<story><title>“She doesn’t deserve to be alive”</title><url>http://blog.asmartbear.com/doesnt-deserve-to-be-alive.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>eggbrain</author><text>The problem I&apos;ve found, and I know this is true in me, is that people have a gated view of success -- they only consider the people that are more successful than them in their self-evaluation. People look longingly at the friends that went to Harvard Law and have made millions, but don&apos;t seem to give a glance to the friends who are having tough times emotionally or financially.&lt;p&gt;Even Julius Caesar reportedly, upon seeing a statue of Alexander the Great, realized with dissatisfaction he was now at an age when Alexander had the world at his feet, while he had achieved comparatively little.&lt;p&gt;The point is, if we are looking to find someone better than us in the areas we want to succeed, we will easily find them. It&apos;s only upon reflection that we might find that the areas we give no credit to, the areas we have already succeeded in, might be just as important as the things we strive for.</text></comment>
<story><title>“She doesn’t deserve to be alive”</title><url>http://blog.asmartbear.com/doesnt-deserve-to-be-alive.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>exratione</author><text>Nobody deserves to be alive. Use of the word &quot;deserves&quot; in that context is one of those subtle abuses of the capabilities of language that verge on indoctrination. If you unpack it, you&apos;ll see that it implies the existence of some form of universal scoring system that everyone is a part of whether they want to be or not. Which is of course very far from the case, despite the existence of large groups of very missionary-minded folk who would like you to subscribe to that irrational belief.&lt;p&gt;This is one of many forms of what we might call adversarial grouping - very common when you see words like &quot;we&quot; and &quot;should&quot; showing up in sentences - in which the writer tries to place people, often the readers or listeners, into a specific memeplex without their consent. Given that the placing is usually happening at a level below the active topic, it is often surprisingly successful.&lt;p&gt;In this it shares a lot with the art of propaganda and advertising, illustrating that these things are points on a spectrum of abusive linguistics both grand and small. But all worth trying to keep an eye on as they arrive at your doorstep.</text></comment>