Book Review & Excerpt - The Self-Made Myth

[kangofu]

The Self-Made Myth: Debunking Conservatives' Favorite -- And Most Dangerous -- Fiction
A new book makes a strong case that nobody ever makes it on their own in America.
Source - Alternet
By Sara Robinson
April 25, 2012The self-made myth is one of the most cherished foundation stones of the conservative theology. Nurtured by Horatio Alger and

Comments

[spiffynamehere]

FUCK YES.

[romp]

The self-made myth is one of the most cherished foundation stones of the conservative theology.
I'd say it's one of the largest and most damaging myths of the US. I'm glad there's research to show it's bullshit so we can, I hope, see it decline.

[hinoema]

It is. It's the basis for all the 'bootstraps' and the I got mine' judgments.

[kagehikario]

Oh my goodness I WANT THIS BOOK!!!

If it's as good as I think it will be, I may even give in and read Atlas Shrugged, in exchange for my fiscal con friends reading THIS BOOK.

(I fear gazing too deep into Palantir, lest the eye of Sauron corrupt me in my lust for knowledge)

[makemerun]

I fear gazing too deep into Palantir, lest the eye of Sauron corrupt me in my lust for knowledge

I legit LOL'ed at this. Don't worry, Atlas Shrugged is less Sauron-like evil and more, IDK fanficcy almost? I got through about as much of it as I did of Twilight, so I am not an expert, but from what I could tell, it's seriously just a boring as fuck, rich person's economic masturbatory fantasy.

[beoweasel]

It's the masturbation fantasy of a sociopath who has wet-dreams for corporate industrialists.

[makemerun]

Right, exactly. I didn't mean to implicate all rich people in that, just that you'd have to already have wealth to appreciate the "rich people DESERRRRRVE IT" mentality.

[roseofjuly]

How anyone could believe that Donald Trump or the Koch brothers were self-made men is beyond me, even before taking government subsidies for businesses into account. Donald Trump was the son of a wealthy real-estate developer; he went to a pricey private high school before his parents sent him to a pricey private military high school to help him focus. Then he went to Wharton, which he was only able to do because his father was wealthy and he focused on real estate after learning from his father how successful he could be through it. And Charles and David Koch (the ones still involved in the industry) went to the pricy Deerfield Academy, then expensive MIT (where they had legacy status and most likely got a healthy admissions boost), and then got involved in the business their father began. How difficult is it to become president of the successful company your daddy began

[beoweasel]

It's made more hilarious when you consider that Trump has filed for Chapter Eleven Bankruptcy six times, and is personally in debt of one billion dollars

[phoenixblaze]

No way. Really? That's kind of awesome to hear.

[missmurchison]

Yes, and bankruptcy is another Big Government thing. It's in the Constitution.

[darsynia]

Plus, even if they DID, by which I mean choosing employment in fields that don't pay well and living places to pursue those jobs that have really high living costs... well don't we NEED people to take that kind of work? I'm talking thankless teacher jobs, low-paying menial jobs, etc. There's a REASON why Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe talks about jobs that make society bearable for the rest of us...

[missmurchison]

The other side of the bootstraps myth is that the only life worth living is one that ends in riches. The contempt I hear from people who make six figures a year for those who only manage a living wage infuriates me

[othellia]

The smartest thing I ever did professionally was drop off the management ladder and take a job where, in a very modest way, I do stuff that helps people all day long but don't have to deal with office politics.

My dad's finally getting a chance to do that and demote a pay grade. Everyone else around him is apparently super confused as to why he wants a lower-ranking, lesser-paying job (especially when he was pretty much on his way to getting a promotion and even more management duties), but he's simply sick and tired of the stress and the backstabbing and the ridiculous politics and all the other things that come with upper-middle management.

Whenever I talk to him on the phone about it, he just seems so happy that it makes me kind of sad for the way the work world is set up that it's so unbalanced like that.