"Life is not fair. Deal with it."

[DrunkDestroyer]

So much of life is decided before you even have a say.


Whether you are good-looking or not?
Tall, funny, charismatic, overweight?
Freckles, acne, facial hair, chest hair

Intelligence, determination, talent don't come naturally.
The parents/influencers you were born with play a huge impact on how you turn out, whether you rebel or consider them role models.
What religion you were born into, whether or not you stayed.
Whether you could afford to be educated.

Whether all your arms and legs work.
Whether you have some sort of disease, that impedes you from things.
Whether you were born in middle-class suburban USA and want to be a Kate Middleton, or a Barack Obama, or whether you were born in Africa, and want to be with your mother, and not hungry.



The aspect of control you have in your life is neligible compared to what has happened, to make you who you are. The people who say you can build whatever life you want for yourself are on one hand, talking complete Bullshit, and on the other, are encouraging you to puch every boundary you have, since otherwise, you're just stuck with what you've been given.


The quote itself is meaningful, but in this context, we are talking about a short story entry, and a couple of votes, and maybe a forum icon or something.
In that case, enjoy the beautiful understatement of this use of "Life isn't fair", and go on to think about how priveledged you are in a million other ways.

[Bloodshadow]

but in this context, we are talking about a short story entry, and a couple of votes, and maybe a forum icon or something.

Are you able to read? I specifically said we are not talking about the quote in this context.

Life is not fair. But do you have to deal with it? Can't you even try to make it better?

Geez, I knew I'm gonna get flamed for posting this topic. Right now I've probably got a few more subconscious minds wanting to erase me from existence.

Why can't I lock this topic? Continuing this discussion will only make me feel bad, since I subconsciously think every counterargument against my arguments is an attack on my person. Every counterargument is ad hominem by default.

[spiritkirinblade]

Well I guess I'll be the first to say that it was logical and justifiable that you would fight for your cause, and the person telling you that was out of order. You should not receive contempt or hate when you have a fair thing to say, but just because you Shouldn't does not mean you won't. No-one with logic will say "Im going to suck it up and not try to appeal to the tournament organizer," because you actually had a chance at re-instatement to the competition.

[agentflare]

Life isn't fair.
You have access to a computer. Millions don't.
You're literate. Millions aren't.
Some people are incredibly talented. Others aren't.

Yup, life's fair alright.

Okay. So I don't deserve to have a computer, or to be literate, or to have talent, because many aren't. Hell, why am I even alive? Why was I not killed by the drunken driver instead of some other random person?

That's one way of looking at it...
My point was that, fundamentally life's not fair. Resources aren't distributed equally.

I deal with it by accepting that fact, and living my life. Not caring about someone else's misery may seem heartless, but it's the only thing you can do. Essentially, I'm an Utilitarian. I believe that whatever creates the most happiness is the best course of action. It's not that you don't deserve to have a computer, you should accept you have one, and live your life. You can't help someone by sinking yourself.

[DrunkDestroyer]

but in this context, we are talking about a short story entry, and a couple of votes, and maybe a forum icon or something.

Are you able to read? I specifically said we are not talking about the quote in this context.

I could say the same thing to you. In the very next line, I said to ignore the use of the phrase. The rest of my post had nothing to do with your short story entry.
I just threw my response to that particular little aside to you, just like you threw it into a much larger question.

If you didn't want to talk about it, and it was all in the past for you, you probably wouldn't have brought it up.
So when I say one line out of maybe ten that offends you, or wasn't exactly what you were (conciously) looking for with the question, you might not want to ask me whether or not I am able to read. It's slightly offensive.

[Bloodshadow]

I'm sorry if I offended you by questioning your literacy, but your post did appear to me as though it is entirely dedicated to calling me an ungrateful bastard and pathetic whiny loser. I only mentioned that little incident as an example, and I do indeed regret bringing it up when I said I wanted to lock this thread.

Life is not fair. That's true. But if an African kid hates my guts because I have food, shelter, clothes, and education, is he justified? The only possible way to placate his murderous hatred is to give him everything I have, but why am I at fault when I have done nothing wrong to him? Essentially, am I only not at fault if I am the most miserable being in existence?

Apparently I deserve hatred and contempt just for being alive. I find that thought very depressing.

[Belthus]

Fairness is one goal that needs to be balanced against many other goals necessary for a good society (e.g., security, sustainability, freedom, etc.). Pursuing any one goal without considering the others can create conditions that few would want to live in. We should seek a remedy when we feel that we have been treated unfairly, but we have to recognize that even the best system is going to have tension between fairness and other aspects of a good society.

[Essence]

This is actually a very important question, but not for the reasons one might thing.  Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers points out that one of the biggest (class-based) differences between people who succeed and people who fail is that people who succeed believe (usually because their parents taught them) that life can be fair if they are willing to go out on a limb and claim that fairness for themselves.  People who are prone to failure accept life's unfairness and try to get by with whatever they end up with.

So, in the end, my answer is: "Life is not fair." is absolutely true -- but "Deal with it." is a bunch of crap that, if you accept it, will literally turn you into a loser, and I'm proud of you, Bloodshadow, for being the more proactive type of individual.

[BluePriest]

This is actually a very important question, but not for the reasons one might thing.  Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers points out that one of the biggest (class-based) differences between people who succeed and people who fail is that people who succeed believe (usually because their parents taught them) that life can be fair if they are willing to go out on a limb and claim that fairness for themselves.  People who are prone to failure accept life's unfairness and try to get by with whatever they end up with.

So, in the end, my answer is: "Life is not fair." is absolutely true -- but "Deal with it." is a bunch of crap that, if you accept it, will literally turn you into a loser, and I'm proud of you, Bloodshadow, for being the more proactive type of individual.

qft. We may have polarizing views as far as politics go, however, truer words were never spoken

[Jenkar]

I'd say that since life's unfair to everybody, exploit the unfairness of it in others to make it fairer to you :p

[tyranim]

you know what i say about life? if life gives you lemons, tell it to go f*** itself and go pick an orange

[Astrocyte]

Cave Johnson in Portal 2 tells you exactly what to do when life gives you lemons...