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Who do you respect more, a bin man or a maths professor?
Poll
Who do you respect more?
Thank you to those of you who have answered properly. To the rest of you, this is about the PROFESSION, not the PEOPLE. If you insist on telling me you respect people for who they are, I have made a disclaimer for you to copy and paste;
DISCLAIMER: I, the undersigned, do not judge people on their profession, I judge them on who they are. I understand this to be a hypothetical question based around society's views on academia. I have read the OP and my vote does not necessarily reflect badly on the other party.
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Okay, I'm going to make one last attempt at this. I can't change the title or poll, but PLEASE read the introduction before posting, because I keep answering the same questions.
I'm writing this because of a friend of mine who, when I said I wanted to be a maths professor said, under his breath and definitely without joking, "Oh, so you'll never actually contribute to anything". He's a kind of non-academic, practical type. Just wondered how prevalent his views are.
Basically, you have;
1. A difficult manual job that directly benefits society, but that (meaning no disrespect) lots of people could do.
2. A comfortable middle class job that requires a lot of training and ability, but which is ideologically more of a luxury to society than a necessity.
There are points for both sides.
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The question is about how academia is viewed by society. It is NOT;
- An insult to bin men. I was using that as the counter-example out of respect for the job, I didn't mean to insult anyone.
- Even about bin men.
- About who you respect as a person. I'm well aware you all judge people on personality not profession. So do I. The question is about which profession you respect more.
- A direct competition. Voting for one doesn't mean you don't respect the other, or that the world could live without the other. It's just about degree.
I'm simply interested in how people view academia's role in society. I thought the poll would be a fun way of doing it, but in three pages only one person has understood what I mean. Of course this is my fault for not explaining properly, but hopefully I've done that now.
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Original posts, for reference;
OP:
Edits:
DISCLAIMER: I, the undersigned, do not judge people on their profession, I judge them on who they are. I understand this to be a hypothetical question based around society's views on academia. I have read the OP and my vote does not necessarily reflect badly on the other party.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Okay, I'm going to make one last attempt at this. I can't change the title or poll, but PLEASE read the introduction before posting, because I keep answering the same questions.
I'm writing this because of a friend of mine who, when I said I wanted to be a maths professor said, under his breath and definitely without joking, "Oh, so you'll never actually contribute to anything". He's a kind of non-academic, practical type. Just wondered how prevalent his views are.
Basically, you have;
1. A difficult manual job that directly benefits society, but that (meaning no disrespect) lots of people could do.
2. A comfortable middle class job that requires a lot of training and ability, but which is ideologically more of a luxury to society than a necessity.
There are points for both sides.
--------------------------------------------------
The question is about how academia is viewed by society. It is NOT;
- An insult to bin men. I was using that as the counter-example out of respect for the job, I didn't mean to insult anyone.
- Even about bin men.
- About who you respect as a person. I'm well aware you all judge people on personality not profession. So do I. The question is about which profession you respect more.
- A direct competition. Voting for one doesn't mean you don't respect the other, or that the world could live without the other. It's just about degree.
I'm simply interested in how people view academia's role in society. I thought the poll would be a fun way of doing it, but in three pages only one person has understood what I mean. Of course this is my fault for not explaining properly, but hopefully I've done that now.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original posts, for reference;
OP:
Spoiler
Edits:
Spoiler
(edited 10 years ago)
Scroll to see replies
... I'd need to know more about the person than their occupation 
For me respect is more based on a person's personality and attitude towards other people.
Sorry for what's probably quite an unhelpful answer - I know your question is that we need to "assume this is all you know about the person", but for me it's really impossible to say! My dad's a builder and I love and respect him hugely, my granddad was a teacher and I also love him - their career choices don't come into it AT ALL.
For me respect is more based on a person's personality and attitude towards other people.Sorry for what's probably quite an unhelpful answer - I know your question is that we need to "assume this is all you know about the person", but for me it's really impossible to say! My dad's a builder and I love and respect him hugely, my granddad was a teacher and I also love him - their career choices don't come into it AT ALL.
(edited 10 years ago)
I agree with the above poster, I respect people for their attitudes towards others, not their occupation. They could be working at a strip club for all I care, if they are a decent person who treats other people well they have my respect.
Original post by SpicyStrawberry
I agree with the above poster, I respect people for their attitudes towards others, not their occupation. They could be working at a strip club for all I care, if they are a decent person who treats other people well they have my respect.
This.
I don't base my respect for others around their potential contribution to society.
It's kind of a weird distinction. Maths has directly benefited society a lot more than garbage collection. Worst case you would have to drive rubbish to the dump yourself; without maths the industrial economy would be impossible.
If you mean "bin men give us a pay off now; maths professors in a few decades" then you have more of a point but this is a question of short term vs long term perspective, not benefiting society or not.
If you mean "bin men give us a pay off now; maths professors in a few decades" then you have more of a point but this is a question of short term vs long term perspective, not benefiting society or not.
It isn't an either/or situation - when it comes to simple "respect", everyone doing a job and contributing is worthy of respect.
If the question is about which contributes more value to society overall, that is debatable, since someone needs to clear the bins and without dustbin operatives, the streets would soon be unbearable. Although maths professors are useful, so are bin operatives.
If the question is about which contributes more value to society overall, that is debatable, since someone needs to clear the bins and without dustbin operatives, the streets would soon be unbearable. Although maths professors are useful, so are bin operatives.
Bin man, without him/she all my litter still be sitting there!
Original post by Octohedral
This is inspired by a friend of mine who, when I said I wanted to be a maths professor said, under his breath and definitely without joking, "Oh, so you'll never actually contribute to anything". He's a kind of non-academic, practical type. Just wondered how prevalent his views are.
Bin Man
- Directly helps society.
- Difficult hours, and physical work for a decent but not very high wage.
- However (meaning no disrespect), anyone physically fit enough could do it.
Maths Professor
- Takes a lot of training.
- However, the pay and hours are very nice (long holidays, weekends etc).
- The research element doesn't directly benefit society (it obviously does in the long run, but its purpose is discovery for the sake of discovery).
Assume this is all you know about the person. Also, forgive the stereotype of bin men - I went for the title most likely to get read.
Bin Man
- Directly helps society.
- Difficult hours, and physical work for a decent but not very high wage.
- However (meaning no disrespect), anyone physically fit enough could do it.
Maths Professor
- Takes a lot of training.
- However, the pay and hours are very nice (long holidays, weekends etc).
- The research element doesn't directly benefit society (it obviously does in the long run, but its purpose is discovery for the sake of discovery).
Assume this is all you know about the person. Also, forgive the stereotype of bin men - I went for the title most likely to get read.
I would respect them equally, unless one was a douche, then obviously I'd respect the other one more. I tend to judge people on how they act rather than what job they have.
Original post by SpicyStrawberry
I agree with the above poster, I respect people for their attitudes towards others, not their occupation. They could be working at a strip club for all I care, if they are a decent person who treats other people well they have my respect.
While i agree that society has jobs and roles, and we must have humility to respect everyone, as we are all dependent on one another, i am not so liberal as to say that i respect those who work at strip clubs.
Women who do that devalue themselves, sell themselves, build up the idea that women are sex objects and so on. Not to mention the men that cheat and go to such clubs.
I won't abuse anyone who does, but respect is something earned.
Original post by MENDACIUM
While i agree that society has jobs and roles, and we must have humility to respect everyone, as we are all dependent on one another, i am not so liberal as to say that i respect those who work at strip clubs.
Women who do that devalue themselves, sell themselves, build up the idea that women are sex objects and so on. Not to mention the men that cheat and go to such clubs.
I won't abuse anyone who does, but respect is something earned.
Women who do that devalue themselves, sell themselves, build up the idea that women are sex objects and so on. Not to mention the men that cheat and go to such clubs.
I won't abuse anyone who does, but respect is something earned.
No they don't build up the idea that women are objects. One woman does not represent everyone. They build up the idea that women are people who can make rational choices.
Why is that devaluing themselves? Why is it 'bad'?
A maths professor...precisely the kind of guy I want in bed with me.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Tyrion_Lannister
No they don't build up the idea that women are objects. One woman does not represent everyone. They build up the idea that women are people who can make rational choices.
Why is that devaluing themselves? Why is it 'bad'?
Why is that devaluing themselves? Why is it 'bad'?
In my own humble opinion, a woman who goes to a club, takes her clothes of to the delight of men, thereby selling her body for money, only adds to society the notion that women are sex objects.
One woman does not represent everybody, but this is not simply one woman. Strip clubs are common, and mostly consist of women, and this trickles onto other elements of society, and how young women view themselves.
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
How is it even possible to respect working class people?
Imagine that goon binman at school, what a wastecadet he must have been to have ended up as a binman.
Deserves no respect.
Now, a maths professor...precisely the kind of guy I want in bed with me.
Imagine that goon binman at school, what a wastecadet he must have been to have ended up as a binman.
Deserves no respect.
Now, a maths professor...precisely the kind of guy I want in bed with me.
How can you not respect working class people? Just because someone is not an academic doesn't mean that they don't deserve our respect we rely on the working class person far more than I think you appreciate.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by MENDACIUM
While i agree that society has jobs and roles, and we must have humility to respect everyone, as we are all dependent on one another, i am not so liberal as to say that i respect those who work at strip clubs.
Women who do that devalue themselves, sell themselves, build up the idea that women are sex objects and so on. Not to mention the men that cheat and go to such clubs.
I won't abuse anyone who does, but respect is something earned.
Women who do that devalue themselves, sell themselves, build up the idea that women are sex objects and so on. Not to mention the men that cheat and go to such clubs.
I won't abuse anyone who does, but respect is something earned.
I think what you've said is highly debatable, women who work in strip clubs do so on their own volition, and the clubs generate lots of profits, taxes are paid etc. etc. so while people may have personal objections towards people who work in such establishments they do have an impact on the economy; they encourage people to spend their money and there is nothing illegal about it so I just think people who dislike them should keep a wide berth. I'd like to think what you do for a living doesn't define you, you go to work, you do your job and you come home and it stops there. That's another debate for another time though
I don't - I want to be one. I was putting forward my friend's view in order to see how common it is.
To all the people saying they won't judge a person's worth from his job: ok, I kind of took that to be understood, but it's not the point of the question. I want to see what sort of percentage of TSR is of the practical mentality where hard work is more worthy of respect than a life of the mind. This attitude does exist outside of TSR. The poll is just a fun way of doing it - nobody thinks that if you put 'bin man' you hate all maths professors, it's just a matter of degree. Thanks for your replies
To all the people saying they won't judge a person's worth from his job: ok, I kind of took that to be understood, but it's not the point of the question. I want to see what sort of percentage of TSR is of the practical mentality where hard work is more worthy of respect than a life of the mind. This attitude does exist outside of TSR. The poll is just a fun way of doing it - nobody thinks that if you put 'bin man' you hate all maths professors, it's just a matter of degree. Thanks for your replies
Original post by winningjojo
How can you not respect working class people? Just because someone is not an academic doesn't mean that they don't deserve our respect we rely on the working class person far more than I think you appreciate.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
How is it even possible to respect working class people?
Imagine that goon binman at school, what a wastecadet he must have been to have ended up as a binman.
Deserves no respect.
Now, a maths professor...precisely the kind of guy I want in bed with me.
Imagine that goon binman at school, what a wastecadet he must have been to have ended up as a binman.
Deserves no respect.
Now, a maths professor...precisely the kind of guy I want in bed with me.
Maybe just maybe he was being sarcastic?
if your a maths professor who wakes up in the morning with a smile on their face fair play to that
if your a maths professor who seems to think everybody is inferior to them in every aspect of life (there are a fair few of these sorts) then my respect lies with a binman
bottom line work hard with a smile on your face and you deserve respect whatever you do in life
if your a maths professor who seems to think everybody is inferior to them in every aspect of life (there are a fair few of these sorts) then my respect lies with a binman
bottom line work hard with a smile on your face and you deserve respect whatever you do in life
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