Life isn't fair

Bugeye said:

Opportunity

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

i think maybe it should....if you don't have the dedication and drive to climb that mountain, you don't deserve to get to the top of it

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ttystikk said:

Needlessly making that climb more difficult than it already is impoverishes us all.

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

the climb is what it is, overcoming adversity is a test...DaVinci had to not only deal with the church, which could have him killed, but also with scholars who thought him an arrogant upstart, and artists who were jealous of his talents. he overcame those challenges, and his legacy lives to this day.
bill wheedlemeyer didn't overcome adversity. he didn't defend his ideas, he didn't sacrifice for his passion. he gave up, and no one knows who the fuck he is, including me....but i bet he existed, a million times, and died in obscurity each time, because he didn't ever overcome his challenges

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

it's not like anyone is "trying" to make them harder than they have to be...they are what they are, they arise out of our society, our attitudes, the way people interact and react with each other.....any intentional interference could destroy the genius you're trying to propagate.....any support you offer could keep them from taking that extra step that elevates them above the swamp of mediocrity..any help could stifle that creativity....maybe it's the need to succeed on their own that makes the difference....maybe you DO need to suffer for your art, or you're just another hack

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ttystikk said:

I respectfully disagree; the American system places unnecessary obstacles in the path of those trying to succeed, which is a big reason why America suffers the lowest rate of income mobility in the developed world.

We CAN make it easier than we do.

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

i'm not talking about holding minorities down, or wage inequality for women, or jews not being able to get into the country club, i'm talking about people who want to be painters, sculptors, singers, writers, performers.....something a lot of people aspire to, but most of them will never succeed at. for a reason. i don't think we should artificially make it harder to succeed at anything....but i don't think we should make anything easier, either. if you aren't willing to struggle for a career in the arts, you don't deserve it. if you aren't willing to sacrifice, maybe you don't really want it. not saying every actress has to fuck harvey weinstein, but neither should they just be handed plum roles in big budget films. you make the shitty low budget crap movies first, then you get hired for better roles, if you deserve it...
maybe you write an awesome first novel, but thats all you had in you, do you deserve to sell more novels if they're crap?
you paint great pictures, but you have to survive to paint more, because you're not well known yet, haven't gotten into a decent show yet. so you stock shelves at the grocery store to pay the bills, and buy more canvas till you start to make it.
if you just hand that guy paint and canvas, he didn't earn it....he didn't struggle to survive....so whats he going to paint? some guy taking care of him? not a very inspiring subject...

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Padawanbater2 said:

Thanks for the input, but that's not exactly what I was talking about in the OP

I agree with you about the arts, many comedians are successful because they've had to deal with adversity throughout their lives, the same can be said for many different forms of artists

But what about the average person who isn't working in an art career? In our society today, you see the most extreme wealth and income inequality since the Great Depression, and it's not by accident, it was designed that way by lawmakers over a couple generations. So in a 100m race, most average people start at the beginning, but then you have a small number of extremely wealthy people who didn't earn their fortune themselves spend a fraction of it to ensure the crony capitalistic structure of wealth and income disparity continues to worsen

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Padawanbater2 said:

Thanks for the input, but that's not exactly what I was talking about in the OP

I agree with you about the arts, many comedians are successful because they've had to deal with adversity throughout their lives, the same can be said for many different forms of artists

But what about the average person who isn't working in an art career? In our society today, you see the most extreme wealth and income inequality since the Great Depression, and it's not by accident, it was designed that way by lawmakers over a couple generations. So in a 100m race, most average people start at the beginning, but then you have a small number of extremely wealthy people who didn't earn their fortune themselves spend a fraction of it to ensure the crony capitalistic structure of wealth and income disparity continues to worsen

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

i don't disagree, but what do you expect them to do? they're following the rules...it's just that the rules are fucked up.

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

a species first purpose in life is to perpetuate itself...are you surprised that the rich try to make things better for the rich?

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

they use the tools available to them to perpetuate themselves.....maybe we should take a lesson from them. what do poor people have in abundance? time....spend it improving yourself. quit watching springer and so you think you can dance and read a fucking book...and read it out loud to your kids, too.

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

spend time writing letters to your representatives...and make sure you use spellcheck. let them know what you think, and urge everyone you know to do the same thing. if they ignore your desires, vote for someone else next election. and don't base your decision on who to vote for on stupid criteria. look into what they believe, what they've voted for in the past, what they've said in the past....not what they say their opponent did in a stupid ass tv ad.
vote out the people who don't support the people...eventually, some good people will get into politics, and they'll get into it faster if we support them....

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Padawanbater2 said:

Then we need to change the rules

No, I'm not surprised at all. That's the objective of capitalism

Poor people do not have time "in abundance". Poor people are working multiple jobs just so they can afford to pay their rent and keep their head above water. You assume poor people are poor because they choose not to work, when the facts show that more than 50% of Americans earn less than $30K/year working full time in an economic atmosphere that shows corporations profits at a record high. The profits workers create are not distributed to them but to the top and to shareholders while the're forced to file for taxpayer funded benefits.

That's sound reasoning. I 100% agree. Some would have you believe this tactic only helps Republicans. I'm curious what you would say to that?

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Z3r0Z3r0 said:

I think someones out of pot......

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Padawanbater2 said:

Then we need to change the rules

No, I'm not surprised at all. That's the objective of capitalism

Poor people do not have time "in abundance". Poor people are working multiple jobs just so they can afford to pay their rent and keep their head above water. You assume poor people are poor because they choose not to work, when the facts show that more than 50% of Americans earn less than $30K/year working full time in an economic atmosphere that shows corporations profits at a record high. The profits workers create are not distributed to them but to the top and to shareholders while the're forced to file for taxpayer funded benefits.

That's sound reasoning. I 100% agree. Some would have you believe this tactic only helps Republicans. I'm curious what you would say to that?

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

i don't disagree, but what do you expect them to do? they're following the rules...it's just that the rules are fucked up.
a species first purpose in life is to perpetuate itself...are you surprised that the rich try to make things better for the rich?
they use the tools available to them to perpetuate themselves.....maybe we should take a lesson from them. what do poor people have in abundance? time....spend it improving yourself. quit watching springer and so you think you can dance and read a fucking book...and read it out loud to your kids, too.
spend time writing letters to your representatives...and make sure you use spellcheck. let them know what you think, and urge everyone you know to do the same thing. if they ignore your desires, vote for someone else next election. and don't base your decision on who to vote for on stupid criteria. look into what they believe, what they've voted for in the past, what they've said in the past....not what they say their opponent did in a stupid ass tv ad.
vote out the people who don't support the people...eventually, some good people will get into politics, and they'll get into it faster if we support them....

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

you're trying to blame the scorpion for stinging you......that's what scorpions do.....it's up to us to not get stung.
it's up to us to get rid of the scorpions....anyone willing to start stepping on them? get back to me as soon as you start stomping, i'll be glad to join in when you get started.....till then quit talking shit

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Bugeye said:

Show me one person in this world that has no problems, and I'll show you someone that has you fooled. Life is hard. The ONLY way to make it less hard is to accept that is is hard. It always will be. Embrace the journey!

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Bugeye said:

Show me one person in this world that has no problems, and I'll show you someone that has you fooled. Life is hard. The ONLY way to make it less hard is to accept that is is hard. It always will be. Embrace the journey!

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