Why do screwups stick around?

[Russian_Assassin]

There is a LOT more to live for other than a successful career, you know.

 

[Giest4life]

What's this, someone does not adhere to your arbitrary standards of success and achievement? Surely, their life must not be worth anything.

 

[zehydra]

degree? what a piece of paper that tells me your a smartass?

put that knowledge to some use and help others with it otherwise your great knowledge was worthless.

perhaps these people in life just help those with what they got

People who cant help themselves usually dont help other people

I'd like to know how you figured this out.

I use the super power of knowledge granted to me known only as:
The common sense

which is often inaccurate.

 

[Quellist]

Because success isnt everything. What about Love, family, friendship or just plain happiness?. Besides most people can succeed at something even if its only being the most hated fps player on a particular server.

Really, just find something you are good at or something that makes you happy and stick with it. And who the fuck knows? maybe one day you will win the lottery then you can piss on everyone who ever called you a failure.

Finally, if you get really depressed just tell yourself 'In 100 years most everyone alive today all be dust and it wont matter which of them succeeded or failed'

 

[CrawlingPastaHellion]

The definitions I was referring to were more along the lines of

-to intend for a definite purpose

-organization or structure of formal elements in a work of art; composition.

That would imply that we, as a species, have a specific purpose. I disagree that we have. We can all have our own personal goals, but there will never be one general goal. Even such "evident" ones like survival and procreation aren't static. Some people see no need in having children of their own (people like me) and some even seek out death. It is all highly relativistic.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

How about domesticated pigs,hens and dogs?

That's not "design". That's encouragement through selective breeding.

How is that not design?

 

[Hamish Durie]

well i've got this peice of glass in my foot but i'm still going to race

glass representing shitty life

race reresenting life

 

[BloatedGuppy]

How is that not design?

I guess it boils down to how you're interpreting "design". It's not a very rigidly defined word, as it turns out.

 

[M920CAIN]

Where is this thread going exactly cause I don't understand... is it about success? what is success? do you consider yourself succesful? does money = success? does family = success? does college degree = success? what is your goal? what's your ideal? are you a fighter? ... fact is... no one here is entitled to judge another but they do it anyway so... yeah... people are stupid. wait what? wtf am i talking about? what are you talkin' about? obvious troll is obvious... whatever.... bla bla bla bla... spam... spam... spam... next thread pls.

 

[Alphavillain]

I resent TC's generalisation about underachievers like myself. I don't like trackie bottoms.

But seriously, who gives a damn if someone is an (under)achiever: "what do you do?" is one of the most insidious questions, and certainly the one that is most representative of our society.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Where is this thread going exactly cause I don't understand... is it about success? what is success? do you consider yourself succesful? does money = success? does family = success? does college degree = success? what is your goal? what's your ideal? are you a fighter? ... fact is... no one here is entitled to judge another but they do it anyway so... yeah... people are stupid. wait what? wtf am i talking about? what are you talkin' about? obvious troll is obvious... whatever.... bla bla bla bla... spam... spam... spam... next thread pls.

Please turn off the stream-of-consciousness and re-read the OP.

 

[Doclector]

I think a lot of them drink.

Obviously not just that though. You can still find fulfilment in all sorts of things you do. I personally wouldn't be able to understand nor tolerate it, but that doesn't mean other people can't.

Oh yeah, and drugs too.

I actually think that too. I drink, hell, I had to temporarily ban myself from this forum in order to prevent a slew of incredible stupidity last night. Not that it stopped me doing that on facebook...

But when I guess if you have achieved nothing and will achieve nothing, there's little point in doing much else from that point of view, and such people end up filling their empty life with drink. Not healthy, and not the only way, but still, it's understandable why they would go to that point.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

Yay, elitist thread!

People, I'd just like to say that not aiming to be president of the omniverse doesn't exactly make you an idiot. Every contribution to society is needed, if all the under-paid, uneducated builders in the world gave up their jobs and strived to be successful actors/ writers/ artists things would go to sh*t. Fast.

 

[Dastardly]

As somebody who has blundered from less-than-stellar situation to less-than-stellar situation purely of his own accord over the past few years, it occurred to me today that the whole thing seems rather futile. As much as it goes against what I'd like to believe, life seems to be stratified into layers of achievers, and the lower ones rarely move upwards. You'll generally find them in bedsits at 35 with half a degree and a collection of tracksuit trousers.

Anyway, what keeps people like that going? I personally think it's a mixture of family [pre-emptive guilt] and a biological imperative. But it still strikes me as odd that one could chronically achieve crappy grades in all avenues of life and still keep soldiering on. Opinions?

Well, really... the fact that this is most of us. The media makes sure we hear about all of the over-achievers on their very best days, but that's not every day. Most days, you arrive alive at the end, and that's all that can be said about it. Other days, you fight and claw for one step toward a goal. Some people are lucky enough to start a little further down that path (through money, connections, or what-have-you).

But we face the choice each day of either saying, "Though I do not have it as easy as Jim or Jane, I will do what I can," or saying, "Since I cannot do what Jim or Jane can do, I will do nothing."

(Some people are admittedly self-sabotaging, as well. They'll intentionally aim to achieve too much (or at least too much all at once), knowing they'll eventually fail, and this allows them to feel justified in saying, "See? I tried. Now I do nothing.")

 

[albinoterrorist]

As somebody who has blundered from less-than-stellar situation to less-than-stellar situation purely of his own accord over the past few years, it occurred to me today that the whole thing seems rather futile. As much as it goes against what I'd like to believe, life seems to be stratified into layers of achievers, and the lower ones rarely move upwards. You'll generally find them in bedsits at 35 with half a degree and a collection of tracksuit trousers.

Anyway, what keeps people like that going? I personally think it's a mixture of family [pre-emptive guilt] and a biological imperative. But it still strikes me as odd that one could chronically achieve crappy grades in all avenues of life and still keep soldiering on. Opinions?

Spoiler

The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate...
Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope.
Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed...
Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end.
It matters not who you are...Death awaits you.

Gah! Fuck off Nyx, I already beat you!

But yeah.
Why not give up?
Because there's so much to do... and so little time.
Not all of it is enjoyable, true, but it must still be done.
If not for others, then for your own experience and growth as a person.

 

[mikey7339]

Anyway, what keeps people like that going? I personally think it's a mixture of family [pre-emptive guilt] and a biological imperative. But it still strikes me as odd that one could chronically achieve crappy grades in all avenues of life and still keep soldiering on. Opinions?

Usually delusion, but right now I'm too busy watching unicorns run down the road to back up my claim.

I'm going with a heaping dose of delusion. A lot of the people I've known who are less than stellar either don't realize it, cling to the one thing in their past that they did excel in, or are just completely delusional/pathological liars and will make-up the most outlandish claims to make themselves seem like they are the greatest person to ever live. I'm still unsure whether the last part is to make themselves look good in others eyes or in their own.

 

[Gudrests]

Usually delusion, but right now I'm too busy watching unicorn run down the road to back up my claim.

You just made my day.

znip

Just something that had been circling my mind for the last few years, is all.

So... what, you think people should lie under a bus because they don't excel at anything in particular?

I'm not saying anybody should do anything, merely wondering why people don't, if they can understand their situation.

Sometimes there is not much to do,you have obligations, bills. If you only have a crappy min wage job at 715 an hour...full time. School would be hard to do, you might not be able to because of the time and money you would have to spend on it, Hell you might not be motivated. I know my dad wants to go back to school but...time. He works 40+ hours a week within a span of 3-4 days and still works a side job which also takes a toll. Could you really blame someone like that if with there small amount of time left they would rather, go bowling? This is also a man who does not drink, does not smoke, does not do drugs. Like at all...When I turn 21 (legal drinking age for all of you non mericans) I will be surprised if we even go to a bar together.

 

[ThreeWords]

So... what, you think people should lie under a bus because they don't excel at anything in particular?

This, pretty much.

You'd be surprised what the average human being will put up with.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

I think your are experiencing confirmation bias. You're only counting the ones who never rise up, and ignoring the ones that did. Look at the recently deceased Steve Jobs. He was once so poor he had to collect coke bottles for food money. Winston Churchhill was pretty much entirely a failure in life until his 60's. Lincoln had four failed businesses and lost a big election before he became President. The world is filled with the stories of failures who rose to become successes.

 

[CrawlingPastaHellion]

How about domesticated pigs,hens and dogs?

That's not "design". That's encouragement through selective breeding.

How is that not design?

Well, perhaps I was wrong in that, due to a more general definition of design which implies an intended purpose in every possible sub-definition.

A design is a product of intelligence, however. There are no scientific indications that human beings were such a product. So let's assume that before we developed intelligence, no organisms on the planet Earth were designed in any sense of the word.

The world is filled with the stories of failures who rose to become successes.

Yes, that's what some people refer to as "late bloomers". That's just as I said: if you're alive you still have a chance. Futility is not an answer.