Status in an honor culture, ironically, seems to be about how much you can cheat
The gods are seen to favor you in proportion to how much cheating they let you get away with.
This is a big theme in the Mahabharata. 90% of the cheating in it is by the god-favored ‘good guys’.
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Replying to @vgr
would be nice to hear some more about the Mahabharata context. I thought there was a defining scene where Duryodhana had to choose between Krishna and his army. He chose army. Wasn't it a conscious choice..
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Replying to @snarayan
Yeah but that’s not a cheat. It was a choice Krishna offered. I’m thinking of Arjuna killing Karna while his chariot wheel was stuck, Ashwathamma the elephant incident, Bhima hitting below the belt, Bhishma getting killed because he refused to shoot at Sikhandin...many more
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Replying to @vgr
Fair enough. though these are fairly nuanced conversations. I see Krishna and Bhishma as two parallels. One chose dharma (his oath) but supported a descent to evil. The other chose the path of adharma to establish dharma. Bhishma remained clean, but could've avoided the war.
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And Balarama walked away entirely
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