So much in politics and current political thought is based on the idea of "enforcing Karma." It seems that there is a need in certain risk averse people to see people who take risks suffer the bad consequences of taking the risk. They just never to see themselves suffer any such consequences.

After all, if you choose to drive your family to Florida instead of flying, don't you "deserve" to get in a wreck, lose them all, survive and suffer a spinal injury, remaining a quadraplegic for the remainder of your life?

If you choose to not graduate high school, get a low paying job that doesn't offer health insurance, don't you deserve to die if you get a condition that you can't afford to be treated for?

quote:
It's not schadenfreude, it's the concept that they were not responsible for the bad that happened and are not "shamed", thus creating a platform for recidivism.

This is sort of a false dichotomy. It's really neither. It's just people being self-righteous and wanting bad things to happen to others who make different choices so that the self-righteous can feel validated.

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Posted by slackster

Houston

Member since Mar 2009

85396 posts

Posted on 5/9/16 at 12:05 pm to BiggerBear

quote:
So much in politics and current political thought is based on the idea of "enforcing Karma." It seems that there is a need in certain risk averse people to see people who take risks suffer the bad consequences of taking the risk. They just never to see themselves suffer any such consequences.

After all, if you choose to drive your family to Florida instead of flying, don't you "deserve" to get in a wreck, lose them all, survive and suffer a spinal injury, remaining a quadraplegic for the remainder of your life?

Well put. Similarly, do you deserve to die if you join the military?

The bottom line is that people should be sympathetic within reason - there is no black and white answer. You cannot equate having all your investments in penny stocks to walking down the sidewalk in a bad part of town. In one situation you are taking on a risk/reward decision that should compensate you accordingly over the long run, but you can get burned as well. That is an acceptable trade off. In the other, there are no acceptable outcomes that end with murder, assault, or being mugged. No one who is innocently walking down an American street deserves that, ever.

If you heard the story about the Tulane student and thought "play stupid games, win stupid prizes", then you should probably see a psychologist.

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Posted by Kujo

225-911-5736

Member since Dec 2015

6015 posts

Posted on 5/9/16 at 12:11 pm to BiggerBear

quote:
It's just people being self-righteous and wanting bad things to happen to others who make different choices so that the self-righteous can feel validated.

Is that how you see it?

What I'm saying is that if the "bad choices" aren't emphasized then they are more likely to repeat themselves.

Everyone else is making excuses for them and saying that the "event" was just a one off.

Sorry Honey, he was just a bad felon, not all felons are bad. And the only reason he was bad is because judgmental pricks discriminate against people with face tattoos. If they gave him a good job, then he wouldn't have had to steal all those ipads.

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Posted by Mung