<p>Karma isn't as powerful of a factor as some of you make it out to be. Some people I know steal money/cheat in school/lie to their parents so often that it almost becomes second nature to them and they don't think twice about it. I think the fact that our generation sees so much fraud and the "Life isn't fair" sentiment in almost whatever situation they are in makes teenagers these days believe that their own "cheating" is justifiable and is merely a way of balancing out this crazy and unfair world we live in.</p>
<p>bringing this thread back from the dead but i liked the topic :)</p>
<p>personally, the one time i really thought i was better than someone else and I allowed my innermost values and beliefs to be compromised, I ended up in juvenile hall. lol. </p>
<p>i think the greatest thing about that though is that I can almost laugh at it now, and that when i tell people the story surrounding it they consider it laughable b/c they know who I am now, and they could never see me getting into that kind of situation. </p>
<p>i realize a lot of people get away with crime, lying, cheating (school + relationships), w/e...but that's why I see my situation as somewhat symbolic in terms of my own life. That's because now I use that situation almost like a daily mantra to remind me of my values and who I am. i see that ability now as good karma in itself.</p>
<p>just remember, at the end of the day, only you can judge yourself. karma or not, I def couldn't live with the guilt of knowing a more qualified applicant was rejected because i lied on the app. sorry if i went off on a crazy tangent, i'm pretty sleepy lol.</p>
<p>karma is fictitious. It does take a good amount of self-loathing to lie/steal on an essay or anything else for that matter. She knows she wasn't good enough to write her own essay; she knows what a crappy person she is</p>
<p>If a person cheats and gets caught, they get what's coming to them. If they don't get caught, well... nobody ever said life was fair. Truth be told, I've seen so many people cheat and it's infuriated me for so long that now I feel completely apathetic to it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The thing I don't get about these people is why in the world do they admit cheating?
[/quote]
Surely they wouldn't want to lie - what a terrible deed that would be!</p>
<p>Realistically, the said person was probably concerned about the possibility of word leaking from the original author of the essay. Or maybe the person really has a few morals.</p>
<p>Ghost writing is, in my opinion, one of the most salient issues with (the lack of) business ethics. Corporations sometimes do it to mask the affiliation of the true authors, while individuals (<strong>cough</strong>even a few past presidents<strong>endcough</strong>) sometimes do it to build credibility. Big Pharma is notorious for the former, among other industries. You'll even see topics on sites like getafreelancer.com explicitly requesting ghost writers and offering money for the job.</p>