The Secret

[caprinus]

That noted Communist rag, Forbes, is at it again.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/10/11/why-the-we-are-the-53-tumblr-matters-its-the-culture-war-stupid/
Conservative individualism - the sense

Comments

[squidflakes]

The worst thing about the 53% tumblr is that it is so very disingenuous. The one with the African immigrant that starts "Silly protesters" was found to be a fake. The person in the picture is a well known Spanish blogger who champions social justice causes.

[sabotabby]

Of course. I wish I could say that I was surprised.

[squidflakes]

And to keep babbling, I was having a talk with some coworkers over lunch, and the topic of the protests came up. They had a universally negative view, and with a bit of probing and prying, it came out they they themselves thought they were going to be millionaires one day, and when they got there, they didn't want to pay any taxes either.

Which, I mean, god damn. How do you fight that? How do you break people's absurd notion of that much class mobility in our society? Even if you were to win millions of dollars in a lottery tomorrow, you still wouldn't be wealthy.

[larvatus]

Count your blessings:One cannot state with certainty that all messages of metaphors-and for that matter of proverbs-are of a universal nature. For instance, one of the most often quoted Japanese proverbs is:
      (5)  J:  ⌈出る杭は打たれる⌋  Deru kui wa utareru                 {The nail that sticks out is to be hammered in

[squidflakes]

That's fine up until the point where the tall poppies are so valued over all others that the shorter poppies are ruthlessly trampled, ground up, and used as additional fertilizer for the tall.

Of course, we're talking about humans, not poppies.

Personal achievement is a wonderful thing and the best and brightest among us should be rewarded, lauded, and praised. However our system measures achievement in only one way and makes no distinction between talent and inheritance. A brilliant and successful man who leaves a vast fortune to a loutish and uncreative son has in essence created a tall poppy who, by no effort or brilliance of his own, is now considered a paragon of society.

[larvatus]

I object to the implication that a loutish and uncreative heir to a vast fortune is universally considered a paragon of society. Andrew Carnegie did likewise while arguing in favor of 100% inheritance taxation. But this crucifixion whinge is not subject to tax relief, is it? Not as long as it goes unnoticed and unacknowledged that moral and physical stature is gained more readily and more durably by speaking out, than by amassing great wealth.