LJ Idol: Season 9, Week 8: Yes, and?

[ravenshrinkery]

I find with age and experience that I’m exposed to more and more uncomfortable truths. These aren’t cases of right versus wrong, or even wrong versus wrong, but rather right versus right. My favorite fictional example comes from the movie The Incredibles (2004), in an argument between Bob and Helen Parr over allowing their (superhero) child to

Comments

[i_17bingo]

Up until this entry, I never made the connection with the "feminine" jobs (I would include waiting tables and secretarial work in this list, just for my sake) and lack of respect. Because I am the son of a nurse and a teacher who has worked both as an admin and as a waiter, and holy crap are all those jobs hard. I don't want to diminish the amount of work that managers and bankers do, but the disproportionate amount they get paid versus the disproportionate amount of grief that the teachers et al get is criminal.

[cheshire23]

Part of the problem with jobs like teaching and social work is you're supposedly supposed to be doing them out of LOVE and not care about little things like money. Creative jobs end up with the same sort of problem. I follow a social work blog that regularly posts actual social work/human services job postings which want lots of education and experience and sometimes things like the ability to transport clients in personal vehicles, perform physical restraints, etc.but then aren't offering anything like a fair wage for the work, under the tag "fuck you pay me". That inspired the post I almost wrote this week.

[Edit to add actual link]

[ravenshrinkery]

I've heard it said the secret to wealth is to make others earn it for you, by paying them as little as possible and enabling them to make you as much money as possible. I think excessive wealth is sociopathic, and traditional philanthropy has been built on trying to convince the aristocrats who oppress their own workers to rebuild themselves as charitable without actually having them change anything about how they do their business. Thanks for reading :).

[eternal_ot]

"everyone, even the most profoundly disabled, is capable of some genuine success." I believe that to be true... A well written and thought provoking piece.

[ravenshrinkery]

Glad you enjoyed, and thanks for reading. :)

[penpusher]

Man that Status Quo is worse than gum on your shoe. It just doesn't want to move! Personally, I'd like to get some new shoes!

But yes! This is all about making those that are in the driver's seat feel good at the expense of everyone else. This really needs to end, at least before we get to the 22nd Century! Can you imagine carrying these issues into the 2100s?

[ravenshrinkery]

What gets to me is we as a society seem invested in having some group of people we can point to and disparage. The best we might ever be able to do is shift that to a characteristic of action (these people did something bad to justify the disdain) rather than a characteristic of chance (born with dark skin, a limp, a stutter, a misbehaving brain). Thanks for reading :).

[kajel]

Nicely written. There is a lot of 'food for thought' here.

[ravenshrinkery]

May such food digest easily and nourish. :) Thanks for reading.

[kagomeshuko]

What is STEM?

[ravenshrinkery]

An acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

[kagomeshuko]

Oh, okay!