Karma isn't real.
17h 54m ago by lemmy.world/u/Lost_My_Mind in unpopularopinion
In life there are 4 types of people. Doers, thinkers, watchers, and instigators.
The doers do things. They have a plan, and they just do it. Doesn't even have to be their own plan. But it becomes their plan the moment they do it.
The thinkers don't pay attention to what has happened, they think of what they want to happen. They study what works, what doesn't work, and why. Then they think of their plans for the future. They may not even be the one to execute the plan, but they set the plan in place.
The watchers watch what everyone is doing. They don't influence outcomes. They just watch, and take notice of what is happening to develop a greater sense of information gathering.
And the instigators are usually self motivated. They stir shit up, to divide people for personal gain. Usually there is no plan. Just the fastest path to get others divided, and see how to benefit as it comes.
Well I'm a watcher. And 30 years ago I began noticing trends. I'd see local politicians tell my city (Cleveland) that their administration was going to be the one to bring Cleveland back on top. And then nothing happened. Then the next Mayor said they were going to put Cleveland back on top. And nothing happened. And then the next mayor said they were going to put Cleveland on top. I was at one of these city hall press confrences in 2004. I asked newly elected Mayor Jane Cambell what the plan was to put Cleveland on top as she claimed. Her answer was basic politician speak. Saying a lot of words to get people to nod their heads in agreement, but not actually saying anything of substance. I watched as everyone in the room clapped and smiled and was assured by her obviously prepared answer. This wasn't a plan. It was a dodge. Don't answer the question, but make everyone feel as if you did.
Around this time, it started coming out that Mike White, Mayor in 1996, was found guilty of corruption, fraud, financial embezzlement. The works. Then I watched as everyone around me started nodding and saying they knew it all along. Bitch, no you didn't. You didn't say a word. I didn't know either, but I was 13. I still watched as everyone felt luke warm about Mike White. And somehow this became Jane Cambells problem. She had a very short term. Never heard from her again.
And then came Frank Jackson. Again, I saw the reaction as luke warm water. He stayed mayor for like 15 years. Just because every election we hadn't heard of any new fraud. Then towards the end, his grandson was involved with organized crime, and he hadn't done anything of note his entire tenure.
What I also notice is that people like this, the doers, they don't face real reprocussions. Occasionally they do. I'd like to have seen Mike White imprisoned. That didn't happen. Instead, he just faded into obscurity. Stole millions in tax dollars meant for the schools, in a time when I was going to school. I remember our schools never had enough books. Never had enough supplies. Teachers underpaid. All so this asshole can get another bonus.
And you can apply this at a national level too. The athletes that make it to the big time. The NFL, THE NBA, the MLB, ect. They can rape women, and keep their jobs getting paid millions of dollars. They can drink and drive and when the cops come, they don't reach for their handcuffs. They reach for their cell phone to grab a selfie.
So 30 years ago, I said karma isn't real. There are good honest people in this world. You'll never hear from them unless you work with them, or are family to them. But they don't get a massive bonus sent to them from a corporation for helping the needy, the sick, the elderly, the mentally different. They don't get a free pass from law enforcement for making an honest mistake. Some of them get shot by the police for being not white.
Look at our president. Go out on the street and ask 100 people if they think he's a pedophile or not. I would be shocked if it wasn't a 100% yes. Yet, there he is. He's the president. I STILL think he rigged the system to do it.
Think he'll face jail time? Think he'll be hit with Karma? Did Nixon get a jail sentence, or a pardon?
Karma isn't real.
In life there are 4 types of people. Doers, thinkers, watchers, and instigators.
It's not real either.
Better stick to the old fashioned Buddhist definition of karma, not this social media shit of a police car catching somebody who drives through a red light.
I'm sorry, that was too long for me to read but I 100% agree. It's BS. This world is not "fair", time and chance affect us all and the race doesn't always go to the fastest (Solomon's "Ecclesiastes" is relevant, as always). Nobody reasonable ever thought it was either. If you want perfect justice, you gotta wait for God's judgment.
Extremely popular opinion.
i disagree with that first categorisatiog. The rest I see similar
What is it about the 4 types you disagree with? I'm unclear which angle you're coming from.
you simply cannot divide all humans into drawers like that. Human behaviour is more complex than 1D, so no x types can describe all humans. Right/left is not enough to explain all political ideologies and I'd argue that "people" are even more complex than politics
You think that's an unpopular opinion in a place populated by atheists, leftists, and science enthusiasts of all sorts?
Everytime I've ever said that karma isn't real, online or in person, I get told I'm wrong. That bad people have bad things coming.
You seem to agree with me. I guess I'll see how this plays out over the next day or so to see if Lemmy also agrees.
I mean, I can kind of agree if they mean that karma as a concept is real, like usually bad people don't do well in life. Won't fit in at a job, will get caught and punished for their crimes hopefully, won't meet a partner if they're a douche, etc etc. That's "karma" for you.
But as some kind of divine force of nature, definitely not. I'd be surprised if people generally really thought that was a thing.
Maybe religious people are more inclined to believe that there exists some kind of similar force, since e.g. some religions believe your actions will grant you access to, or more benefits in, heaven, or similar systems of reward. So then there must be something keeping tabs. Maybe karma, maybe God, maybe God is using his form of karma to keep tabs. Who knows.
But I don't believe that, even if I were to believe in God.
So how many days are you willing to wait for one person to show up and passionately disagree with you?
There is the law of cause and effect. It is a fundamental principle stating that every action has a corresponding reaction and every effect has a preceding cause, implying that nothing occurs by chance. This concept, often summarized by the phrase "as you sow, so shall you reap," asserts that thoughts, words, and deeds set in motion chain reactions that shape reality.
If we wait for karma to happen, the waiting and non action shapes our reality.
Make a stand. Act. Take steps to cause change.
Note also that violence begets violence.
Karma as a “real cosmic force” is a specific concept of Indian religion.
It has adaptations in different subcultures but to my interpretation, their interpretation is different from religious karma. Its not a divine ultimate force but a sense of morality and chain of reasoning that comes with social awareness. The bigger bully the captain, the more likely the crew considers a mutiny.
So maybe the experiences you had saying Karma isn’t real came off as losing hope that the common people have any chance of raising up.
The sentence itself understood within context is not unpopular.
But what i am going to disagree massively on here, that i would assume is very unpopular is your classification of people in 4 simple single focused groups. I belong to all 4 of those groups on any given day and i don’t think thats special. If i would have to pick one dominant id say i am a thinker, but an essential part of thinking is observing the current and the past to understand where we stand now and where we come from. The way you defined the groups you appear to gatekeep observational awareness under watcher.
As for being an instigator, i like to subtly poke holes in the reasoning of people around me who are subtly (or unknowingly) expressing fascist ideas and i don’t mind putting a hidden problem on fire to make it harder to ignore. But what you describe is basically just narcissistic people.
If karma was real, I don't think billionaires would be able to exist unless they earned it all through positive means.
And yet since they probably don't and haven't, aren't using their mass wealth for anything beneficial other than to lobby and oppress. Aren't seeing jail time or any massive penalties for them to worry about, the karma system is just make-believe.
I agree. Not sure how unpopular this opinion is. Probably depends on who you talk to.
Most likely anything supernatural is not real. Its a wysiwyg universe. Granted the whole classification of people like most broad things is only applicable in the broadest sense. Maybe as much as peoples tendencies.
Not that I think you are wrong, but a believer could just say that your argument doesn't apply because Karma primarily affects you in the afterlife.