Life is not fair, God damn it

My parents have always said I have an over-developed sense of justice. My mother would often knock down this notion with the statement, "Life is not fair". And yet, deep down in my bones I want it to be. To me, the statement "all men are created equal", is a basic conception of fairness. And this is my basic issue with the conservative mentality. In Slate's "A Supreme Court Conversation – 10" Dahlia Lithwick searches for this concept in describing the Supreme Court

But is there a name for this thing we liberals want to see more of on the court? Something that isn't merely the opposite of "mean"?

More below the fold ...

There is a name for this thing: it is fairness and it is the basic premise of the Declaration of Independence. God damn it, it is the basic reason why we had a Revolution; "taxation without representation" is basically unfair. It is why we had a civil war, there are many horrors to slavery, but at the end of the day it just is simply not fair.

It is why a progressive can have doubts about affirmative action; yes, African-Americans and women have gotten a raw deal in America historical, but is affirmative action really fair going forward. Or school choice, isn't fair that students get to choose what school they go to? But it is why, we agree that the VP cannot be unaccountable; everyone else is, why should he not be.

It is why lying about going to war and messing with the voter system is so infuriating. It is why the revolving door of taking jobs in industry after being part of the administration is revolting. Yes, there are real world consequences of these actions such as our soldiers dieing and our political system being corrupted. But beyond this there is a basic notion of fairness that is transgressed for many of us that seems to obviate the "American" experiment.

The fact that Dahlia can not even name this concept saddens me.

•  I used to be like that.

  But then I realized that I coudln't make life anything it wasn't.  Life isn't fair.  Sometimes Good things happen to bad people and sometimes bad things happen to good people.

  Life just is.  And I've come to the realization that is the only way life can really be.  To change one thing would disrupt the balance of another.  

  Balance is very important.

  by DawnG on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 03:24:30 PM PDT

  •  Love that...

    I couldn't make life anything it wasn't

    and i will only add this:

    we have what we need to get through it... if choose to find it in ourselves

    hello DawnG!

    by pfiore8 on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 03:35:06 PM PDT

•  btw, i'm still like that though

  and that's balance to Dick, George, Karl et al....

  by pfiore8 on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 03:35:55 PM PDT

•  I'd agree that "life isn't fair."

  Nature does not work in terms of fairness, it works in terms of balance.  What separates humans from nature is our ability to visualize moral consequence.  We attempt to project balance beyond survival to something more etherial.  For the religious among us, we attempt to find balance for both the spirit and the body.

  But while "life" isn't fair, it is in man's nature to find the moral balance of fairness.  It seems to have evolved into our life purpose.  And this is why we created the laws of man, ethics...  At times, a fat lot of good it seems to have done us.

  But to proclaim that life isn't fair is to surrender our purpose.  If the Supreme Court fails in establishing fairness, all of us fail and we have given up "civilation" for what may profit only a few.

  by blockbuster on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 03:47:51 PM PDT

  •  I agree... except for one point...

    The quest for balance between mind, body and spirit is not only for the religious.  One can be a very spiritual person, and not be religious at all.

    Nature seeks to create a balance; the yin and yang of life can be seen all around us.

    We wouldn't know what "good" is unless there existed "bad" to contrast.

    by JuniperLea on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:11:33 PM PDT

    •  I would never suggest...

      that those who are not religious are not spiritual.  Indeed, I think spirituality is at the center of all that we are discussing here.

      Continuing your thread of thought, there can be no fairness without that which is unfair.  But we don't look at Good/Evil, Fair/Unfair, and say, "why can't we all just get along."  Just as it is in our nature to avoid danger, it is in our nature to minimize suffering, to turn evil into good, and to find beauty in ugliness.

      by blockbuster on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:32:34 PM PDT

•  Society can be fair, even if life isn't.

  Humans have the capacity to form societies[or cultures if that's the word] that are all over the ethnographical map. We are a social species and an adaptable species. We can have a just & fair society if we work together to have it. Random accidents will happen that cause great harm, but we needn't make day to day life unbearable when we have the means to make it otherwise.

  by daliscar on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:09:40 PM PDT

  •  BECAUSE we've gone beyond our programming

    i always think we are really HAL from 2001... somewhere between the sleep, wake, eat, reproduce, die cycle... we had a thought... we became aware and bam...

    that's another big bang nobody talks about... and maybe we upset the balance...

    maybe there is no balance... only chaos, which is balance of a different kind

    maybe there's more freedom in chaos, because you get to determine your own balance...

    who knows... it these rum and coke fridays... they put the strangest ideas in your mind

    but sometimes, despite George Bush, life rocks!!!!!!!!!!

    by pfiore8 on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:24:41 PM PDT

•  All "people" might be created equal...

  But that doesn't mean that they develop equally, or that some people aren't more capable than others, or that some ideas about self-government and progress also aren't superior.

  Although I respect everyone's opinion and would never consciously deprive anyone of the right to pursue their personal definition of happiness; when we're talking about survival or well-being, some ideas need to be tossed aside, no matter how strongly they are believed in and no matter what the consequences are in defeating them.

  And keep in mind that the men who brought this nation into existence were not a very diverse crew, but rather a very like-minded, homogenous bunch with a common culture and background.

  by tullyccro on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:21:44 PM PDT

•  But you're right in saying...

  that we can only continue this experiment if we are ALL held accountable under the law.

  That is the difference between oligarchy and democracy.

  by tullyccro on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 04:23:15 PM PDT

•  It's caused by mirror neurons, but they can be

  neutralized by basic training, which we also call "the free market" and high school.

  by ormondotvos on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 05:09:53 PM PDT

•  Life isn't fair.

  That's why people need to be.

  by Canadian Reader on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 05:10:46 PM PDT

•  I was....

  ...about to offer a pithy defense of lifes not fair but this is just insane, "The St. Petersburg Times similarly describes the recent ruling in Bowles (the appeal of the Ohio inmate who missed a filing deadline because he followed the erroneous orders of his judge) as "heartless.""

  America has officially regressed to pre-hamurabi code times, congratulations morons.

  We should start a campaign to officially amend the constitution to remove Roberts, Kenedy, Alito, Scalia and Thomas.

  by John Mirra on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 05:12:35 PM PDT

•  Of course life isn't fair

  That's why we need to always fight against injustice, to make it a more fair place.

  by metal prophet on Fri Jun 29, 2007 at 06:41:36 PM PDT