zlacker

This whole comment thread has been a crazy way to find out the ways people justify immoral behavior to themselves.

>>only-o+(OP)
This kind of minor fraud is completely normalized within middle and upper classes. It's half the way many kids end up at these schools in the first place, thinking of the "pay-to-play" scandal at USC a while back.

>>femiag+L
So it’s funny, I grew up upper middle class with an extremely severe morality taught to me re: this kind of thing — integrity, etc. My entire adult life has been a lesson in how that’s a maladaptive trait in America in 2025.

>>only-o+b1
That has been one of the underpinning lessons of Trump's America to me. That playing by the rules and doing the right thing just makes me a sucker. Once a critical mass of people start to feel that way (if they don't already) it'll have a devastating effect on society.

(when I say "Trump's America" I don't directly mean Trump himself, though he's certainly a prominent example of it. It feels like it's everywhere. One of the first times I really noticed it was the Netflix show "Inventing Anna". A dramatization of the real life story of a scammer, Anna Sorokin. Netflix paid her $320,000 for her story. She led a life of crime and successfully profited from it. Now she's been on Dancing with the Stars, essentially she's been allowed to become the celebrity she pretended to be.)

>>afavou+42
"It's always been this way" and "everyone does it" are what bad people say to justify themselves.

>>afavou+42
Donald Trump won twice. Republican party is mostly cheering everything he does. Ho won by lying a lot. Media mostly sanewashed it. Meanwhile, GOP complained they did not sanewashed it enough.

HN itself and startup culture celebrate breaking the rules and laws to earn money. It is ok to break the law if you are rich enough. People here were defending gambling apps despite all the shady stuff they do just a few weeks ago.

The white collar crime was barely prosecuted before, now the DOJ is loosing even the ability to prosecute it. So, I think the effect you worry about already happened, long time ago.

>>watwut+Y3
This isn't about Trump, it's about a lack of morality among students at one of the (formerly) most prestigious universities in the US.

>>giardi+3h
Compared to what Trump does, what his voters cheers on, what the whole his party defends, those students are still basically saints. It is profoundly hypocritical to look at who gets to win and lead, to look at what does not bother his voters at all and then complain abet ... check notes ... someone getting single room on some exaggerated claim.

And frankly, with HN praising Uber, Tesla and the rest of SV constantly breaking laws and rules companies, again, those students are practically saints.

OP worried about this:

> Once a critical mass of people start to feel that way (if they don't already) it'll have a devastating effect on society.

Trump winning second time, the people who lead government and GOP, the critical mass thing already happened. There was no moral already among significant share of population. Trying to pearl clutch over students is almost funny in that context.

>>giardi+3h
It’s all connected. We are in an era where cheating is applauded and shame is non existent. Trump is not the sole cause of it but he is a contributor.

>>only-o+(OP)
Do you think my comment is doing that? Or are you just commenting on the other comments.

FWIW, just to be clear, I don’t think “manipulating, exploiting or scamming” are good things to do!