Posted on 11/11/2015 12:08:41 PM PST by bigjoesaddle
Does Fairness Depend on Kindness or Justice? An MIT study with the Tsimane People of Bolivia shows the origins of fairness.
Posted Nov 11, 2015
Imagine you have to split a plate of cookies. Does the person who baked the cookies get the most or do you split them evenly? Most very young children would split them evenly — that's fair, right? But as kids get older, they start to take into account who did the work. MIT researchers (link is external) working with the Tsimane' People, who live near San Borja, Bolivia, wondered what makes kids switch from "egalitarian" to "merit-based" opinions of fairness. Is it something natural in growing older? Is it socialization? Or is it something else?
(Excerpt) Read more at psychologytoday.com ...
It’s pretty simple, IMO: As people grow up and start seeing that they can build/make/create things, they realize that their talents, when subjected to strict egalitarian distribution, make their labor worthless, as those who do nothing get the same reward as those that do everything.
Fairness, in all its glory, is merely a handmaiden of justice.
Of course, the Left defines "fairness," as application of their neurotic values in the deliberate denial of reality--usually in situations, where "fairness" is not really involved, only personal preferences.
Fairness is important in joint ventures; but most of the applications, being promoted by contemporary Leftists, have little or nothing to do with joint ventures. They are far more likely to involve a form of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat.
She called her neighbors and said, “If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?”
“Not I,” said the cow.
“Not I,” said the duck.
“Not I,” said the pig.
“Not I,” said the goose.
“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.
The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. “Who will help me reap my wheat?” asked the little red hen.
“Not I,” said the duck.
“Out of my classification,” said the pig.
“I’d lose my seniority,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my unemployment compensation,” said the goose.
“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread. “Who will help me bake the bread?” asked the little red hen.
“That would be overtime for me,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my welfare benefits,” said the duck.
“I’m a dropout and never learned how,” said the pig.
“If I’m to be the only helper, that’s discrimination,” said the goose.
“Then I will,” said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share.
But the little red hen said, “No, I can eat the five loaves.”
“Excess profits!” cried the cow.
“Capitalist leech!” screamed the duck.
“I demand equal rights!” yelled the goose.
And the pig just grunted.
And they painted “unfair” picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.
When the government agent came, he said to the little red hen, “You must not be greedy.”
“But I earned the bread,” said the little red hen.
“Exactly,” said the agent. “That is the wonderful free enterprise system. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide their product with the idle.”
And they lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, “I am grateful. I am grateful.”
But her neighbors wondered why she never again baked any more bread.
Instead of depending on age, merit-based or egalitarian ideas of fairness depended on whether kids could count.
For adults it depends on worldview.For marxist libtards, the choice of which model of fair distribution chosen depends on the context:
1) need
2) equality
Bookmark
objectivity is the only fairness around- when you inject subjectivity into the scene- one group is ALYWAYS favored over another- when you apply objective law, the law applies equally to ALL-
“Does the person who baked the cookies get the most or do you split them evenly?”
Little Red Hen. If you do not work, you do not eat. Those who put in equal effort would probably be more likely to get an equal amount. The whiny kid who didn’t do any work is lucky to get any cookies. Thus, we have the welfare system.
A big part is the definition of the word “fairness”. Think of a 100 yard dash, is it more “fair” for all to START the race equally, or FINISH the race equally? Laws help people START equally, government interjection and handouts try to make them FINISH equally.
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