Galt's Gulch

Resentment versus Ambition

Posted by Vinay 10 years, 4 months ago to Culture
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Marsha Enright goes much further than Jeffrey Tucker in analysing the culture trend of envy.
SOURCE URL: http://www.thesavvystreet.com/the-surging-tide-of-resentment/

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  • Posted by LetsShrug 10 years, 4 months ago
    Sacrificial animals for the collective. Hmmm...sounds like where we're headed in current times. Our values are backwards in this country. Great article! (and who voted this down?)
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    • Posted by Vinay 10 years, 4 months ago
      No one. When who posts votes it up, it takes it as a down. Bug in the system or a way to prevent gaming maybe. But we should be entitled one vote, same as everyone else.
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      • Posted by khalling 10 years, 4 months ago
        yes, you cannot give your own posts a vote. However, when it takes away a point you can undo your vote by clicking on the vote a second time. It will restore it to 1.
        "In this case, underneath our current weak protection of property rights is an ethical belief that persons don’t have a right to what they’ve earned or inherited. Sentiments such as “you didn’t build that,” and “it takes a village,” hold much cultural sway. This is a significant philosophical change from the 19th century, when people had strong convictions that they deserved what they earned."
        provocative article. lots of great stuff and argued in some ways I had not thought about before. Savvy Street continues to deliver looking at issues in new ways. great post!
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  • Posted by $ jdg 10 years, 3 months ago
    To me, this trend illustrates the major down-side of mainstream religion. The Ten Commandments lump together some good, sensible rules (don't murder, don't steal, don't bear false witness) with some others that are really stupid (mostly those about sex). If this package were sold as someone's philosophy -- which is really what it is -- then it could be changed so it all makes sense. But since it is offered only as a "decree from God", it can only be accepted or rejected in one big chunk, so naturally the sensible majority of us have rejected it, throwing out the baby with the bath water.
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 3 months ago
      It is the degradation of mainstream religions that is contributing to the decline. Mainstream religions advocate self-reliance, hard work, and ethical/moral behavior. The collectivists want to eliminate those aspects of society.
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  • Posted by Kerryo 10 years, 4 months ago
    Great article. Now to find a way to teach ambition. In some ways I think you really can just be born with it. I also wonder where the point of no return is. Could there be a certain age where if you haven't developed ambition that you never will?
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 3 months ago
      Everybody is born with ambition. The entitlement society beats it out of those who are submerged in it. Some, very few, are able to wrench themselves out of the malaise, but those are very few.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 10 years, 3 months ago
    What do you choose to emulate/admire? That which you can become through hard work and industry - or that which you can acquire through theft, coercion or imitation?
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 3 months ago
    I do not think that human sacrifice was mainly to destroy good so that others would not invade. I can think of more instances when a sacrifice was made to win something - such as a war. The other reason I can recall is to gain some power over random chance (generally bad luck of some sort).

    That aside, I agree with what was said about envy being a root quality of a system which assumes that there is only 'so much pie' and hence that 'everyone should have an equal slice'.

    Jan
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  • Posted by johnpe1 10 years, 3 months ago
    this is good. . hatred of the good for being good = evil,
    in my book (and I think in Rand's), which Marsha
    lays bare quite well. . some really evil witch doctor
    must have dreamed up human sacrifice to eliminate
    a powerful enemy -- or his enemy's daughter! -- j

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