http://grittv.org/2008/07/02/wallace-shawn-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie/ Cultivating a Better Conversation Sat, 14 May 2011 01:31:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://grittv.org/2008/07/02/wallace-shawn-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie/comment-page-1/#comment-390 badbart Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:29:04 +0000 http://www.grittv.org/2008/07/02/wallace-shawn-the-discreet-charm-of-the-bourgeoisie/#comment-390 <p>THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’VE BEEN WRESTLING WITH FOR YEARS! I’ve cost myself years of comfort because I felt I didn’t deserve it anymore than anyone else. As far as taking things to their logical conclusion, if someone is more clever or smarter, of course they don’t deserve more than someone who is less smart or clever than someone who is less so, because neither decided to be born with the innate advantage or disadvantage. And if we think that people are born equally, and someone ends in dire straights which they currently would like to be out of, can we hold their past bad decisions against them since their honest desire to have a better life means that had they known, honestly and foreseeably known, that the outcomes would lead to them where they are, then there is no way they would have behaved in the same way. You cannot hold either genetic disadvantage, both physical and mental, against someone, an idea which is not entirely controversial. But neither can you hold bad decisions against someone, as no one has the ability to foresee in concrete terms the long term outcome of those decisions. Relating it back to the advantage of rich over poor, if someone who is poor makes a bad decision and ends up flat broke, the road back or out of penury is either impossible or at the least improbable, whereas if one is rich, the fall is broken by a money filled mattress, and these people with the money filled mattresses are the ones currently in control of the decision making in this world.</p> THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’VE BEEN WRESTLING WITH FOR YEARS! I’ve cost myself years of comfort because I felt I didn’t deserve it anymore than anyone else. As far as taking things to their logical conclusion, if someone is more clever or smarter, of course they don’t deserve more than someone who is less smart or clever than someone who is less so, because neither decided to be born with the innate advantage or disadvantage. And if we think that people are born equally, and someone ends in dire straights which they currently would like to be out of, can we hold their past bad decisions against them since their honest desire to have a better life means that had they known, honestly and foreseeably known, that the outcomes would lead to them where they are, then there is no way they would have behaved in the same way. You cannot hold either genetic disadvantage, both physical and mental, against someone, an idea which is not entirely controversial. But neither can you hold bad decisions against someone, as no one has the ability to foresee in concrete terms the long term outcome of those decisions. Relating it back to the advantage of rich over poor, if someone who is poor makes a bad decision and ends up flat broke, the road back or out of penury is either impossible or at the least improbable, whereas if one is rich, the fall is broken by a money filled mattress, and these people with the money filled mattresses are the ones currently in control of the decision making in this world.

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