all forms o[f] slavery are inherently immoral.--seer

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by fm93 View Post
        many say that life ought to be fair
        You Westerners and your Égalité.

        Comment


        • #19
          Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
          Life is tough. We deal with the cards we are dealt.
          No kidding, as individuals we have no choice but to deal with the cards we are dealt.


          Who says life is fair?
          I don't know. Who? I just said the opposite, that life is not fair. But as a society, that is no reason not to ignore the conditions and plight of those that were not as lucky as you, if you happen to be one of the luckier ones.

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          • #20
            Originally posted by fm93 View Post
            No one, but many say that life ought to be fair, and consequently strive to make it so.
            But you don't help by dragging those at the top down to the level of those at the bottom --- you help by encouraging those at the top to pull others up.
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • #21
              Originally posted by JimL View Post
              I don't know. Who? I just said the opposite, that life is not fair. But as a society, that is no reason not to ignore the conditions and plight of those that were not as lucky as you, if you happen to be one of the luckier ones.
              I started out with nothing - no inheritance from parents, large family, pretty poor.... I didn't sit around and whine about how tough life was, or how unfair things are - I did something about it. It wasn't luck - it was determination.
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

              Comment


              • #22
                Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                I started out with nothing - no inheritance from parents, large family, pretty poor.... I didn't sit around and whine about how tough life was, or how unfair things are - I did something about it. It wasn't luck - it was determination.
                You were lucky to have a determined personality.
                "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

                There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                  I started out with nothing - no inheritance from parents, large family, pretty poor.... I didn't sit around and whine about how tough life was, or how unfair things are - I did something about it. It wasn't luck - it was determination.
                  Okay, and thats great, but no man is an island, and just because you did well all by your little old self doesn't mean we as a society should not recognise the inherent unfairness of life and try to remedy it as best we can. I don't see what the big deal is. If you recognize the inherent injustice of the circumstances of life, which you have just done, then what is wrong with society trying to alleviate them as best it can? Perhaps if you were one of those who didn't make it, despite your determination, you would be singing a different tune.

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Darth Executor View Post
                    You were lucky to have a determined personality.
                    Maybe I was lucky to have a Dad who believed in motivation.
                    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Originally posted by JimL View Post
                      Okay, and thats great, but no man is an island, and just because you did well all by your little old self doesn't mean we as a society should not recognise the inherent unfairness of life and try to remedy it as best we can.
                      Yeah, MUCH better to tell them how to enroll in government assistance than to get off their duff and do something useful.

                      I don't see what the big deal is. If you recognize the inherent injustice of the circumstances of life, which you have just done, then what is wrong with society trying to alleviate them as best it can?
                      Because the "great society" is a failure. It rewards laziness.

                      Perhaps if you were one of those who didn't make it, despite your determination, you would be singing a different tune.
                      It's not in my character, Jimmy - I found my way, and I have employed others along the way as well - actually paychecks, not handouts.
                      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                        I started out with nothing - no inheritance from parents, large family, pretty poor.... I didn't sit around and whine about how tough life was, or how unfair things are - I did something about it. It wasn't luck - it was determination.
                        Plenty of people with plenty of determination, skills, etc never make it. That you made it rather than other equally determined people WAS a matter of luck.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                          Yeah, MUCH better to tell them how to enroll in government assistance than to get off their duff and do something useful.



                          Because the "great society" is a failure. It rewards laziness.



                          It's not in my character, Jimmy - I found my way, and I have employed others along the way as well - actually paychecks, not handouts.

                          A useful article:

                          Source: Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households. Sherman, Greenstein, Ruffing. CBPP. 2012.02.11



                          The claim behind these critiques is clear: federal spending on entitlements and other mandatory programs through which individuals receive benefits is promoting laziness, creating a dependent class of Americans who are losing the desire to work and would rather collect government benefits than find a job.


                          Such beliefs are starkly at odds with the basic facts regarding social programs, the analysis finds. Federal budget and Census data show that, in 2010, 91 percentof the benefit dollars from entitlement and other mandatory programs went to the elderly (people 65 and over), the seriously disabled, and members of working households. People who are neither elderly nor disabled -- and do not live in a working household -- received only 9 percent of the benefits.

                          Moreover, the vast bulk of that 9 percent goes for medical care, unemployment insurance benefits (which individuals must have a significant work history to receive), Social Security survivor benefits for the children and spouses of deceased workers, and Social Security benefits for retirees between ages 62 and 64. Seven out of the 9 percentage points go for one of these four purposes.

                          © Copyright Original Source



                          2-10-12bud-f1.jpg
                          "I wonder about the trees. / Why do we wish to bear / Forever the noise of these / More than another noise / So close to our dwelling place?" — Robert Frost, "The Sound of Trees"

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by One Bad Pig View Post
                            Why or why not?

                            (This question prompted by the discussion here over bed-time reading being an "unfair advantage.")

                            Discuss.
                            Because I'm black





















                            "Kahahaha! Let's get lunatic!"-Add LP
                            "And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge
                            Oh ye of little fiber. Do you not know what I've done for you? You will obey. ~Cerealman for Prez.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                              But you don't help by dragging those at the top down to the level of those at the bottom --- you help by encouraging those at the top to pull others up.
                              Precisely.
                              Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.--Isaiah 1:17

                              I don't think that all forms o[f] slavery are inherently immoral.--seer

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Kristian Joensen View Post
                                Plenty of people with plenty of determination, skills, etc never make it. That you made it rather than other equally determined people WAS a matter of luck.
                                How do you know they were "equally determined"? How do you know how determined I was, or where I came from?
                                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                                Comment

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