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I know people who profess to be victims, too. I'll tick off the choices they made that got them where they are. Of course, they get angry with me. Nobody wants

I know people who profess to be victims, too. I'll tick off the choices they made that got them where they are. Of course, they get angry with me. Nobody wants to hear the truth. Where I am, the good and the bad, is nearly entirely the sum of my choices. For example, if you floss or not eventually has a large effect on your health. Ditto for the amount you choose to drink, smoke, and exercise. Where you choose to live, who you choose to marry, who you pick for friends, what you do with your free time, do you work to excel in school or do just enough to squeak by, what major do you select in college, it just goes on and on.

blub 8y ago
When one US citizen can barely make ends meet, it's reasonable maybe to tell them to try harder. When millions can barely do it, the political and business classes fucked up and they need to fix it. That's the point of goverment, they can tackle systemic issues.
coldtea 8y ago
>I know people who profess to be victims, too. I'll tick off the choices they made that got them where they are. Of course, they get angry with me. Nobody wants to hear the truth. Who told you poor people are capable of as good choices as richer people? When you live life in easy mode is easy to make the right choices. It's also easy to see some people who managed to play in hard mode and win, and extrapolate to everybody (especially if you don't account for lucky breaks and mitigating factors in their course). But because a handful managed to win in hard mode, it doesn't make it as easy as those who play in easy mode, nor it makes it any more statistically possible for the masses to win the hard mode gameplay they were dealt. >Where I am, the good and the bad, is nearly entirely the sum of my choices. LOL. http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate (One is even tempted to wish upon people saying hat a couple some serious accident or decease that kills their savings or takes their job, or puts them into depression, or have them tend to another family member, and such, to see whether their tune will remain the same...)
- skookumchuck 8y ago
  > Who told you poor people are capable of as good choices as richer people? The first step in making better choices is to realize that one is making choices.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    The first step in being rational though is to realize that choices are made under certain conditions, and are affected by them, not by some external agent that is totally neutral and impartial to the body's material conditions and social circumstances. In other words, you "make" decisions only partially, and your choices are shaped by your status in life, before your conscious self can "chose". http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6107/682 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6107/682 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-brain-on-poverty-why-poor-people-seem-to-make-bad-decisions/281780/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-br... https://qz.com/964920/data-show-poor-people-make-better-financial-decisions-if-they-live-in-one-kind-of-place/ https://qz.com/964920/data-show-poor-people-make-better-fina... http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/03/02/anxious-people-decisions/ http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/03/02/anxious-people-decisions...
- sheepmullet 8y ago
  > nor it makes it any more statistically possible for the masses to win the hard mode gameplay they were dealt. You don’t have to go back many generations to see that compared to today almost everyone played on hard mode.
  - SolaceQuantum 8y ago
    How does that apply to today’s people, who are dealing with today’s problems and today’s struggles? Is it okay that a child in America is malnourished today because malnourishment existed?
  - coldtea 8y ago
    >You don’t have to go back many generations to see that compared to today almost everyone played on hard mode. Hard mode is comparable across the same game. Those in 1800 played 1800s game, those in Nigeria play the Nigerian game, etc. You wouldn't consider it much of a success if a person with huge work, skills, and effort got themselves to 1800-era middle class possessions TODAY, would you?

blub 8y ago

When one US citizen can barely make ends meet, it's reasonable maybe to tell them to try harder. When millions can barely do it, the political and business classes fucked up and they need to fix it. That's the point of goverment, they can tackle systemic issues.

coldtea 8y ago

>I know people who profess to be victims, too. I'll tick off the choices they made that got them where they are. Of course, they get angry with me. Nobody wants to hear the truth. Who told you poor people are capable of as good choices as richer people? When you live life in easy mode is easy to make the right choices. It's also easy to see some people who managed to play in hard mode and win, and extrapolate to everybody (especially if you don't account for lucky breaks and mitigating factors in their course). But because a handful managed to win in hard mode, it doesn't make it as easy as those who play in easy mode, nor it makes it any more statistically possible for the masses to win the hard mode gameplay they were dealt. >Where I am, the good and the bad, is nearly entirely the sum of my choices. LOL. http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate (One is even tempted to wish upon people saying hat a couple some serious accident or decease that kills their savings or takes their job, or puts them into depression, or have them tend to another family member, and such, to see whether their tune will remain the same...)

skookumchuck 8y ago
> Who told you poor people are capable of as good choices as richer people? The first step in making better choices is to realize that one is making choices.
- coldtea 8y ago
  The first step in being rational though is to realize that choices are made under certain conditions, and are affected by them, not by some external agent that is totally neutral and impartial to the body's material conditions and social circumstances. In other words, you "make" decisions only partially, and your choices are shaped by your status in life, before your conscious self can "chose". http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6107/682 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6107/682 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-brain-on-poverty-why-poor-people-seem-to-make-bad-decisions/281780/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/your-br... https://qz.com/964920/data-show-poor-people-make-better-financial-decisions-if-they-live-in-one-kind-of-place/ https://qz.com/964920/data-show-poor-people-make-better-fina... http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/03/02/anxious-people-decisions/ http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/03/02/anxious-people-decisions...
sheepmullet 8y ago
> nor it makes it any more statistically possible for the masses to win the hard mode gameplay they were dealt. You don’t have to go back many generations to see that compared to today almost everyone played on hard mode.
- SolaceQuantum 8y ago
  How does that apply to today’s people, who are dealing with today’s problems and today’s struggles? Is it okay that a child in America is malnourished today because malnourishment existed?
- coldtea 8y ago
  >You don’t have to go back many generations to see that compared to today almost everyone played on hard mode. Hard mode is comparable across the same game. Those in 1800 played 1800s game, those in Nigeria play the Nigerian game, etc. You wouldn't consider it much of a success if a person with huge work, skills, and effort got themselves to 1800-era middle class possessions TODAY, would you?