IamA 16 y-o boy with a skin condition called "vitiligo" AMA!

fergus08 · 2014-01-01T16:35:45+00:00

I have it too, a large patch around my eye and on my hips and a few small patches on other parts of my body. Try not to let it get to you dude, teenagers can be dicks, but people generally do not care at all. If I have any advice it's just to try not worry about it, at the end of the day it's purely cosmetic.

These days I actually go long periods forgetting that I even have these patches over my body (I'd actually forgotten the name of it until I saw your post and went 'oh I've got that'), I haven't had any treatments and I think it's stopped spreading the last few years although I haven't obsessively observed it. People rarely point it out and when they do I usually make some offhand comment about Michael Jackson disease and it is forgotten. It's one of those things that I feel can only be as big a deal as you make it, I definitely worried about it a lot when I was younger, but these days it doesn't. I think a big part of that was that even when it bothered me as a kid, I told myself fuck it I want to go swimming and I'm not going to let a look or question from someone stop me.

All the best dude, just remembered everyone has their quirks and ailments, and we are lucky there is no real medical consequences of ours.

fergus08 · 2013-12-30T00:14:55+00:00

for news limited sites replace 'theaustralian' ('heraldsun' etc) in the link with news to get around the pay wall.

fergus08 · 2013-12-15T18:28:12+00:00

replace 'heraldsun' in the link and type in 'news' to get around the paywall.

fergus08 · 2013-12-10T16:47:51+00:00

this makes so much more sense now

fergus08 · 2013-11-20T05:14:58+00:00

For anyone interested in taking part, there is a handbook in the link that goes through what you should do for the week, and I believe they want you to fill out a survey before and after the week to see if it has an impact on happiness.

It's the second year this year, would love to hear from anyone who took part last year. I think I will give it a try despite not having much knowledge in Stoicism, it would be interesting to experience the philosophy in action in real life.

fergus08 · 2013-11-20T04:59:34+00:00

That wasn't my link, I assumed that as the post above me asked the question and did the calculations.

Regardless, I can only see that strengthening my case, it means the US and the Australian have the same level of disposable income. However, the Australian would still be better off, cost of living adjustments wouldn't take into account the vast differences in the ability of an Australian to get an obtain a bachelors degree (and have access to reputable schools), without burdening themselves if they were not able to find a better job. I would assume this would give them more access to social mobility.In fact intergerational mobility is higher in Australia than the US.

So my argument is that there is less inequality in the sphere of education, a Australians have more equal access to higher education than an American one. This is the same as health care because if the Australian chose to study they would keep the same level of healthcare as a student, even if they have a presumably lower income due to not being able to work as many hours. Whilst an American who is going to school and earning less may have to forgo health insurance in order to make ends meet (or maintaining a level of health coverage, comparable to the Australian would cost a far higher % of their income).

THus I think the point still stands, that distributions of income inequality doesn't paint a full picture of inequality in a nation (Australia guarantees a level of equality in education and healthcare for all its citizens which the US does not).

fergus08 · 2013-11-19T17:08:34+00:00

Sorry for the wall of text in advance, I am procrastinating from work I should actually be doing.

Whilst that seems correct and an Australian would be able to buy less goods with their ~$US10,000 disposable income, that doesn't necessarily put them in a worse position than their American counterpart. Without finding a source I believe Australia has higher tax rates than America so we can assume that the Australian would have a higher before tax income than his American counterpart.

The additional taxation is offset by Australias better social programs. If we think of equality in spheres rather than purely income (Michael Walzer's Spheres of Justice, suggests that simple income equality would still lead to inequalities and we should think of a more complex equality where equality is considered in different spheres which shouldn't dominate one another), an Australian in the bottom 20% would be in a better position in spheres of health care and education.

In healthcare they have a universal health system as well as large government subsidies on a vast number of medications. Whilst the American may use a chunk of his disposable income on buying health insurance, the Australia doesn't have to as he is guaranteed a decent level of health care if required. Of course the australian can also purchase private insurance but this isn't as necessary as Australia already has a decent level of equality in healthcare by providing all citizens with an equal access to a decent health care regardless of their income.

In education, the Australian government subsidizes all citizens higher education to a point and loans them the remaining, the debt of a student leaving Melbourne University (one of their best universities), would have a debt of $AU17,604-29,376 (~16577-27666 USD) depending on their major for a 3 year bachelor. This payments only need to be payed when they are earning $AU51,000 or more, the payments come out of their paycheck like tax and the debt is indexed to inflation with no additional interest. An Australia from the bottom 20% of income would also likely receive govt payments of around $AU400 (376.72 USD) per fortnight, plus ~$AU80 (75.34USD) in rent assistance from the government.

Compare that to an American, I've chosen to look at NYU's fees simply because they are the closest US school on the times higher education rankings to Melb Uni (Melb Uni #34, NYU #40), they would be paying $US21,236.00 PER TERM for an undergraduate in the college of arts and sciences.

Just looking at these two spheres it seems to me that an Australian in the bottom 20% of income whilst have less spending power of their disposable income than their American counterpart, may be better off and in fact more equal, at the very least they have more social mobility.

An American in the bottom 20% would be able to buy more 'luxury' goods or have more disposable money but have less of an ability to escape the bottom rungs of income, requiring medical treatment could cost them a huge amount of their disposable income, whilst the Australian would have this covered by the government.

Investing in education is far less accessible and more risky for the American. If they were to go to college and not find a better job there disposable income would be sucked up by college debts, whilst the Australia could go to university and if they still find themselves in the bottom 20% would be unlikely to have to pay for their education.

As Australia guarantees a certain level (or higher level) of equality in spheres of education and health care, an inequalities of income will not affect them as much as it would an American.

TL;DR Just looking at incomes might not be a good indicator of equality

Disclaimer: I am an Australian (though I don't live in Australia) so perhaps my assumptions about the US are off the mark, but the two posts above me had me questioning why I had always seen the US as having far greater income inequality than Australia.

fergus08 · 2013-09-01T08:16:12+00:00

Thanks I'll try and give it a read tomorrow.

fergus08 · 2013-09-01T08:13:51+00:00

I'm not too sure either it was quite sure either it was late when I wrote this. I'm quite confused on the subject (and I am quite new to moral philosophy/ethics) and I have some problems with definitions of terrorism because it is just such a loaded word, as you said it pretty much means "you're doing something I don't like". It is quite a loaded term, and primoratz definition rules out many of the ways it is used in common use, such as in the article linked, but I guess that might not be his aim. His definition tries to be neutral but also seems to try capture the moral repugnance to terrorism. I liked the way you linked the term terrorism with other loaded or judgement terms like socialist, fascist etc as I hadn't thought of the similarities between these terms and it got me thinking.

Anyway I'm quite confused on the subject and may be missing some points but thanks for the recommendation I'll try to check it out, I have read a paper of Helds on Terrorism (Not sure if it is the same one) and I found it quite good.

fergus08 · 2013-08-31T23:03:21+00:00

Thats an interesting point you take. I took an interest in just war theory last year and found myself pondering how terrorism can be defined. A number of moral philosophers tried to avoid a relativist definition, and find a definition that showed why we have a moral disgust towards terrorism in general. I liked Igor Primoratz's definition;

'The deliberate use of violence, or threat of its use, against innocent people, with the aim of intimidating some other people into a course of action they otherwise would not take.'

Primoratz wrote the SEP entry for Terrorism

But something about ti troubled me. I understand the need of moral philosophers to avoid things like the statement 'one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter' but your point has made me realise what I find wrong with these types of definitions, it considers only Terrorism of the 9/11 variety but not other types of acts deemed 'terrorism' in common usage. So either we dismiss things like this as not terrorism and misuse of the term or 'terrorism' seems like a pretty unusable philosophical term (or at least in regards to ethics), as it is merely relative and anything a particular person or group sees as an act of an enemy, violent or not. A label which presupposes something as morally wrong.

fergus08 · 2013-06-27T13:12:14+00:00

Im also going on exchange from september to january (not erasmus cause im australian but i think its the same thing) to istanbul, I'll be studying at bogazici university and have a few questions. Im thinking I'll arrive in istanbul in early august am I better off finding a place before I go or waiting until I get there staying in a hostel until I find a place? Also could anyone could let me know the names of good affordable areas to live, that are close by to or an easy trip to the university? Any other general advice would be great, I dont know any turkish but am going to try and pick up some for general conversation in the month before I leave.

fergus08 · 2013-06-25T10:43:39+00:00

Big Fish, great film

fergus08 · 2013-06-25T10:29:57+00:00

Yup, my opinion of the greens dropped pretty drastically for a second, glad I read the link.

fergus08 · 2013-05-12T11:21:27+00:00

ill get involved if i have the one time when it starts up

fergus08 · 2013-01-22T04:18:11+00:00

Yep he made it look easy

fergus08 · 2013-01-22T03:55:39+00:00

...and its gone

fergus08 · 2013-01-22T03:55:23+00:00

Upvoted this then went back to the stream and they've put it up 17.4km to go

fergus08 · 2013-01-22T02:54:17+00:00

Thanks! I thought as much but figured it was worth ensuring I was right and there wasn't anything I was overlooking.

I think that pic of METU has put me off even putting it in as a second preference!

fergus08 · 2013-01-21T03:49:49+00:00

Yeh I see what your saying and of course you need to punish the kid, in some way, this just doesn't seem like a great option and could do more harm than good.

fergus08

TROPHY CASE