tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post8000032471254806049..comments2010-04-09T14:17:42.334-06:00Comments on Mush Speaks: Thomas Sowell's, "The Fallacy of Fairness"mushhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14071906505306550676noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post-32706424664127314462010-04-09T14:17:42.334-06:002010-04-09T14:17:42.334-06:00You are more than welcome to comment here, Chris, ...You are more than welcome to comment here, Chris, and I'm glad you did! I guess this is a natural continuation of our point, counterpoint discussions. <br /><br />A lot of this depends upon one’s operational definition for success. I’m interested to discover how your dad came to work for the postal service and whether or not he’d describe his life’s work as a success or not. Could your dad have developed skills earlier on in life that would have increased his profitability? Could he have changed his priorities and behavior then to have had a different now? <br /><br />To me, money is never an appropriate measurement of success. It can only be incidental to it. Because of that, I’d say your father is a huge success (I’m sure you’d agree) because of his unique consistency, hard work, and determination. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable or unfair to recompense on the lower end the labors of a job which don’t require specialized training or uncommon expertise. That’s one of the reasons why I don’t think it’s fair, logical, or reasonable to award lower lever Wal-Mart employees with anything more than they currently earn. Those are jobs that require only the competence and training received in high school. The compensation of higher earning jobs is a big motivating factor for acquiring the education and skills necessary to function in those jobs. <br /><br />But I agree. I think we should accept the rational truth of inherent unfairness and then act to succeed despite it, but more efforts unfortunately seem to be focused outside of ourselves when we try to counteract life’s unfairness. Everyone ought to be significantly more concerned with changing his or her own “attitudes, priorities, and behaviors” to succeed in spite of adversity rather than trying to eliminate what’s naturally unfair.<br /><br />The government efforts centered around evening people’s odds at success fall in line with the elimination of natural unfairness, and I think Sowell does a pretty good job at highlighting the futility of such efforts. The Marxist philosophy of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” is a great sounding idea that would supersede life’s inherent unfairness, but it would do so through third party force and would restrict a person’s ability to choose. There’s no choice when the government takes people’s money, even in the name of goodness. They may choose jail for resisting, but the government will take away the money regardless and thus the individual choice. <br /><br />That system can only work when it’s presided over by the benevolent and when all parties agreeing to it are also benevolent. Until then, no government efforts will ever supplant man's and woman's baser tendencies and natures and therefore will never be able to even out the odds for success.mushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14071906505306550676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post-38449693224336534732010-04-09T09:55:19.833-06:002010-04-09T09:55:19.833-06:00ohhh, whoops, I see now that you were quoting Thom...ohhh, whoops, I see now that you were quoting Thomas Sowell. I see that now. While reading my previous comment, it can be noted that i now realize this.Chris Almondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13107791774450498377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post-31889254603630785962010-04-09T09:53:05.014-06:002010-04-09T09:53:05.014-06:00(i hope you don't mind me commenting on your b...(i hope you don't mind me commenting on your blog. I saw your facebook post and was curious to see what you wrote. You are an excellent writer!)<br />I found this entry very interesting Marshall.<br />I very much agree that equal treatment does not equal fairness. Often times, it can even be the exact opposite.<br />If you give a slice of cake to every child in your family out of fairness, yet only one child in your family loves cake while the rest love pie, that isn't fair, it is playing favorites to the cake lover.<br />(I am going to confess this entry was very long, and while I read most of it, I skimmed over about 1/3. So I apologize if what I write here misinterprets something you have said or seems to be unaware of something you mentioned)<br />What is especially interesting to me is the political connotations you make here.<br />I think the left would strongly agree with what you are saying about life being inherently unfair all around,(although some on the left seem to still believe in the 'blank slate' theory. That everyone is born with the same capacities. I strongly disagree with this, and as science is coming around to realize it as well, the left is slowly coming around also. First in the sciences, lastly will be the humanities. http://www.amazon.com/Blank-Slate-Modern-Denial-Nature/dp/0670031518) and that would be the basis of their political idealogy.<br />Life is SO unfair, that no matter how hard certain people work, they will never, ever be successful. My father is one of the hardest workers I have ever known. I have often been at awe how hard and long he can work, yet I will likely make much more money than he ever did because even though I am not as hard a worker as he, my lazy work will likely be more profitable than his hard work. (he is a mailman, has to walk nearly 13 miles a day. Sometimes has to work 30 days in a row. Less now now than when he first began working. Unions have helped my dad's working conditions out a lot. Which is ironic because my dad doesn't really support anything left leaning such as unions).<br />I see this as unfair that no matter how hard my dad could ever work, he will make less money than myself, because I am fortunate enough to have interests and skills which will likely be more profitable. My dad doesn't need an attitude adjustment. Within his capacity he is doing all that he can. He simply doesn't have the skills or knowledge to funnel that hard work into more financially profitable work.<br />Anyway, my point here is that the inherent unfairness of the world is what drives my left leaning beliefs. I specifically do not believe everyone should be treated equally, because as we both stated, that only is not fair, but it is often unfair.<br />Because the world is so unfair, I don't believe it means we should roll over and accept it, but because we should love our neighbors as ourselves, we should do all we can to overcome the inherent unfairness of the world.<br /><br />Because of the way the world works, a select few people have an unFAIR advantage over most others, the government (ie the community)should help level the playing field. One means this may be accomplished is to create not only a much higher minimum wage, but also to implement a maximum wage.(spread the wealth) That, I believe, would help the world be more fair.<br />However, I wholeheartedly agree that some on the left abuse the idea of fairness to mean equal treatment for all in all circumstances, and that will often do more harm than good.Chris Almondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13107791774450498377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post-24566973717698480892010-04-09T06:57:53.744-06:002010-04-09T06:57:53.744-06:00Good stuff. Reminds me of my time teaching English...Good stuff. Reminds me of my time teaching English Lit in Watts trying to "close the achievement gap." But really the kids that did the best where the ones who had parental support (very few).Laura H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14288222898205472964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600450928220174632.post-6166034525978462162010-04-09T03:48:53.714-06:002010-04-09T03:48:53.714-06:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com