 |
| "Destiny’s Child poses on a couch in Beyonce’s house May 20, 2000 in Houston, TX." (US Weekly/Pam Francis/Liaison) |
306. Lewis reports that status differences between Tversky, who taught at Stanford, and Kahneman, who taught at the less prestigious University of British Columbia, contributed to tensions in their relationship. Have you felt resentment when a friend was attributed a higher status than you were when they didn't necessarily deserve the higher status more than you did? Contrastingly, have you ever enjoyed a status bump that you lived to regret because it damaged your relationship with a peer?
Generally speaking, what do you think is a bigger problem: envious people who feel resentment toward those who have a higher status or arrogant people who feel superior to those who have lower status?
I believe envious people are more dangerous than arrogant people. Somebody who has nothing will do anything to flip the board, hoping to land somewhere better, because anywhere is better than the bottom. In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of farmers were killed in the Soviet Union, and millions of innocent people starved to death due to the famine, because of the belief that they were “too successful”. Although arrogant people can cause massive damage, envious people tend to be more plentiful.
ReplyDeleteSocial competitiveness is what makes this society tick. Everyone is pushed to be better than another person. The bigger problem is not the people caught in this cycle, but the cycle itself. When people are pressured to do better than someone else, there is always going to be an abrasive element in that relationship. Fostering relationships is never the point, it is always social and economic gain. I talked about this in a previous question, but I believe replacing a need to be better than everyone else with a strive to make yourself better will be better. Yes there will still be some that are arrogant and some that are envious, but it will be healthier for relationships.
ReplyDelete-Libby Revel
I mostly agree with your statement Libby. One who strives to be better than they are now or the best in their category should expect to do the work to reach said point. People in higher ranks should keep doing their best work to be able to stay in their position or get even better, but someone who expects to get to a higher position and then slack off and still be able to stay in that position should be subject to demotion or removal from said position. Sometimes there is remote cause demands from the lower ranks to seek justified management, sometimes there is remote cause demands from the higher ranks to seek justified management upon competition who does work that would be expected from someone lower than him, but is oblivious to the effects that may happen from this low-quality work, because in some cases, people get away with these things.
Delete-Toby Pyle
These different points of view aren't prevalent in every society. Communism may not have the problem of these different views from people, but it has many other problems. Americans have a great opportunity to work towards gaining social status. If they don't like where they are at, they can put in the work to change it. The problem is when people of a higher social status have a sense of superiority or entitlement. Those are the people who hurt the people around them and themselves.
ReplyDelete1) Personally, I think a bigger problem is envious people who feel resentment towards those who have a higher status than those with higher statuses being arrogant to those of lower ones. Those that are envious or have a lower status are the ones with nothing to lose so they’ll be willing to bet everything. Don’t get me wrong, the higher status and arrogant people are not any better, but those with everything (arrogant people) will be less likely to lash out on someone or make a rash/hasty decision that could have lifelong or serious consequences. At the same time this is also just how I feel about it, and would love to hear from another person's insight on this difficult question about an envious person versus an arrogant one.
ReplyDelete- Parker Milligan
I think that the two different types of people are equally as dangerous because of the basic desire to be above others. With the envious people they are striving to be above the people who are currently above them. They are driven by desperation to make a name for themselves and will do whatever it takes to get to that point and once they get to that point it is my firm belief that they will transition into the arrogant person. On the arrogant persons side, you see someone who wants to stay on top. You see these are the people who will do whatever it takes to keep the envious people down so that they can’t overtake them. At the center of it is this idea of a status driven society or in other words what makes the envious person envious the arrogant person arrogant, that is material possessions. You see both groups of people have bought into this idea that your worth in this world is based on what you own which makes them dangerous to other and themselves because they put value in something that isn’t eternal. The scripture in the Bible that lays out my belief on this topic very well is Matthew 6:19-21 which says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What Matthew is saying is to put your value in something eternal which is Jesus Christ and not something that ends when you die. If both the above-mentioned groups of people would do this neither one would be “more dangerous” but rather they would find true contentment in Jesus where they have infinite value.
ReplyDeleteSuch a situation has not occurred to me as of yet, but I have seen it happen to friends firsthand. Both applied to a prestigious program, and only one of them got in. They had not previously considered this possibility. Originally it caused some tension between them, and they later drifted apart. I believe that the larger issue is those who develop an ego due to their position. I think we would find much less hatred between classes if this were not the case. - Darian Shaw
ReplyDelete