Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of society

Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by Al-Khwarizmi on Saturday July 01, 2017 @04:27AM (#14676039)

Maybe there is a philosophical divide between us, but this argument sounds really weird to me.

From his/her point of view, of course being born to educated parents is luck, if not what else is it? We don't have any choice or any influence on the matter of who we are born to, and we cannot change it with our effort or lack of it.

The fact that from their parents' point of view it's not luck, because they worked for it, strikes me as irrelevant in this context. It can be relevant in a societal context but the post you reply to was talking about the success of an individual and how it can come just by luck, without that individual working especially hard for it.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by slavik81 on Saturday July 01, 2017 @05:23AM (#14676226)

What isn't luck? I only am who I am today because of a combination of nature and nurture. My genes and my environment defined who I am. I had no control over either of those things.

I mean, if I was born on Steve Job's birthday, with Steve Job's genes, to Steve Job's parents, presumably I would be Steve Jobs. From that perspective, it's pure luck I'm not a billionaire. And, similarly, pure luck that I'm not literally Hitler.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by andai on Saturday July 01, 2017 @06:33AM (#14676434)

Do we make our own destiny, or does our destiny make us?

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by jimnotgym on Saturday July 01, 2017 @07:41AM (#14676666)

Both, with some effort i could get good a poker. Some games I will lose no matter what because you can only play the hand you are dealt

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by mch82 on Saturday July 01, 2017 @09:42AM (#14677071)

And you can only buy in with the money you have to start with.

Everyone should experience losing to a worse player who won by starting with more chips and therefore had more hands and more opportunities to recover from error.

Then they should experience a fixed buy in, no rebuy tournament where each player starts with equal opportunity.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by rayiner on Saturday July 01, 2017 @07:34AM (#14676645)

> What isn't luck?

Bingo!

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by shaftoe on Saturday July 01, 2017 @08:16AM (#14676775)

This is fatalism and societies that adopt this attitude fall into some nasty traps. For example, there's no point to solving problems because it's the will of God.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by rayiner on Saturday July 01, 2017 @08:25AM (#14676807)

It's not fatalism. It's about recognizing that a more economically even society is warranted because people shouldn't get outsized credit (or be disproportionately punished) for things outside their control.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by sheepmullet on Saturday July 01, 2017 @08:55AM (#14676904)

Society gains incredible wealth from the desire to gain outsized credit for those we care about.

Economic evening can quickly become a poison.

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by shaftoe on Saturday July 01, 2017 @08:52AM (#14676898)

Real life is complicated. Who decides what is in their control? What if it's a combination?

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Re:Poverty is not a personal choice, but a reflection of soc... by verylittlemeat on Saturday July 01, 2017 @02:02PM (#14678137)

It seems like more of a philosophy of humility than fatalism.

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