(no subject)

[commodorified]

So, seriously, when did it start to be socially acceptable and even normal to greet the news of someone's death by convening an inquiry on the spot to decide whether they "deserve" sympathy or not?

Ok, actually, forget that question. how do we make it stop?

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Just World people are right up there with all the other magical thinkers. The idea that things just happen sometimes seems to have completely passed them by.

[commodorified]

TNH calls it 'ghost repellant', and the fact that as a fibro sufferer I get sprayed with a LOT of it makes me DEEPLY impatient with and unsympathetic to the whole business.

[ironed_orchid]

That sounds really frustrating.

You (and mme_hardy) might like to read about moral luck, which is the counter-point in that it looks at situations which are beyond our control, and how we come out as looking morally culpable according to some frameworks but not others.

[Note: while I am already familiar with literature on moral luck, I only skimmed this article.]

[amberfox]

I'm only familiar with that idea from slut-shaming, but I would expect it runs much the same way. "If bad things happen to people some of whom have done X, then if I don't do X, nothing bad can happen to me." I think magical thinking is definitely the right word, though I hadn't thought of it that way until just now.