Something I’ve been mulling over lately… it’s funny how ideals of justice have changed. Ages ago, if someone wanted to prove he was right, he would pound people’s faces into the ground until they admitted it. 8p
Nowadays, every single person, gender, occupation, race, and miscellaneous is falling over each other trying to prove that they’re the most victimized of them all. Everyone’s suing everyone else and saying how bad they’ve been treated. In other words, you can only establish superiority over someone else by first establishing inferiority over them and having the court (or the media, or the UN, or whatever) nodding in sympathy and saying “yes, you’re right, those other guys are too big and nasty, pay up.” It’s a race to see who can be the most injured.
Whatever happened to being right because you’re right, rather than being right because the other guy’s wrong?
That’s because you can’t “prove” you have a “mental injury”. If you fracture something or injure something, doctors can check that out and tell the court if you really have been hurt. Anyone can lie about how “traumatized” they are, even to a psychologist.
Actually, the basic idea behind “Political Correctness”- that of CARING about each other- IS fair, and one the human race has been seeking thru all its history. For all our problems today, I think we’re closer than ever to achieving it (at least in first-world nations. We still have a WAY to go for a fully free, just World.)
The problem with being PC, as I see it, it’s that it’s become a GOAL upon itself. People are PC not because they think it’s fair, but because they don’t want to be seen as mysanthropes… or get sued over even the slightest offensive acts.
I think everyone’s kind of missing the point here. ^^;
PC-ness isn’t what I’m railing about (that’s a whole other rant). Someone being PC means he thinks for other people in this regard. I’m more talking about the tendency of people to rouse PC-ness in others by clamoring about their victimization. It’s the exact opposite of might makes right - because I’m weak, therefore I’m right.
EDIT: I’m not saying that these people are being unreasonable or wrong, either. It’s just that every single debate in the world seems to be centered around people climbing over each other to be the most hard done by, like playing a “my life is more miserable than yours” game.
Well, perhaps people do this because they feel they are being mistreated, and they think the best way to make themself look more victimized is to “widen the gap” between what actually happened to them and how well they took it. They’ll latch themselves onto a suitable downtrotten minorty group in an attempt to look weak and helpless, claiming to be an underdog, trampled by the strong who are drunk off their own power.
Well, I sort of see that as yet another example of “might makes right,” only in this day and age, we have more weapons than just rhetoric and sticks and stones. Like, I’m mightier than you are because I have this gift of making people like me no matter what, so therefore whether or not I’m right is of little consequence - because I can use my might to get what I want. Though I guess in this case, the phrase “might makes right” would have to be replaced with something like, “ability makes right.” Not quite as catchy but, eh. Because they’re not really injuring themselves, at least not more than they’ll be compensated for in the end. Their “might” is in their ability to play up what little injuries they’ve had done to them. I suppose.
It all started when the hebrews were supposedly enslaved in egypt before being freed by Moses and Aaron. If you make yourself look weak other people will feel a strong pityness for you - and usually this pityness gets bigger than other feelings of hostility. We always think good of the opressed and ill of the opressor because of that.
Well in that case how come it hasn’t worked in RPGC? We’ve had our fair share of “I got it so rough” threads, and everyone labels these as attention whore cry outs. No one even considers if the person is actually just looking for a discussion or just to vent, most automatically assume they’re looking for sympathy, and therefore, they should be slandered for doing so. In a way, the people making these assumptions are basically passing off the same judgements “your life can’t be that bad, stop complaining, there is much worse” etc.
Well to some of these “victims”, they truely believe that they are right, and that they have a right to be compensated. It’s either suffer or get justified, and no matter how weak the person is, I’m willing to bet they want to be justified (through whatever means available), or they’ll suffer, but NOT in silence (and everyone knows a person like this).
Originally posted by Ren It all started when the hebrews were supposedly enslaved in egypt before being freed by Moses and Aaron. If you make yourself look weak other people will feel a strong pityness for you - and usually this pityness gets bigger than other feelings of hostility. We always think good of the opressed and ill of the opressor because of that.
And how do explain the Jews being one of the most long-persecuted groups in human history?
You obviously haven’t actually read the Bible. The Jews got out of slavery because God basically strong-armed the Egyptians by punishing them with all kinds of nasty stuff.
Pity makes one powerful.
What has happened is that the world has become globalised, which means more people will notice the victims and associate themselves with them. At least support them. Playing the victim has become the easiest way of getting revenge. Pummeling means you will have to do the work, playing the victim means someone else will do the work for you.
Originally posted by Evangelion Well to some of these “victims”, they truely believe that they are right, and that they have a right to be compensated. It’s either suffer or get justified, and no matter how weak the person is, I’m willing to bet they want to be justified (through whatever means available), or they’ll suffer, but NOT in silence (and everyone knows a person like this). Like the woman who poured hot coffee on herself? Or the guy who became overweight because he ate fast food every day? Some people are only victims of their own stupidity and greed, and I damn well believe that isn’t justified.
Originally posted by Epicgamer Like the woman who poured hot coffee on herself? Or the guy who became overweight because he ate fast food every day? Some people are only victims of their own stupidity and greed, and I damn well believe that isn’t justified.
Well, the coffee was hot enough to cause third degree burns. That is clearly too damned hot (coffee would NOT normally cause third degree burns)- and so she won the suit.
I agree with your assessment on the fast food one, though.
Originally posted by Epicgamer Like the woman who poured hot coffee on herself? Or the guy who became overweight because he ate fast food every day? Some people are only victims of their own stupidity and greed, and I damn well believe that isn’t justified.
Apparently you misunderstood. Did I mention that these people are in the right? No. Do they want justice? Yes. Even if it’s dirty? Yes. I never said it was the right thing to do, I just stated the truth, that every victim wants compensation whether it be money or sympathy or something else. Don’t twist my words around.
Are we on a jury? No. Are we in the courtroom? No. It isn’t just these “stupid” people, they have to win somehow. There are people behind the scenes making it happen. Concentrate your anger on those people too.
Since the original post is founded on vague generalizations, it’s hard for me to comment on it either positively or negatively. Nonetheless, I would advise one to be wary of claims of how “everyone is suing everyone else,” because very often the truth gets buried when such stories spread. For example, that McDonalds coffee lawsuit did have a good reason behind it (as someone or other already explained), but you wouldn’t know that if you only heard about the case from the dozens of career hacks who started screaming about how frivolous and awful it was when it came up.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t frivolous lawsuits. For instance, there was one where a guy thought that the word “niggardly” was racist and sued someone for saying it. He lost. Just because one can sue someone doesn’t guarantee that the suit will be successful.
Well, I suppose some people just want money, some are just crazy, and some just want equal rights even though it looks like they really want something else. But maybe that’s just me.
Because they’re not really injuring themselves, at least not more than they’ll be compensated for in the end. Their “might” is in their ability to play up what little injuries they’ve had done to them. I suppose.
Like the woman who poured hot coffee on herself? Or the guy who became overweight because he ate fast food every day? Some people are only victims of their own stupidity and greed, and I damn well believe that isn’t justified.