Rule Number One: Life is not fair. Get used to it. Thomas Sowell explains.
If there is ever a contest to pick which word has done the most damage to people's thinking, and to actions to carry out that thinking, my nomination would be the word "fair." It is a word thrown around by far more people than have ever bothered to even try to define it.
This mushy vagueness may be a big handicap in logic but it is a big advantage in politics. All sorts of people, with very different notions about what is or is not fair, can be mobilized behind this nice-sounding word, in utter disregard of the fact that they mean very different things when they use that word.
Some years ago, for example, there was a big outcry that various mental tests used for college admissions or for employment were biased and "unfair" to many individuals or groups. Fortunately there was one voice of sanity-- David Riesman, I believe-- who said: "The tests are not unfair. LIFE is unfair and the tests measure the results."
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KM - Feb 09, 2010 6:14 AM
fmff to KM - Feb 09, 2010 11:14 AM
Cal - Feb 09, 2010 12:45 PM
Bob in Zion - Feb 09, 2010 9:43 PM
When I was in commissioned sales, the biggest whiners about the "unfairness" of our splits where the folks who worked the shortest weeks, and took the most time off. The guys working 80 hour weeks who spent their offtime working new leads never complained, but made a boatload
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