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Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

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Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#111

Post by aninhumer »

kamaal wrote: post #50
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew someone who was so aggressively proud of their success, having founded and grown a successful business. He'd talk your ear off about how people like him were the ones adding value to society and how unsuccessful people are just lazy and don't try hard enough or don't take enough risks, or are just deadbeats, and how successful, hard working people are punished with taxes--you know, the standard soapbox speech.…

>>What's the saying? Going from $0 to $1M is almost impossible--going from $1M to $2M is almost inevitable. For the very same reasons going from $2M to $0 is easy. It takes a lot of character to handle money and power, if you don't understand the work that goes behind it or it value. You will lose all of it soon. Edit: Why the down votes?

I don't think it takes "character" to handle money. It's a skill like any other, and people who grow up with wealth have more opportunity to learn that skill.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#112

Post by logfromblammo »

trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

Going by the "one shot" metaphor, if poor folks even get that shot, it might just be a hand-load where the case, slug, and powder were all scavenged by sweeping the floors at the firing range, and the primer inherited from a dead relative.

You're more likely to hit what you're aiming at if you're not worried about whether you're going to blow up your favorite hand when you pull the trigger.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#113

Post by [deleted] »

st3v3r wrote: post #100
nugget wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Going from $0 to $1M is almost impossible--going from $1M to $2M is almost inevitable. I know plenty of people who inherited money and blew it all. Very, very few people, even children from ''rich'' families, have an ''infinite money cushion''. People who come from poverty or communities rampant with discrimination often times have to work harder for opportunities. But hard work is hard work, and there is fierce co…

If they're talking like the person that was described was talking, I absolutely would take away from their success, especially because they've never had to worry about any of the stuff that someone who doesn't come from means has to worry about. Don't get me wrong; finding success is hard, and whenever someone does find it, it should be celebrated. But those that do find it shouldn't discount the struggles of those w…

[deleted]

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#114

Post by tetraodonpuffer »

tajen wrote: post #73

I'm in France and I sometimes notice that USA articles focus only on underpriviledged talent . Why only the talents? It's a bit like rape is fought against, except in prisons because they're lower-grade citizen. Or like articles describing unwarranted violence from the SWAT teams: "The family was playing poker, they got busted for illegal gaming, 3 died" will trigger fewer reaction than "The SWAT team killed the dog.…

agree completely, the thrust of the article is that "we need to do more to find these diamonds in the rough", what about the kids that are not so lucky to have been born with the kind of mental capacity that makes them find school so easy? do we just throw them to the wolves?

Fine that "diamonds" should be fostered as it is much better for society as a whole that gifted people use those gifts to their fullest extent, but we should not lose track of the fact that not everybody has been born with the same capabilities, and giving everybody equal opportunities is not the same thing as making sure everybody can live a fulfilling and decent life no matter if their IQ is 50 or 150.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#115

Post by simplemath »

allovera wrote: post #99
simplemath wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internalized fear of abandonment, shame, and undervaluing of self-worth... Takes years of work to undo, even after you've made it. My story is similar to the parent comment - not as severe, but close. I'm doing well now, but I suffer deeply from impostor syndrome and am constantly waiting to be fired, or cast out or sent back to the bread line, even though, rationally, I know that these are not likely, or even possib…

I'd love to talk to people in a similar situation. I just feel very out of place all the time. Imposter Syndrome is not quite right, but close enough.

I've just learned to live with it, and try to manage my anxiety by refocusing the intrusive thoughts into some kind of "mana well" where i use it as energy to work harder, or center me more or as a tool to remind myself how far I've come, etc. To try to let the beast be my pet so to speak.

That can be kind of its own trap too, in a meta kind of way - if i get in that "place" where im using fear to fuel me, I can start to reinforce the fear itself and tattoo it even more on my psyche.

Ultimately its just part of who I am. I've learned to accept it.

It's also a strength. I can work circles around almost anyone, and in the face of some problem at work, no matter how "serious" it is - compared to the very real adversities I've overcome in my life, work domain problems are an idyllic wet dream by comparison.

The emotions are still there though. They kind of hang like a spectre. That's just life though, I suppose. Memory is a funny thing.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#116

Post by logfromblammo »

dleslie wrote: post #19
trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

And this is why Basic Income is the future; it doesn't help those with a bed of pillows to rely on, but it provides a bed of sod to those currently wary of spikes.

Even a bed of manure would be better than the spikes, which is good, because that's the only sort of safety net I imagine Democrats and Republicans could ever agree on providing.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#117

Post by draw_down »

trjordan wrote: post #3

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I once heard it explained to me as this: It's easy to deride the journey of the rich college student: 80-hour internships at Goldman Sachs, unpaid positions in government, etc. But, the things that are done by successful people are hard, as hard as walking a tightrope. The difference is that rich students walk this tightrope over a bed of pillows. Poor students walk it o…

Sort of. It's not just that, it's that though the things successful people do are hard, underprivileged people also have to try hard just to get to the entry point. Getting people to even look at you or recognize that you could do the job is itself an extra measure of labor before the job even begins.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#118

Post by ianai »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #64
ajkjk wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should've finished with how it hit me: that I found the statement pretty powerful because, indeed, most of everything that had gone wrong or been stressful in my life that year was in that file. It was a reminder of how fortunate I've been.

Yes, not looking for sympathy but as a note for others. Recently a loved one of mine passed away very quickly, which I missed, and it put everything in perspective. No amount of money in the world (times ten) can fix such a mistake.

I'm sorry for your loss. There's much more to the world than money. There's also many more ways to make a mistake than financial misfortunes.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#119

Post by aninhumer »

CM30 wrote: post #91
gautamdivgi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a travesty of our justice system (or maybe any justice system). The more money you have, the better your lawyers, the better deals can be cut. The rich & upper middle-class will probably just get off with a slap on the wrist (if that). The poor & lower-middle class with not so many means and court appointed lawyers get the harshest sentences and are basically used as statistics for your public prosecutors pro…

I've always wondered why we don't just get rid of private lawyers and legal teams. That way, no one has an advantage or disadvantage. Even the wealthiest get one guy chosen by the court and no other assistance whatsoever and we see lots of rich kids going to prison as a result.

But how do you get rid of legal teams? Maybe you can insist on court appointed lawyers in court, but you can't really stop people with legal knowledge selling research and advice to rich people.

Re: Lost Diamonds: How our current system is failing underprivileged talent

#120

Post by AsyncAwait »

googletazer wrote: post #37
ryandrake wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew someone who was so aggressively proud of their success, having founded and grown a successful business. He'd talk your ear off about how people like him were the ones adding value to society and how unsuccessful people are just lazy and don't try hard enough or don't take enough risks, or are just deadbeats, and how successful, hard working people are punished with taxes--you know, the standard soapbox speech.…

I see what you're saying, but to be the devil's advocate - someone at some point in the family of "Cartoon Republican Villain" was also a poor sob with a single shot to make it. The tragedy is that he forgot, or never knew about it.

> someone at some point in the family of "Cartoon Republican Villain" was also a poor sob with a single shot to make it.

Sure, at a time of much greater economic opportunities, (i.e. after WWII), than people starting from $0 have today.

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