The War Against Achievement
Posted by Non_mooching_artist 10 years, 11 months ago to Philosophy
I admire Thomas Sowell greatly. And the fact that a (successful), black man wrote this must stick in the craw of those who want to beat the dead horse of racism.
Glad your son recognizes it, but sad that he has to.
The problem about all this is that it is being orchestrated by those in the elite and are demon possessed minions of satan and isn't an idyllic result of the thinking of the proletariat.
The Truth is there is no equality...why is it some moral high ground to want everyone to be the same but to just bring down those above you?
The reason Helen Keller's story is so highly celebrated is not simply because she was successful in spite of her disability, but rather because the specific nature of her disability (being both blind and deaf) made it appear as though mere communication, let alone success, was impossible. This makes her story far more inspirational than that of someone who's disability is less severe. A person who is blind OR deaf succeeding is interesting, but not amazing. But a person who is both blind AND deaf succeeding? Now that's amazing.
A man who was simply born without arms will certainly be at a larger disadvantage than a non-disabled person, but success does not appear to be impossible for him, just more difficult than normal. I once saw a news story about a girl who had the same condition. It was interesting, but the fact that she still had perfectly good legs made her success seem less surprising. As such, these people's stories aren't nearly on the same level as that of Helen Keller. Now if a person was born without arms OR legs and is still successful, like Nick Vujicic, then we can start making comparisons to Helen Keller. But to say that every successful disabled person should be elevated to that level, regardless of the severity of their disability, is rather ridiculous.
And where does Thomas Sowell get the idea that liberals would want to put disabled people into government institutions? I've never heard any liberal advocate that. It sounds like more of a straw man argument than anything.
As for the report about income distribution in Toronto, I'd like to read the report myself. Who published the report, and how did they get their information?
Also, simply looking at the average income alone does not give a complete picture of the wealth distribution patterns. Even if Japanese-Canadians have a higher AVERAGE income, it's still entirely possible for the people with the highest incomes to be white if the wealth of Japanese-Canadians tapers off towards the higher end of the income spectrum.
This is complete rubbish. It's taking something out of context, misinterpreting it, and then assuming it's part of a broad movement.
Mitt Romney even expressed the exact same sentiment during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City:
"You didn't get here solely on your own power."
~ Mitt Romney to Olympians
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/23...
Yes, an "ecosystem" of suppliers, investors who understand something of your value proposition, employees, contractors, people like oDesk that put you in touch with contractors, all the infrastructure of roads and law enforcement. It sounds like his critics are grasping at straws.
An employer is an employer because he or she decided to take a risk at starting a business. The business owner, in the vast majority of cases, is the last to be paid. The employees benefit from the employers achievements by receiving a wage and experience. I celebrate people like this, they put themselves last and take risks for independence but not necessarily wealth.
I can tell you that most employees are in it for their own benefit, as it should be but why the hell do you expect different from the employer? It isn’t a team effort in most cases, the employees that do make it a team effort will achieve and then be ridiculed of getting something they didn’t deserve.
This is the classic socialist vs. capitalist argument.
“You didn’t build that’ comment is a shining light into the soul of Obama. They did build that and the president should be grateful; we all should be…
I don't need someone to beat his chest about business wouldn't happen without people building businesses. We who do it know how hard it is and know you take risks that may or may not pay off.
I recommend Linchpin:Are You Indispensable first. It's very easy reading and repeats stuff we already know but it's stuff that bears repeating.
Tribe.
Madison has a few communal living places. We've never lived there. One of our nannies did. I never heard about a dark side to it or their bothering anyone.
You tag-teamed... what you call a "support system" I call 'barter system'. Trading value for value.
And sure, a determined entrepreneur can achieve a marginal degree of success by himself, but he will only ever be a small businessman. To be a big businessman, he will need a team.
Given what you've said, I have to ask: how you do interpret Mitt Romney's message to the Olympians in 2002?
The "team" will rightly be paid, each for his contribution, trading value for value. It is not a "support network". Support networks are only necessary for crony capitalism.