Originally Posted by
Drew
I agree that things look separatist now in the name of inclusion. Yes, that sentence is really contradictory. But if we dont all make special effort to get minorities involved, the outcome is worse.
It's called affirmative action, was all the rage in the US a generation ago.
Didn't work there either.
So here's the thing: almost everyone can agree that equal opportunities to advance your quality of life, and that of your family is a good thing. Almost the antitheses of slavery; the absolute right to make whatever you can of your life, AND the responsibility to accept whatever costs and benefits that entails.
But soooo many people conflate that with the argument that (insert minority group of your choice here) don't have quite as good a life as (insert designated capitalist meme here) and therefore shit ain't fair. They want equality of outcomes, regardless of personal choices.
They often point to certain Kiwi sub-cultures as being "disadvantaged" across generations. And insofar as some cultures teach their kids how to put themselves in an "advantaged" position better than others, they're right. But I sorta think the difference is mostly around the cultural perception of what money is. Unless you're actually taught that money is the result of personal productivity then you're always going to have this cargo cult style belief that you're entitled to your fair share, but that some rich prick's got yours.
So in all of the redistribution of wealth, all of the contemporary justifications in favour of one social welfare scheme or targeted subsidy or another, no matter what you personally think about it, one thing remains true: for everything received without having earned it there's someone that earned it that had it taken from them.
No matter how acceptable you find that, you have to ask yourself whether just the most productive 10% or so of the country are quite as happy to have had that much of their earnings taken from them. Beyond a certain point democracy devolves into the majority voting themselves advantages at a direct cost to a minority. And the further we go down that rabbit hole the more it's presented by those on the taking side as the fair thing to do. It's just "the system" that allows rich pricks to accumulate wealth at the expense of the poor.
And the outcome? Read the news, those rich pricks simply either work less hard, or work elsewhere. Which pretty much defines the limit to how "progressive" you can get before the positive feedback effect of discouraging productivity results in less money for everyone. It's cyclic. And it's disappointing, because if we simply focused on teaching everyone the best way they can be as productive as they want or need to be and that they're responsible for their own shit we'd all be a fucking sight better off.
TLDR? Stop expecting others to be responsible for the cost of choices you made.
Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon
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