tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post9152231900234378934..comments2024-03-29T07:40:26.731-05:00Comments on Jackson Jambalaya: Ben Shapiro: The So-Called Meritocracy Isn't The ProblemKingfishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06184990110961727404noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-43300856521095483222021-11-13T12:55:29.948-06:002021-11-13T12:55:29.948-06:00Well, how quickly commenters proved the obvious po...Well, how quickly commenters proved the obvious point...every philosophy, system, religion etc. can develop " a dark side".<br /> What we really want is " fairness" and our systems of law and government to continue to find rational ways to work towards a goal that is hard if not impossible. The difficulty should NOT erase the effort.<br />In this piece is everything I hate about partisan politics, be it from either party's crazies or intellectuals. <br /> To make any philosophy or system come close to the ideals touted, requires the safeguards and incentives to prevention corruption.<br /> That we have politicized literally everything now, we are fueling corruption and allowing the mentally weak ( for any reason) and the ethically bereft, irrational and the insanely greedy narcissists legitimacy.<br /> And, without question, those who seem unable to see " a bigger picture" than the confines of their abodes or the city limits are empowered to believe " everyone and every place is the same and my experiences are common." <br />That's BS, of course.<br /> And, frankly, if you are limiting your peer group, you will find every culture , every religion, every skin color, every political group has good people who share your ethics or lack thereof.<br /> The Golden Ages of civilization have common factors:<br />1) The government and or its supreme leader is benevolent<br />2) The middle class and arts flourish and are rewarded ...yoohoo...trying for meritocracy a little<br />3)There is commitment to improving the infrastructure and opportunity and competition for progress.<br />God help us! If "better mousetraps " were invented, the monopolies would steal the invention legally and " kill" figuratively the inventor by " papering" him to death in a prolonged lawsuit ( way to go politicizing the judiciary by allowing buzzwords to let you ...not). <br /> I'm bit worried by those who don't know Marjorie Green is not operating with a full deck ! And if you believe she is,<br />or that Carlson Tucker was successful at anything before FOX, PLEASE get a psychiatric evaluation<br />. Or, as your Momma warned, "pretty is as pretty does".<br /><br />The Rubicon is probably already crossed . But, those of you who imagine the crazy hordes will not take " your stuff" because you were a " loyalist" ( whichever side wins), will have a rude awakening.<br /><br />Your new leader will have to eliminate any<br /> potential competition and reward his sociopaths and psychopaths and idiots who supported him. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-21694575211127244032021-11-13T09:06:52.686-06:002021-11-13T09:06:52.686-06:00If you don’ like the meritocracy in America you wi...If you don’ like the meritocracy in America you will love the book that was just published “9.9 Percent.” I started reading it, not because that I agree with its premise, but because I wanted to be informed about what the progressives in the Democratic Party believe. Being a retired banker I have seen a lot of people slide up and down the wealth ladder. Wake up folks. The key to success in life is the person you see in the mirror every morning. Get an education. Get a job and stay employed. Get married and then have kids. Have some grit. Practice delayed gratification. And you too can become a member of the 9.9% class.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-29438322474947294922021-11-13T06:00:01.362-06:002021-11-13T06:00:01.362-06:00Memo to 4:15 PM:
Quit whining. Get a job, save y...Memo to 4:15 PM:<br /><br />Quit whining. Get a job, save your money, invest wisely, and you too can father meritocrats. Alternatively, learn to place basketball, real good.<br /><br />It is to me so unseemly to complain about other people's success in this wonderful, wealthy country, rich with opportunity. Do you not have any sense of pride?<br /><br />When I was at Ole Miss, working my way through, with a wife and children, the first in my family to attend college, a knowledgeable upper classman set me straight on class rank. "Only you and 200 [Asian ethnic slur] care about such things."<br /><br />It worked out just fine for me and, more importantly, for my kids. My academic performance served me well in professional school. Everybody's doing just fine and without a farthing of inherited wealth. <br /><br />As for the 200 Asians? Can't say. I did befriend one such fellow. He left Oxford for Silicon Valley. He told me that he loved Sundays b/c he could cook noodles and put them in little bags so he did not have to quit work to eat lunch during the week. Later he and his family moved to Texas, where they have become real estate tycoons. His wife related an incident not long ago where a pickup slowed as she was pulling out of her ridiculously upscale neighborhood. "Go back to Korea!" the driver shouted.<br /><br />Poor woman didn't know enough to be insulted, "but we're not Korean." <br /><br />"He was just telling you that he is one of life's also-rans, poorly suited to compete and envious of success."<br /><br />Not unlike yourself, perhaps.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-38533815928874212312021-11-13T01:31:19.628-06:002021-11-13T01:31:19.628-06:00As displayed above, jealousy and envy undermine an...As displayed above, jealousy and envy undermine any merit system, be it moral or skills-based.<br /><br />On another note, for a long time I though being intelligent made me better than other people. I would never have acknowledged it out loud. It was more of an unexamined prejudice, way down deep.<br /><br />Eventually, it was gently pointed out to me that intelligence is largely a function of genetics. Intelligence, while it can be developed though effort, is mostly a talent, rather than a virtue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-35643977107839838272021-11-12T17:39:39.093-06:002021-11-12T17:39:39.093-06:00And Shapiro’s skills are what?
Dork. Race hustler...And Shapiro’s skills are what?<br /><br />Dork. Race hustler, but with a better education. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447438783001404385.post-42448329774433595172021-11-12T16:15:16.306-06:002021-11-12T16:15:16.306-06:00The problem, Ben, is that the only skill that most...The problem, Ben, is that the only skill that most of the 1% have exhibited is sliding down the birth canal of a rich woman in order to inherit wealth and connections. <br /><br />Did a Barksdale who inherited money from bankers and lawyers and planters have some magical "skill" that allowed him to get rich off a buyout from a Gates, who was the son of a rich lawyer and a grandson of another rich banker? Did that guy's son develop some magical skill to use Daddy's money to buy high speed trading equipment to simply shave off a nanosecond on trades to garner millions? Which skills were those? <br /><br />Did Bill Luckett, so widely lauded, the son of a rich Delta lawyer gain some magical skill like Haley Barbour, the son of a rich Delta lawyer?<br /><br />Oh, Yeah!!! A solid liver for drinking and a big fat swollen arm for backslapping and backroom deals.<br /><br />Them Ole Miss frat boys shore is smart! And hard workin'! Yep. <br /><br />The best picture of this myth of meritocracy is Haley Barbour riding around in a golf cart with Terry McAuliffe, with Communist Chinese guys in the background that got special immigration papers from them grinning ear to ear. Green Good Deal. Yeah. Where did we hear that from? <br /><br />Some meritocracy we have. <br /><br />Next you'll tell me that the skill (actually a demonstrable one) of putting a ball in a hoop means you can lecture me about how China is so wonderful and the US so awful like Le Dumb Brains. He loves him some China money, too, though!!! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com