Based off a conversation I had today with my brother in law.
Edit
Comeuppance is described as punishment or fate that someone deserves.
Fate doesn’t exist.
There are consequences for our actions and for the most part I earned all the bad things that happened to me.
I don’t think there’s any sort of cosmic balance, much as I wish there were. Generally though people being assholes will eventually be an asshole to the wrong person and that’ll sort of feel like karma.
On philosophical level I believe in predetermination since literally everything is one chain reaction that could hypothetically be calculated, but I think it’s completely random and not constructed by any known higher force.
That said I don’t get too worked up over jerks and assholes because they’re all deeply miserable and insecure. The way people act reflects what they expect of the world around them. Hostile people live in hostile worlds and the same for judgmental and hateful people.
There’s no natural justice. If we want it we have to make it.
IMO, simple fact that the majority of drunk drivers survive accidents that kill their victim instantly shows that no higher power is looking out to punish the wicked or protect the innocent.
Pure chance, unless you see to it yourself.
I don’t believe in magic.
I’m not sure what you mean by “believing in” comeuppance. It doesn’t automatically happen when people do bad things, it’s not a real material thing. People can do harmful things that sometimes cause people to react and punish them, and I’d say that fits your definition of comeuppance, but it’s not some guaranteed or spiritual concept. So I can’t say I believe in comeuppance, even when it happens.
If you mean in a sense of justice, I don’t really advocate punitive justice, as gratifying as it is. What comeuppance does someone truly atrocious on a mass scale deserve? There’s a point where you’d need to artificially prolong someone’s life for thousands of years of torture just to scrape the surface of the suffering they’ve caused to humanity (let alone other creatures), some proper “I Have No Mouth” sci-fi stuff would be the necessary fate to qualify as Hitler’s comeuppance. And what does it accomplish? Not much. In the end, just give them a bullet as quickly as possible to prevent them hurting more people, we can leave ironic fates to the novelists.
I believe in a form of karma I like to compare to a public pool. If you keep pissing in the damn pool eventually you’re just swimming in piss and a lot of people eventually may get mad that they’re swimming in your piss
No. Netanyahu is still in power.
If we are talking in the magical sense, absolutely not, especially if it was proportional to crimes committed. Putin, Trump, XI, and Kim never would have made it to power, not to mention quite a few others.
Do you mean in the magical sense? That there’s a karmic force in the universe that causes bad things to happen to bad people.
Or do you mean it in the moral sense? That bad people deserve to have bad things happen to them and it’s good when it does.
Believe in it?
Nothing to believe in, it’s a word that describes an evaluation of events on a subjective level.
Person does bad thing, bad thing happens, other people decide that the bad thing was good because it happened to the bad person.
Secondary to that, they believe that the bad person’s actions led to the bad thing happening to them.
Comeuppance isn’t the same thing as fate, karma, or doom, all of which do require abelief in external forces. It just means that people think any bad things that happened are appropriate
Not really, I file it in the same category as karma. It’s a magical sentiment people wrap around cause and effect, usually to justify or pander to their own prejudices.
Actions have consequences, but if you’re a cruel bastard the consequences might be that people give you more respect than you “deserve,” and if you’re smart about it then you can manipulate and torture people your whole life. I’ve seen the “worst” people, totally abusive and dishonest, commanding the most respect. They have no conscience and they spit on people who don’t “fall in line.” I just avoid them.
Stupidity and bad luck bring about “comeuppance.” There’s no such thing as “deserve,” at least not objectively, not to the universe.
I’m glad we both want to see fairness and kindness in the world. I see you interpret cruelty, abuse, and dishonesty’s effects as respect. I see it a bit differently. When I see cruelty, abuse, and dishonesty, I usually see fear, terror, hiding, lying— anything but respect.
If I see a serial killer who tortures people, I would never respect them. I’d probably fear them. But fear is not respect.
To me, respect is deep admiration. It involves feeling aligned in values, feeling that someone is doing things right and well. If someone is doing things wrong and cruelly, I’d feel deep disrespect towards them.
I suppose our cultures have wrongly conflated respect and fear. People don’t command respect. They deserve it and earn it. They deserve base respect for the mere fact of being human trying to be happy in a brutal world. And they earn admiration-like respect when their hearts are aligned with virtue.
In relation to “comeuppance,” that stuff is not entirely relevant. Frightened goons and croneys/lackeys still show “respect” (and probably feel it as they understand it). They’ll also act out the hostile wishes of the cruel bastard they follow. Comeuppance doesn’t follow my wishes through them. If I want a good life, I can’t get hung up on whether they get what they “deserve.” I’m focused on my own things.
And yeah, I’ve had one of those guys literally yelling at me that “the only respect is fear!” I disagree, but his friends obey him and I’m a loner. There will be no “comeuppance.” That’s resentfully imagining revenge into the universe. That’s how you become warped and hostile. I have things to do. I’m not interested in “comeuppance.”
I do, but what’s comeuppance?
It’s basically karma, but exclusively - in my experience - describes negative outcomes. Similar to “just desserts”.
Oh. Interesting. Thank you.
From Google
A punishment or fate that someone deserves.
Can we really trust Google, though?
If they lied, they will get what’s coming to them ;)
I like you.
