Inequality *Is* Wrong

[Lorizael]

He does have a severe issue. His severe issue is that he's a god damn moron.

There's this interesting phenomenon wherein certain kinds of poor behavior are due to uncontrollable factors (schizophrenia, say) and others are due to being a bad person (moronity, say). Different cultures make the division in different places, but we all do it.

[Elok]

The point of the anecdote is to demonstrate that there is at least one case in which inequality is not wrong.

But that's beside the point if it's only one case, or a minority of cases. Do you seriously believe that the average guy who flips burgers by day and stocks shelves by night honestly had a real shot at becoming successful? I don't. I get to see class stratification in real time. Nice upper-middle-class white kids load up with AP courses; blacks, hispanics, and white kids raised by the TV are taking algebra I in ninth or tenth grade, and doing poorly at it. In one such class not long ago, I walked a kid painstakingly through every step of the problem but the last, which was multiplying 32 by 2 IIRC. He sat and stared at it, like it was some kind of exotic bird, for like five minutes. He was too dumb, whether from natural or artificial causes, to even comprehend multiplication. But not quite dumb enough to count as mentally challenged and get all the support they get, so he's probably going to be on welfare or in jail five years from now. Probably the latter; I've known him for years, and he's not a bad-natured child, but he falls in with the rough ones because they're the only ones who will accept him. A few seats away, there was a much, much brighter kid . . . who spoke only Spanish. County couldn't find/afford an interpreter to shadow him, so he'd been reduced to guessing WTF his teachers were talking about. Doing surprisingly well at it, too. But even my pidgin Spanish was enough to get him on roughly the right track, for that one day. But by now they'll have moved on, and he'll be back in the woods.

My point is not that there are obvious, easy answers to these problems. But those kids, and a lot of others like them, are hosed, and there is nothing they can do about it.

[Kidlicious]

You're recklessly stupid, Regina.

The point is that inequality correlates with people making bad decisions.

You mean heroine addicts are poor?

[regexcellent]

But that's beside the point if it's only one case, or a minority of cases.

It's not beside the point. All I am doing is refuting the audaciously broad statement that "inequality is wrong." Is inequality sometimes wrong? Maybe. That wasn't my point.

Before you get mad at me for being pedantic, remember that Oncle Boris is a philosopher (allegedly) and this is supposed to be what he does.

There's this interesting phenomenon wherein certain kinds of poor behavior are due to uncontrollable factors (schizophrenia, say) and others are due to being a bad person (moronity, say). Different cultures make the division in different places, but we all do it.

Don't try to blame being an ******* with no moral compass or respect for authority on some psychological disorder. It's entirely his fault.

When HC says he's a moron, he doesn't literally mean that he's unintelligent. He's not. In fact he's quite bright. He's just chicken****.

[Hauldren Collider]

There's this interesting phenomenon wherein certain kinds of poor behavior are due to uncontrollable factors (schizophrenia, say) and others are due to being a bad person (moronity, say). Different cultures make the division in different places, but we all do it.

He doesn't have schizophrenia. He's not even stupid. He just makes awful choices. It's not outside his control.

[Dinner]

The point of the anecdote is to demonstrate that there is at least one case in which inequality is not wrong.

No, the point was to try to claim that all poor people are poor because they deserve it. You also happen to be both clueless and full of ****.

[Hauldren Collider]

You will never ever hear either myself or Reg claim that all poor people are poor from their own fault, or that they deserve it. To be honest, I don't think even my cousin deserves what he gets, or more precisely, I don't *care* whether he "deserves" it. The point is that it was avoidable, and his fault.

And also, to be clear, I don't dislike my cousin either. I actually like him, and wish he would straighten his life out, but he's made his choices, and you can't help people who don't want help.

He's also not even that poor. From what I understand he has a place to live, enough to eat, and even some modest luxuries. He just doesn't have as much as most in the US. He probably does better than many much harder-working illegal immigrants. That's pretty unfair, don't you think?

[KrazyHorse]

Who would have known that the stupidity and impulsiveness that drive behaviors leading to poverty also drive bad life choices in areas other than employment?

[Bereta_Eder]

Besides the heart bleeding story of the cousin, and may he be well,
what the quote in the first post says, is self evident.

[Lorizael]

Threads like this just make me sad. The all-encompassing lack of empathy on display simply astounds me. I'm gonna go make a poor cal/$ decision now. Bye, folks.

[Bereta_Eder]

That's simply called class war.
Some countries are more ****ed than others in that domain.
What surprises me is the instictive unconscious defence of said class. It's automatic. It's pretty nifty.

[Elok]

It's not beside the point. All I am doing is refuting the audaciously broad statement that "inequality is wrong." Is inequality sometimes wrong? Maybe. That wasn't my point.

Before you get mad at me for being pedantic, remember that Oncle Boris is a philosopher (allegedly) and this is supposed to be what he does.

To me, this reads somewhat like "but, the monkey threw his poo at me first!" The defects of filosofy, or individual filosofers, are not an excuse for failing or refusing to engage the subject on a higher level.

[Fake Boris]

Maybe that's because making bad decisions tends to make you poor!

Listen to the conference and come back when you've got something to say, dip****.

All your retarded, easily disproven points are addressed.

[Fake Boris]

Who would have known that the stupidity and impulsiveness that drive behaviors leading to poverty also drive bad life choices in areas other than employment?

The more unequal countries are doing worse on all these kinds of social problems. It's an extraordinarily close correlation. But if you look at that same index of health and social problems in relation to GNP per capita, gross national income, there's nothing there, no correlation anymore.

[Fake Boris]

So, poor people tend to act and feel bad. Gee, that sure needed a bloody TED talk to establish.

The conference is about inequality, not poverty, which is what makes it quite interesting.