"it's fair game"

[Vatman]

So much is made of this word - it's a twenty-first century's favorite! Everywhere I go, this is what I hear: "It's not fair!" "It's only fair." "A fair punishment." "A fair fight." "Fair use." And always and once again, because it's really the most frequent, "It's just not fair!"

It is a more modern obsession... like so many which I seek to understand but cannot quite put my finger on it. Language is key when you try and understand society....and in many ways, fairness is a new religion. Afterall we blame and revel in its thought do we not?

So what exactly is fairness? Is it something that should be sought in every situation? When someone exclaims that a situation is not fair, do they really mean that they just lost a fair fight? Ha.

Is fairness the same as justice?

[Manicrose]

"Fairness" means you think you should get the same as everyone else, often with little regard for the work you do. If you get less than someone else you'd say "Omg that's so unfair!1!1" but if someone else gets less than you, then you say "Well that's life."

"That's not fair!" = "I didn't get what I wanted."

[HeartofShadows]

Its obvious what fairness is but like democracy people have twisted it into a subjective term that means that it has to be by what they want.

So in a way I guess it is like Justice.

[SoulRiser]

I think people use the word 'fair' for a lot of different reasons and in a lot of different situations. Like for example school... it isn't fair to be forced to go. But that doesn't really compare it to anyone else, because everyone is forced to go. Unless the person means to say it isn't fair that some people have nicer parents who will allow them to homeschool or whatever, but in a way that's actually shifting the blame to the wrong place - the person is feeling envy towards people who have it good, instead of rather directing their energy towards something that might actually help them.

If the world were to be completely fair, as in, everyone would have the same chances in life, and it would be reasonably easy to achieve whatever you want... what would be the point of life? I'm serious, some people actually enjoy a challenge - they want to have to work for something before they get it. Others just want it to be given to them for free. If everyone had it equally easy, some people would still be unhappy with the way things work.

I don't believe in 'fair punishment' though - I don't believe any punishment is ever fair or useful at all. But natural consequences of people's actions coming back to bite them in the ass, now that's a different matter entirely.

[Vatman]

Manicrose Wrote:"Fairness" means you think you should get the same as everyone else, often with little regard for the work you do. If you get less than someone else you'd say "Omg that's so unfair!1!1" but if someone else gets less than you, then you say "Well that's life."

"That's not fair!" = "I didn't get what I wanted."

So fairness is less about justice than about fulfillment of our desires?

Quote:If the world were to be completely fair, as in, everyone would have the same chances in life, and it would be reasonably easy to achieve whatever you want... what would be the point of life? I'm serious, some people actually enjoy a challenge - they want to have to work for something before they get it. Others just want it to be given to them for free. If everyone had it equally easy, some people would still be unhappy with the way things work.

Fairness is a human concept, that's true enough. It's surely an ideal. Nature is a savage place so attempting to make the world fair might be a noble pursuit - or mere tilting at windmills. Either way, wouldn't that very concept you threw out there be "unfair" to those who would rather be handed things?

Quote:Its obvious what fairness is but like democracy people have twisted it into a subjective term that means that it has to be by what they want.

So in a way I guess it is like Justice.

Justice is a term used in law, religion and in ethics. It's a philosophical concept as much as a legal one. It seems to take on some moral supremacy, but I don't think it is confined merely to the law. In fact, there are those who say the law is not just, so it's as tenuous a concept as any. But fairness seems different to me. Fairness feels wildly more personal than justice?

[Loxor]

Then what about equality?

I suppose fairness has a major link with that but kind of ballooned once kids got incredibly selfish and pampered.

[SoulRiser]

Quote:Either way, wouldn't that very concept you threw out there be "unfair" to those who would rather be handed things?

Yeah... I don't know how we could really go about pleasing everybody, with all their different tastes and interests and things.

But I guess most of the little things don't really count so much... as long as people aren't trying too hard to make it damn near impossible for someone to do what they want to, then I think it would all be okay.