2006-07-18, 13:42
#1
Jag hittade den här texten när jag satt och bläddrade runt på The Straight Dope Message Board på jobbet idag, och den formulerar väldigt bra det jag själv har funderat på rätt länge. Jag gör det lätt för mig och klistar helt enkelt bara in texten:
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Citat:
Jag håller med helt och fullt, inte minst när man läser här på Flashback om hur man ska hantera orättvisor och annat som alldeles uppenbart har med mänskliga val och handlingar att göra. Det tycks som om "rättvisa" för många på Flashback betyder någon sorts vulgokommunistisk konformism där alla har precis lika mycket av allting, ser likadana ut, får precis lika mycket uppmärksamhet och så vidare. Det är givetvis inte så. Rättvisa är att sträva efter att ha det så, väl medveten om att det är ett omöjligt mål.
Ursprungligen postat av Phil Agre, Red Rock Eater News Service
A while back, I came across an op-ed column addressed to teen-agers which
purported to explain certain points about life. The first of these points
was, and I quote,
Life's not fair. Get used to it.
All of the points were like this: each of them presupposed that their
reader held a putatively naive or self-serving opinion about life,
and they proposed to set the reader straight in a remarkably nasty and
disrespectful way.
I view this article as part of a larger and very depressing trend: the
return of authoritarian culture. The purpose of authoritarian culture
is to instil a mindless obedience to authority. It employs two basic
methods. The first of these methods is stereotype: one's normal human
tendencies to think critically and resist oppression are caricatured
and ridiculed; endless stories are adduced to portray people who employ
these innate faculties in a bad light; and labels such as "whining" and
"complaining" and "victim" are liberally applied.
The second method of authoritarian culture is the attempt to naturalize
authority by hiding it behind large abstractions. In this case, the
abstraction in question is "life". Having established that "life" is
unfair, it becomes possible to label any protest against unfairness as
a demand that the whole world conform to one's own immature whims. These
teenagers are counseled to "get used to it" and to reconcile themselves to
a life of being treated unfairly. No liberal nostrums about self-esteem
here: this columnist's message was that nobody deserves to be treated with
respect, and that it's arrogant to think otherwise.
purported to explain certain points about life. The first of these points
was, and I quote,
Life's not fair. Get used to it.
All of the points were like this: each of them presupposed that their
reader held a putatively naive or self-serving opinion about life,
and they proposed to set the reader straight in a remarkably nasty and
disrespectful way.
I view this article as part of a larger and very depressing trend: the
return of authoritarian culture. The purpose of authoritarian culture
is to instil a mindless obedience to authority. It employs two basic
methods. The first of these methods is stereotype: one's normal human
tendencies to think critically and resist oppression are caricatured
and ridiculed; endless stories are adduced to portray people who employ
these innate faculties in a bad light; and labels such as "whining" and
"complaining" and "victim" are liberally applied.
The second method of authoritarian culture is the attempt to naturalize
authority by hiding it behind large abstractions. In this case, the
abstraction in question is "life". Having established that "life" is
unfair, it becomes possible to label any protest against unfairness as
a demand that the whole world conform to one's own immature whims. These
teenagers are counseled to "get used to it" and to reconcile themselves to
a life of being treated unfairly. No liberal nostrums about self-esteem
here: this columnist's message was that nobody deserves to be treated with
respect, and that it's arrogant to think otherwise.
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