Is cutting corners and cheating a little okay if you're a winner in the long run?

[spaceboots06]

My quick answer: No.

My long answer: No. Although I'm the first person to use aids like a scope on a gun when hunting or diet pills when dieting (which barely work :p) I don't think that cutting corners would deem someone a winner in the long run.

I.e. I think the more "successful" person would be the struggling, legitimate person to pay his/her bills on time over the person who was a millionaire because he/she cheated in his/her university and had a 4.0 GPA. Even if nobody ever found about said person's cheating, I still think that person would consider themselves unsuccessful.

Or, rather, would you cheat on something if you knew you were going to 100% get away with it and it would benefit your future immensely?

[MacMini2009]

I cut corners sometimes when I run the mile at my high school. :D

[spaceboots06]

I cut corners sometimes when I run the mile at my high school. :D

But at the end of the day can you really say "I ran such and such miles at school." when you really didn't!?

[MacMini2009]

But at the end of the day can you really say "I ran such and such miles at school." when you really didn't!?

No I can't say that. I only do it when I feel like I'm going to get a bad time. Atleast I get a good exercise!

[Gelfin]

No I can't say that. I only do it when I feel like I'm going to get a bad time. Atleast I get a good exercise!

"In my defense, your honor, I only rob banks when I need money."

Incidentally, running a mile is a good warm-up for exercise. You're quitting about the time the running actually becomes exercise, and then short-changing yourself on that.

[bruinsrme]

Personally I would rather be a millionaire that cheated than a homeless person that didn't.
I would find it extremely difficult to believe someone going through college and achieving a 4.0 cheated on every single, test, presentation, group project and assignement. That's just me.

[David G.]

"Cutting one corner just leads to two more."

[Gelfin]

That's just me.

Oh, I hardly think you're the only one. If you can do it, anyone can!

;)

[Iscariot]

Citizen, good is good, and bad is just plain bad. Good is warm and soft like freshly baked bread, and it fills you with a tingly feeling like cinnamon gum, a feeling that makes you feel woozy and lightheaded, and it hits you at the speed of justice. Bad is all gooey and stinky, it gets stuck in all the hard to reach places, and it makes you smile all on one side or with too much teeth like that guy in high school that smelled like formaldehyde. Sometimes to get all the bad out, good has to work it's fingers to the bone, scrubbing away at all the icky and unsightly bad until the floors shine like lady truth herself! And scrub we shall! Do you hear me man? Are you catching what I'm throwing down? Get on your hands and knees and clean that bad away!

[remmy]

I wouldnt be proud that I was able to become a winner,

but what would make up for that is the great feeling that I got away with it

[Zombie Acorn]

If it harms no one except yourself, perhaps. Thats going to be pretty hard to do though.

[John Jacob]

Its fine if you don't get caught. But you WILL get caught, eventually. What goes around, comes around.

[KingYaba]

.

[KingYaba]

I've cut corners on the road before especially at those intersections where instead of sitting at no turn on red, I zip through the gas station.

[barkomatic]

My quick answer: No.

My long answer: No. Although I'm the first person to use aids like a scope on a gun when hunting or diet pills when dieting (which barely work :p) I don't think that cutting corners would deem someone a winner in the long run.

I.e. I think the more "successful" person would be the struggling, legitimate person to pay his/her bills on time over the person who was a millionaire because he/she cheated in his/her university and had a 4.0 GPA. Even if nobody ever found about said person's cheating, I still think that person would consider themselves unsuccessful.

Or, rather, would you cheat on something if you knew you were going to 100% get away with it and it would benefit your future immensely?

Here's another thing to consider. Does a student, who after graduation gets his rent paid by his parents who also pays his car insurance and the down payment on his first house "cheating"? You might not say that young person is a cheater, but they certainly have advantages over the person who pays for all those things on his own after graduation. What gets me is that often the kid with the "free ride" will honestly believe that they did "all themselves" even while cashing their parents checks.

So, compare a kid whose parents gave him a free ride early in life to a student without any of those resources who cheats on an exam. One is technically a cheater and the other is not but who is more successful and independent?

Of course, the student who cheats could also be the student with the free ride.

[xlii]

There is no such thing as having a "little grace". You either have grace or you don't. - Seinfeld show.

[bbotte]

If your not cheating, your not trying. :D Survival of the fitest. :D

[bruinsrme]

If your not cheating, your not trying. :D Survival of the fitest. :D

yep

[Desertrat]

Cut corners? Cheat? How do you say, "Look what I did!" and not be a hypocrite? A loser? If you believe you actually did good, you're fooling yourself, bigtime.

Cutting corners and cheating might gain more money, but a loser is still a loser. Crooks are losers. And, hey, you still have to look at yourself in the mirror when you shave or put on makeup--and you're looking at a loser.

And eventually people figure you out as somebody who's not trustworthy.

Spaceboot, using a scope isn't cheating. More precision in the shot means less liklihood of crippling. If your eyeballs are over 40 years old, you're getting to where a scope is a necessity, not a luxury. :)

'Rat

[LizKat]

If your not cheating, your not trying. :D Survival of the fitest. :D


yeah, right, NOT.

But anyone can choose to be a hard lovin' loser (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=256680130&id=256679760&s=143441).


And for the below option, in the nearest town around here, they stick a deputy sheriff in the parking lot of that gas station near the end of each month, he or she writes up enough tickets to cover the OT and cut down on the corner-cutting for at least a couple weeks. The move can get you points on your license, too, depending on how they write it up and how you behave while they're cancelling your shortcut...

I've cut corners on the road before especially at those intersections where instead of sitting at no turn on red, I zip through the gas station.

[rhsgolfer33]

So, compare a kid whose parents gave him a free ride early in life to a student without any of those resources who cheats on an exam. One is technically a cheater and the other is not but who is more successful and independent?

Since when is using the resources available to you cheating? That's like saying someone writing a paper has access to both the internet and the library, another person writing a paper only has access to the library, therefore the one with the internet shouldn't use it because its "cheating." If you have resources available to you, you should use them. In this case, if your parents are willing and able to help you start your life, using those resources could hardly be considered cheating. Are you lucky? Hell yes, but you're not a cheater.

Now, if that person fails to acknowledge that they had some help along the way, then they're probably just a liar, which is just as bad as a cheater anyway.

[Desertrat]

The whole idea of competent parenting is to enable the kids to better themselves even beyond what the parents accomplished. That's not "free ride" at all.

And the guy who cheats on the test is cheating himself. He didn't behave responsibly in studying and learning--which is his obligation to himself.