[mykel]

From Vox

https://www.vox.com/conversations/2...-meritocracy-robert-frank-success-luck-ethics

Quote
If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get that on your own,” President Obama declared four years ago at a campaign rally in Virginia. “If you’re successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.”

Obama was pilloried for this statement. For conservatives, it was sacrilege, an offense against the individualist ethic. It’s a treasured mythology in America, this belief that hard work and a touch of grit is all one needs to succeed.

Reality is more complicated than that, however. Talent and drive can take you a long way, but it’s often not enough. Luck, as it happens, is every bit as important. Being born to the right parents helps too.
/Qutoe


Interesting article regarding how Cons and Libs see things. Libs don't get off scott free either....

Thoughts?

 

[JohnE]

A touch of luck never hurts. My neighbor married a guy who was a day trader. He invested in (What he thought was...) Sysco food services. He screwed up(!) and put the money into Sysco Systems, right before they split and went crazy. His mistake made him something like half a gazzillion $amolean$ and he has been laughing ever since. I heard recently she divorced him and crushed him in the settlement, so I may need to go back to the old 'hood and do some trolling...

Mr Obama was right. The ravaging he took over the comment was simply over the first part- "You didnt bulid that..." which was a prime example of the get a good sound bite mentality that rules our news services. Had the mouth breathers taken a minute or 3 and listened to the rest of the statement, and taken a minute to reflect objectively upon it, they might have just agreed with him.

"Privilege has a way of blinding the privileged."

The current US President is a perfect example of being born well and getting a lucky break or 3 thrown your way. As my HS hockey coach used to say, "I would rather be lucky than good..." Man, I hated that bastard...

 

[Jm_]

Exactly.

 

[junkyard]

All of life is a numbers game. and everything is possible at somepoint. But i see luck differently, there is bad luck too. So you got an average or median range.