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Comment by fuzzer371 | Hacker News Reader

I mean, he's not wrong. I'd have loved to have worked there for a year and have made tons of money.

Sure he is - he said "we all", but I count at least three of us in this specific chain who find it gross.

He also said "kind of" and "probably".

Doesn't pretty much everyone wish that they had more money? I "kind of" want to steal a Lamborghini when I see them, but I don't do it because that would be unethical because robbing people is unethical. I don't think it's gross to at least think about it.

I mean, I don't know, maybe "we all" was a bit hyperbolic but I don't think it was so bad.

I can only speak for myself. I want to have enough money to be able to comfortably provide for myself and my family, while also allowing us to be able to go and do the things we love. And - that's where we're at. We're firmly "middle class" and I'm content with the amount of money I'm making. I don't really care if I had more (it'd be nice, sure, but I don't need it), and I don't really care about fancy, overpriced, high-end goods that are, essentially, just status symbols (eg, Lamborghinis).

I also have enough money, and I'm also firmly middle class, and I'm also able to afford to do stuff I enjoy, but if I won the lottery I'm not going to say "no" to the money [1].

I don't really want to buy a Lamborghini because I agree, it's an expensive status symbol, but similarly if someone gave one to me for free, I'd take it because I think they're cool (or I could flip it for a lot of money). Sometimes I, if only for a moment, will think about how easy it might be to steal a Lamborghini and how it would be cool if I did.

(I'm just using Lamborghini as an example though, replace it with anything that you think is cool but too expensive to actually justify buying).

Does it make me a gross jerk for thinking about it? Maybe, but I don't think so; considering a bad thing isn't the same as doing that bad thing. It lives very firmly in my brain, and I'm quite confident that I wouldn't actually do anything like that.

[1] I don't actually play the lottery, just an example.

> He also said "kind of" and "probably".

Those are "probably" "kind of" weasel words to make the assertion seem less gross when it is, indeed, very gross.

This is not like dreaming of getting a Lamborghini for free. It's like "kind of" dreaming of living the life of a successful drug cartel boss. Gross.

It’s not a weasel word, because I don’t think what they were trying to say was unclear.

Maybe you’re some angel who has never wanted to do anything wrong for a single moment in your life, power to you if you are, but I think you are in the vast, vast minority.

Most people have considered doing a bad thing at least once and probably considerably more than that. I don’t think they’re bad for thinking it. I feel like that’s what the writer was trying to say.

Maybe "weasel word" wasn't the best term, what I meant is that "kind of", "probably" are words they used to deflate the emphasis of their sentence in order to make it seem less gross. This is a technique to make the meaning seem less harsh/disgusting/shocking and easier to agree with -- and you can bet they know it and use it purposefully, the whole article is written by salespeople about other salespeople and is precisely about techniques like this (see how they describe the tactical use of "fair enough", "I'm not trying to [...]", etc).

But it is gross because we can see past all of this, and the meaning of the sentence remains pretty bad.

> Maybe you’re some angel who has never wanted to do anything wrong

I've never wanted to rob or scam people, no. I'm not in the minority either.

> I've never wanted to rob or scam people, no. I'm not in the minority either.

Ok, well then I think you're lying. I don't think you're just misremembering or anything, I actively think you are being dishonest if you are genuinely saying that you've never even once wanted to steal something, if only for a moment. I'm not accusing you of actually stealing anything, but if you're claiming that you've never even once thought "it would be cool to take that thing that that person has so I could have it", then I just think you're not telling the truth.

Frankly this sanctimonious holier-than-thou pretending-to-be-offended stuff is really tiring; you decided to make a comment saying "gross" purely so you could act judgemental for something that, fundamentally, you know really wasn't that bad.

EDIT:

Sorry, for some reason I misremembered, I thought you wrote the original "gross" comment.

I still think you're lying though.

You wouldn’t care that every dollar you had was taken from some else via fraud?

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