Rags to riches stories why they tick me off.

[Brian37]

Don't get me wrong, nobody should fault someone for moving up.

But every so often I see a fluff piece on the news or a famous actor, or musician or sports star or businessman that says "you can do it". YES you can try certainly.

BUT I see far too much of this crap and it is never countered with the reality of the math. The higher up you try to go in something the math simply is not there for everyone to get to that top spot.

Society doesn't need more fluff pieces like that. What society needs is better worker pay and cheaper or free higher education. The fact remains most people will end up worker for someone else. 

Even evolution shows this, for every successful life that makes it to maturity there are far more attempts that fail. For every sperm that gets to an egg, there are millions more that do nothing. For every tree that grows to maturity there are far more acorns that rot.

NO that is not to discourage anyone. But it is to say I hate the top selling that utopia when what they should be doing is providing stability to the vast majority of society, which are workers. 

[Minimalist]

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.


Jean Rostand

[AFTT47]

Don't get me wrong, nobody should fault someone for moving up.

But every so often I see a fluff piece on the news or a famous actor, or musician or sports star or businessman that says "you can do it". YES you can try certainly.

BUT I see far too much of this crap and it is never countered with the reality of the math. The higher up you try to go in something the math simply is not there for everyone to get to that top spot.

Society doesn't need more fluff pieces like that. What society needs is better worker pay and cheaper or free higher education. The fact remains most people will end up worker for someone else. 

Even evolution shows this, for every successful life that makes it to maturity there are far more attempts that fail. For every sperm that gets to an egg, there are millions more that do nothing. For every tree that grows to maturity there are far more acorns that rot.

NO that is not to discourage anyone. But it is to say I hate the top selling that utopia when what they should be doing is providing stability to the vast majority of society, which are workers. 

I disagree. There is value in inspiration. The odds are against anyone who tries, true enough. But it's people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk who lead the way. Where would we be if we discouraged (or failed to encourage) innovation like that?

[Brian37]

Don't get me wrong, nobody should fault someone for moving up.

But every so often I see a fluff piece on the news or a famous actor, or musician or sports star or businessman that says "you can do it". YES you can try certainly.

BUT I see far too much of this crap and it is never countered with the reality of the math. The higher up you try to go in something the math simply is not there for everyone to get to that top spot.

Society doesn't need more fluff pieces like that. What society needs is better worker pay and cheaper or free higher education. The fact remains most people will end up worker for someone else. 

Even evolution shows this, for every successful life that makes it to maturity there are far more attempts that fail. For every sperm that gets to an egg, there are millions more that do nothing. For every tree that grows to maturity there are far more acorns that rot.

NO that is not to discourage anyone. But it is to say I hate the top selling that utopia when what they should be doing is providing stability to the vast majority of society, which are workers. 

I disagree. There is value in inspiration. The odds are against anyone who tries, true enough. But it's people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk who lead the way. Where would we be if we discouraged (or failed to encourage) innovation like that?

Not the flooded market of it. The amount of it pisses me off, not that people are inspired. Again there is only 1 Bill Gates just like there is only ONE president elected every 4 years. 

Whoopi Goldburg said it best on "Inside The Actor's Studio" when an audience member asked her "Will we sit where you are sitting some day". It was refreshing to have someone that high say the truth. Something like "All of you are capable of being great actors, but most if not all of you will not sit where I am sitting". 

My friend John aspires to be a old style country music band, wants to play at the "Grand Ol Opry" someday. But he too is realistic about it, he said if he only ends up teaching music or playing at local bars and fairs but enough to earn a living, he's happy with that. 

I also never fool myself with my poetry. I do know that it has gotten lots of attention, but I would never lie to someone saying they will get famous doing it, "only if they do it". They can try, like I said. But I have been writing for 20 years and I have read the countless poems of others that will never be known say like Plath or Poe. I would only recommend do what you want in life, and sure, who knows, but the odds are still against you.

We don't need the volume of focus on those kinds of stories. We need more focus on the economy and worker stability. A better educated society will allow that inspiration, but it does not have to be unrealistic inspiration. What our media sells is Candyland, not pragmatic inspiration.

. 

[AFTT47]

I don't know, Brian. I can't argue that we can all be Bill Gates or Barack Obama. We obviously can't. We can all rise to our best potential though. I see nothing wrong with encouraging us all to give it our best shot. Where's the value in telling people that they may as well forget it, that they're fucked? Seems to me like that's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you tell yourself you don't have a chance, that's not much of a motivation to try, is it?

[Pyrrho]

I seem to recall a study in which it was shown that upward mobility in modern America is no more likely than it was in Europe in the middle ages.  But at present, I am too lazy to search for it.

Regardless, it is a ridiculous thing that people go on about how some poor person struck it rich.  It is an extreme rarity, and everyone knows it is exceedingly rare.  Pretending otherwise is moronic.

[AFTT47]

I think we all get that. But why point that out? Nothing wrong with trying to improve the odds. That's a laudable goal to be sure. Go for that. But don't discourage people who are trying to make it in the only system they have to work in.

[Anomalocaris]

Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth.


Jean Rostand

All I am missing in my life is the millions with which I can show showcase my fortitude. 

---

Don't get me wrong, nobody should fault someone for moving up.

But every so often I see a fluff piece on the news or a famous actor, or musician or sports star or businessman that says "you can do it". YES you can try certainly.

BUT I see far too much of this crap and it is never countered with the reality of the math. The higher up you try to go in something the math simply is not there for everyone to get to that top spot.

Society doesn't need more fluff pieces like that. What society needs is better worker pay and cheaper or free higher education. The fact remains most people will end up worker for someone else. 

Even evolution shows this, for every successful life that makes it to maturity there are far more attempts that fail. For every sperm that gets to an egg, there are millions more that do nothing. For every tree that grows to maturity there are far more acorns that rot.

NO that is not to discourage anyone. But it is to say I hate the top selling that utopia when what they should be doing is providing stability to the vast majority of society, which are workers. 

I disagree. There is value in inspiration. The odds are against anyone who tries, true enough. But it's people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk who lead the way. Where would we be if we discouraged (or failed to encourage) innovation like that?

Neither bill gates nor Leon musk were ever poor, much less in rags.     To manufacture rags to rich story to divert the attention of those in rags from the reality that odds against their gaining any semblance of riches are worse in the U.S. than in many other places is nothing but opiat for those in rags.


As to encouraging those in rags to attain riches, they are much better encouraged by actual chances than by fictional chances. 

[vorlon13]

As a 12 Stepper, I've encountered quite a few people over the years that have found themselves literally set for life, and have totally pissed it away.

and then;

Some years ago, the neighbor lady had me transfer some family photos to disc. Her dad I had always viewed as a damn hard worker that never got a break. He wasn't destitute, but he lived his whole life with damn little in the way of possessions and died in the meager straits he had always lived.

My shock looking at the pictures was considerable. Not one of them showed him with anything but a smile on his face.

I don't know about the rest of you, but there is a lesson here . . . .

[Minimalist]

We can all rise to our best potential though.

Can we?

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Opportunity is what is vanishing in 'Murrica.