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user-inactivated  ·  2831 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The problem isn’t that life is unfair – it’s your broken idea of fairness

The scary thing to think about is that the Just World Hypothesis is real and we really do get what we deserve. I don't buy it. One of the reasons that I am a liberal that favors many social programs is that it is not fair for a child to be judged based on the sins of the parent. A kid born to a single crack mom should not be destined to a life of suck just because he lost the birth lottery. Just as a kid born into the 1% should, in theory have the right to go bankrupt and lose everything.

And then I realize I life in a reality that is not fair, often not just, and try not to scream.

    You’re judged by what you do, not what you think

No, fucking, shit. Shouldn't that be the way it is in a fair world? You go to school get good grades don't mess around, you get noted and rewarded for that. Suck at school but you are really good at a trade, where you get better and more skilled and now earn a decent income while raising a family and buying the house etc? Should both of those people be judged as 'good people' or not? The reverse is that if you steal, do drugs, partake in riots etc, should we not judge you as someone 'bad' and treat you accordingly?

I would love to redo high school. Kick out calculus and replace it with finance and statistics. Literature classes should focus on giving students a unifying culture of Western Literature, and use that as a jumping off point to philosophy and ethics. Then the last year of school focus on civics, citizenship and the skills needed to do things like get a checking account, pay taxes, write formal letters to representatives, make a resume etc, basic computer security etc. Maybe figure out a way to work with community colleges so that when you got the kid who is amazing at programming, you send him to the local CC to hone those skills and start that path while they are learning the rest of the stuff. Right now high school exists to do one thing and one thing only: create college students. And I realize I am off on a tangent here, but stick with me. Less than 1/4 of all kids in high school will go to college. And from what I have seen out here in Redneckistan, those 3/4 are being undeserved and treated as an afterthought. A welder does not need to know calculus, but he damn well better know trig and geometry. Carpenters don't need to know 18th century poetry, but they need to know how to write a letter, make a budget etc.

And you guys really need to see his bio page When I saw the name it looked familiar; he's the guy fighting the "cookie law" in the EU.