Fairness
Is the world fair?
We want it to be. And sometimes we even manage to convince ourselves that it is.
So is the world fair, or unfair? Or is it a mix of both?
Take a moment to think about it and then come back.
Are you with me now? Ah, then come, I have some things to tell you that might interest you.
Fairness is a concept and like all concepts it is human and can be pretty personal. One person's idea of fairness might not coincide with another's. A duel can be considered a fair method of confrontation but can anyone vouch that if one of the contenders had a different teacher, an extra day to train, a different meal, the outcome would not be any different than what it is now? Be it skill, training or a bad case of stomach, there are many things that would affect the outcome of the duel and cannot be categorized as "fair". Maybe you will not see things as I see in this matter. But what I want to emphasize is that there are things that influence the outcome of events, that can be attributes of individuals or groups that take part in the event or attributes of the situation or the environment that would make the outcome "not fair" even if people would perceive it to be "fair". In other words, there is much we do not see to determine if a situation is fair for the people subject to it.
But cannot we determine unfairness when we see it? I believe we can agree without sufficient doubt that when we see that the deck is stacked against a player unfavorably, that unfairness is present. When a person is taking an undue advantage such as a rich person using his riches to manoeuver through the gaps in the legal system or using favoritism to get ahead of others in the workplace. On a fundamental level, we can see that there is something that must not happen happening in those cases. Those go against the accepted models of our morality and thus offensive to our sensibility.
So is the world a fair place? Of course not. Not even that, sometimes we cannot determine whether a situation is fair or not for the people subject to that situation. But more often than not, we can see through the blatant violations of fairness that are taking place.
So what can we take away from this?
We should not presume that we know the plight of the people facing a bad situation, for one. We hardly have the right to judge them for we do seldom see the complete picture. Also, do not let the little fairness we enjoy in this world fade away. If you would let it, you would come to regret it, much sooner than you could even dream.
We want it to be. And sometimes we even manage to convince ourselves that it is.
So is the world fair, or unfair? Or is it a mix of both?
Take a moment to think about it and then come back.
Are you with me now? Ah, then come, I have some things to tell you that might interest you.
Fairness is a concept and like all concepts it is human and can be pretty personal. One person's idea of fairness might not coincide with another's. A duel can be considered a fair method of confrontation but can anyone vouch that if one of the contenders had a different teacher, an extra day to train, a different meal, the outcome would not be any different than what it is now? Be it skill, training or a bad case of stomach, there are many things that would affect the outcome of the duel and cannot be categorized as "fair". Maybe you will not see things as I see in this matter. But what I want to emphasize is that there are things that influence the outcome of events, that can be attributes of individuals or groups that take part in the event or attributes of the situation or the environment that would make the outcome "not fair" even if people would perceive it to be "fair". In other words, there is much we do not see to determine if a situation is fair for the people subject to it.
But cannot we determine unfairness when we see it? I believe we can agree without sufficient doubt that when we see that the deck is stacked against a player unfavorably, that unfairness is present. When a person is taking an undue advantage such as a rich person using his riches to manoeuver through the gaps in the legal system or using favoritism to get ahead of others in the workplace. On a fundamental level, we can see that there is something that must not happen happening in those cases. Those go against the accepted models of our morality and thus offensive to our sensibility.
So is the world a fair place? Of course not. Not even that, sometimes we cannot determine whether a situation is fair or not for the people subject to that situation. But more often than not, we can see through the blatant violations of fairness that are taking place.
So what can we take away from this?
We should not presume that we know the plight of the people facing a bad situation, for one. We hardly have the right to judge them for we do seldom see the complete picture. Also, do not let the little fairness we enjoy in this world fade away. If you would let it, you would come to regret it, much sooner than you could even dream.
Comments
Post a Comment