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The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History

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Re: The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History

#3

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I have noticed a strong undercurrent among some on HN that has bought into the anti-work movement that seems to have a very high overlap with anti-capitalist/communist/socialist crowd (and also, I suspect, a very poor grasp of history and economics).

Re: The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History

#6

[flagged]

I have noticed a strong undercurrent among some on HN that has bought into the anti-work movement that seems to have a very high overlap with anti-capitalist/communist/socialist crowd (and also, I suspect, a very poor grasp of history and economics).

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Re: The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History

#8
This is pure garbage. Please suggest an alternative to "The Myth." I see two immediate problems with any alternative that far out-weigh its purported benefits. (1) Any solution you propose involves a government imposing its will on the people, 'reallocating' their wealth, and using that loot to pick and choose the winners. (2) Any alternative to "The Myth" necessarily deprives people of ownership of their future -- you create more victims. When people believe they have no control over their destiny, they fall prey to nihilism. Thanks to rhetoric like yours coming from BLM, Antifa, and the rest of the progressive ilk, you only need to look at the news to see how well a nihilistic society works.

Re: The Myth of Meritocracy Runs Deep in American History

#9
I'm a huge critic of a lot of uses of "meritocracy" as a sole guide in how things are or should be, but this attack on it still feels lacking. Would be akin to my talking about "the myth of good people", because there have always been bad people. Or because the "good people" we look towards were not perfectly "good" in all ways.

It seems it is still very fair that the US approached an ideal meritocracy far more so than many of the other nations that could be looked towards. Is that not at all the case?

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