{"id":98,"date":"2008-06-13T07:47:54","date_gmt":"2008-06-13T12:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/?p=98"},"modified":"2008-06-13T07:47:54","modified_gmt":"2008-06-13T12:47:54","slug":"best-read-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/2008\/06\/13\/best-read-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Read Today!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>from chris dillow <a href=\"http:\/\/stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com\/stumbling_and_mumbling\/2008\/06\/character-vs-circumstance.html#\">here<\/a>:<br \/>\n<strong><em>For me personally, introspection corroborates all this. I can easily imagine that, with even slightly different upbringing or luck, I would be either considerably richer and \u201csuccessful\u201d than I am now, or in prison. My &#8220;character&#8221; is of secondary importance, if indeed it exists at all. As Iris DeMent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cowboylyrics.com\/lyrics\/dement-iris\/the-shores-of-jordan-11295.html\">sang<\/a>:<br \/>\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>And I traveled to a prison; I saw my share of shattered dreams.<br \/>\nWere the tables slightly tilted I could be bound, they could be free.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>I mention all this because it\u2019s a big reason why I\u2019m an egalitarian. When I see someone successful and respected, I see &#8211; as a tendency with exceptions &#8211; not an admirable character but merely the beneficiary of lucky circumstances. And when I see life\u2019s other side &#8211; again, with exceptions &#8211; I see not bad character but bad luck.<br \/>\nAnd one reason why I am more attracted than most to the possibility of social change is that the long-run pay-off to greater equality and democracy is precisely the effect it might have in <a href=\"http:\/\/stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com\/stumbling_and_mumbling\/2006\/01\/power_the_missi.html\">improving <\/a>people\u2019s behaviour.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from chris dillow here: For me personally, introspection corroborates all this. I can easily imagine that, with even slightly different upbringing or luck, I would be either considerably richer and \u201csuccessful\u201d than I am now, or in prison. My &#8220;character&#8221; is of secondary importance, if indeed it exists at all. As Iris DeMent sang: And &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/2008\/06\/13\/best-read-today\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Best Read Today!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-read"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}