Beware the myth of the self-made man.
This is one of the best visualizations of this issue. I regularly think back at this comic, awesome!!
And, again, this does not negate the fact that Richard worked hard to get his degree and worked his company’s ranks. It should not be about pushing down the Richards of the world, it should be about pulling up the Paulas, and strive for a world were everyone is a Richard [relating to the comic, not all white men or we would be doomed ':) ]
Based take. I love how this comic depicts problems and privilege and you put it really well. I’m sick of people tearing down Richard.
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Nah, I think it could be done if billionaires didn’t hoard all the wealth. The wealth of some of these people is enough to live confortably for several lifetimes.
The only reason there’s “not enough resources” is because someone is always trying to make money off them. There’s plenty of resources, their distribution just won’t make anyone rich if we share and share alike.
I have read many comments here about how horrible it is that the rich get everything and we need to make the opportunities equal for everyone, I think they are missing the point of the comic. At the end, Richard’s view has been filtered through the things he was given as something that happens to everyone. Nobody told him that he was given privileges that Paula doesn’t have access to. To him, everybody has access.
Yep, which is why over the course of history Marxism took hold of the Socialist movement, rather than previous Utopian Socialists who believed they could simply “convince people” of Socialism being better, and reality would form around that, like the Owenites.
Marx added that the ideas people have come from their Material Conditions, which is a core concept to Dialectical Materialism.
So what you are saying, in plenty of words, is that because the dude has the material privileges he thinks that the world has the same access to them too?
Not quite. That’s one part of it, but not necessarily.
People hold ideas based on the physical reality they experience. People who grow up in wealthy environments are more accepting of worldviews that either justify or rationalize this, ie the myth of “meritocracy.” They can believe that others do not enjoy the same access, but can believe that hard work can get anyone where they are, as an example.
This has further implications. Fascism, for example, isn’t spread because it’s an “appealing idea,” but as a response to decay of Capitalism, typically. Anlyzing the mechanics of why certain types of ideas become broadly accepted based on change in material reality is useful for preventing dangerous ideas as well.
I wish we could make a population with even the basic reading comprehension to understand these facts and then people might start taking advantage of our most powerful tool, democratic voting, to make real changes to how wealth is distributed.
But to this day when you suggest such a thing, people will default to images in their mind of everyone being forced to wear grey jumpsuits and stand in line for hours for a potato. We have the technological and productive means now to socialize many elements of our lives that would give everyone access to more resources and benefits and lower poverty and needless suffering, which helps everyone, even those already privileged.
But the capitalist narrative will push back on these ideas to its last, dying gasp, even as the world starts to burn and people lose everything, we will still see people arguing for “job creators” and how the wealthy are responsible for all our comforts, and that the socialist alternative will mean people will never own anything… as capitalism takes people’s ownership of everything.
I wish we could make a population with even the basic reading comprehension to understand these facts and then people might start taking advantage of our most powerful tool, democratic voting, to make real changes to how wealth is distributed.
That’s why Leftists abandoned electoralism a long, long time ago. The system is deliberately designed against significant change in Class society, ergo Leftist theory is centered around organization and building dual power.
But to this day when you suggest such a thing, people will default to images in their mind of everyone being forced to wear grey jumpsuits and stand in line for hours for a potato. We have the technological and productive means now to socialize many elements of our lives that would give everyone access to more resources and benefits and lower poverty and needless suffering, which helps everyone, even those already privileged.
People’s ideas are generally a product of their Material Conditions. Socialism may be correct, but people’s class-interests largely influence what ideas people accept.
But the capitalist narrative will push back on these ideas to its last, dying gasp, even as the world starts to burn and people lose everything, we will still see people arguing for “job creators” and how the wealthy are responsible for all our comforts, and that the socialist alternative will mean people will never own anything… as capitalism takes people’s ownership of everything.
There is a rising Leftist current as a response to Capitalism’s decay, what remains is organizing that response and building up dual power.
The concept of noblesse oblige really needs to be restored and expanded. Most of us have advantages we don’t understand. It’s why charity and compassion is so important.
Noblesse oblige is unnecessary if you work to eradicate Class society in the first place. Convincing Capitalists to work against the forces of Profit to be nicer people will never work, that’s why Utopian Socialists all failed.
Eradicating class will never work, either.
Most things came rather easy to me throughout my life. I was talking before most kids my age, reading earlier and more advanced material than other kids. I never truly struggled in most of my classes, generally performing in the top 20-25% without really trying that hard, mostly out of laziness. I’ve always been quick to pick up musical instruments, figure out how mechanical things work, and was confidently disassembling and reassembling computers at a comparatively young age. I did not complete college and simply worked numerous jobs over the years. I didn’t have much money growing up and had a number of financial struggles until I landed in what was essentially my dream job a couple of years ago and am making enough money to be comfortable (not rich).
Am I a self-made man? Not in the slightest.
I had older siblings who encouraged me to talk and reading materials of various levels that allowed me to learn at an organic pace.
My mother was a teacher and about 50% of our toys were educational. In fact, my parents used to give us “fun” workbooks when we were children, which made homework less of a chore later in life.
I grew up with instruments around me and the means to purchase just about any reasonable instrument that interested me, meaning I had a wide array of instruments I enjoyed at my disposal.
My father was an electrical engineer and a pioneer of the PC revolution, so we had internet when most kids didn’t even know what “online” meant, piles of decommissioned computers for me to fuck around with, and a functioning computer in every bedroom and office when most homes didn’t have computers and any with a computer only had one that the family shared.
I dropped out of college due to boredom and worked whatever jobs I wanted to because my parents said I could continue living at home as long as I was studying or working.
I had financial issues because I had problems spending money I didn’t have on things I didn’t need. Even at my lowest points in life, I had a roof over my head and family who could have bailed me out of any situation I got myself into. My parents had plenty of money. While they didn’t hand it to me directly, they paid for every opportunity possible for me to learn and grow.
A couple of years ago, a job opened up at my work which turned out to be the perfect cross-section of my work-experience, hobbies, and home-projects that I’ve had the opportunities to work on. I was recommended to apply for the job based on this facade of a “highly intelligent, self-made man” that my old boss held of me. But I’m really just a beneficiary of my circumstances.
Now, I live in a house that my wife and I own because we were able to buy it at a reasonable price from my grandparents when they moved into assisted-living. My wife and I each drive our own cars that I help keep costs low on between my remote-hybrid work and the amount of car repairs that I can do myself because I was afforded the time and opportunity to learn them when I was younger. I also do a good portion of our home repairs, upgrades, and renovations myself because I had the opportunities to help my dad do similar-ish things growing up.
In all reality, I was born upper-middle class and have managed to work my way down towards the lower-middle class. My parents did not accept nor encourage failure and they didn’t have enough money or influence for me to fail my way upwards.
But I’ve always had the opportunity to just coast. And here I am: a child of just enough privilege, challenge, and cognizance to see how easy it is to end up struggling and to recognize what an asshole looks like.
Not enough privilege to need an award for having some semblance of self-awareness, but just enough to enjoy upvotes for admitting it.
I absolutely agree with this comic, and in a lot of ways I was the kid on the left.
I struggle with the solution though. Isn’t it the purpose of all life about giving your offspring a better chance?
When we give the kid on the right more opportunity, the left side will keep increasing their investment until it’s lopsided in their favor again.
Maybe it’s not about trying to reach some theoretical absolute equity, but keeping the distribution at a healthy balance so that one side is not completely locked out of the game. That’s healthier for the whole community too since healthy competition ensures there’s progress.
The solution cannot be only based on providing more opportunities to achieve equity of chance. To me, (financial/professional) success cannot and should not be the thing to strive for solely. We cannot all be attorneys and doctors and high achievers. We cannot expect a good life for all if everyone strives to be in the top 10% of society and this is the prerequisite for a good life and success, because by definition, this leaves 90% out.
So if you really want to have a good life for all, we need to stop the idea that you need to attain some artificial definition of professional success in order to have a good life, and provide a livable, worthy life for everyone - especially if they put in the time to work and contribute to society. If a person is working 40 hours a week, i.e. gives up 40 hours of their life and free time, why should it matter whether they work as a cashier, collect trash, or work as an attorney. In every case, they have a crucial role in society.
Well the first naive argument against that would be, why would anyone work hard to become an attorney if it doesn’t pay more than anything else? Why spend years in school if it’s not going to get you ahead?
I guess in the star trek universe you do it because you like it?
I want to believe maybe that might work?
Having worked in both low end and high end job I have two answers to that. The first is social status. No matter how much you earn, you will always be seen as more intelligent and more “worthy” because you have a higher status job. I think for a lot of people it’s this admiration that would be enough. The second answer is physical reasons. My sister’s back has been shit since she was 30 because of her endless standing in a barista job. Some jobs are insanely hard and just the comfort of being able to take a coffee break and a chat and sit at your desk is absolutely worth striving for. (There are people who enjoy manual and physical labor, but then again, why punish them financially, if they are willing to do the “harder” jobs?)
And yes, a third answer would be the urge to learn more and be more.engaged mentally. But wanting to do that and that having to do that to achieve success are two very different prerequisites.
These jobs should be rewarded more, but lower-skill jobs should still provide for a decent life, which they don’t. Having to work two jobs is a failure of the system, not the individual.
It’s fine to reward those who’ve spent more time and effort more - as long as we remember and acknowledge that we need everybody else to make society work too, and the baseline of even the lowliest workers is reasonably comfortable.
So if you really want to have a good life for all, we need to stop the idea that you need to attain some artificial definition of professional success in order to have a good life, and provide a livable, worthy life for everyone - especially if they put in the time to work and contribute to society. If a person is working 40 hours a week, i.e. gives up 40 hours of their life and free time, why should it matter whether they work as a cashier, collect trash, or work as an attorney. In every case, they have a crucial role in society.
What method are you proposing to establish this?
I’m not a political and social science think tank, so I cannot propose anything. I doubt there is one method or approach to just establish this.
I mean I could tell you that I would “just” pay everyone basically the same, have “free” housing standardized for everyone and have them relocate to not further than 15 mins from their work, demolish single family houses, have students paid for studying, have parents paid for parenting, provide “free” necessities and basic foods, and get rid of bullshit jobs and companies that make products for empty consumption. But I mean, “just”. That’s obviously a thought experiment that happens by a complete layman and I doubt that I could win people for this, let alone in a democratic way.
I’m not a political and social science think tank, so I cannot propose anything. I doubt there is one method or approach to just establish this.
That’s fine, I am more asking a question to get you to think about method as well. Lots of people agree on goals, but methods of getting there are diverse, and many of them are fantasy, which makes the goals pointless.
I mean I could tell you that I would “just” pay everyone basically the same
People have unequal abilities and unequal needs. People shouldn’t be paid the same, the whole of production should be in service of fulfilling the needs of the whole of society.
have “free” housing standardized for everyone and have them relocate to not further than 15 mins from their work, demolish single family houses, have students paid for studying, have parents paid for parenting, provide “free” necessities and basic foods, and get rid of bullshit jobs and companies that make products for empty consumption. But I mean, “just”. That’s obviously a thought experiment that happens by a complete layman and I doubt that I could win people for this, let alone in a democratic way.
You’ll find that many people agree with you on this, but if you can’t achieve this electorally, your option becomes Revolutionary in nature.
I think you responded to the wrong comment, could that be?
I pasted the wrong block of text, sorry! Corrected it.
Isn’t it the purpose of all life about giving your offspring a better chance?
Yeap, but doesn’t mean you willfully or otherwise create a worse situation for someone else
Maybe it’s not about trying to reach some theoretical absolute equity, but keeping the distribution at a healthy balance so that one side is not completely locked out of the game. That’s healthier for the whole community too since healthy competition ensures there’s progress.
Equity is an ideal we may never reach, but the point is we keep trying to reach it. There’s no such thing as a “healthy distribution” of exploitable working class.
The economic models built on exploitation of cheap labor are a relic of the past, and humanity does not need them to ensure future intellectual or cultural growth. We can have capitalism and social welfare together. We can even have Veblen goods without essentially making slaves of other people.
It’s about humility and gratitude. Don’t refuse to build on your advantages, just do what you can to pay it forward and outward.
Isn’t it the purpose of all life about giving your offspring a better chance?
A better chance at what? Becoming a member of the parasite class?
Needs extra last panel where Richard tells Paula “if you don’t like your job just get another one you like”
And Richard’s autobiography that claims he worked since 12.
Natives had it right. There is no privilege when the tribe raises a child. Western nepotism has been a plague on this earth for thousands of years.
Go back, read more history books. Nepotism is a dominant trait of every empire on the globe that decayed and fell apart on its own.
“Western nepotism” … Psh.
This comic strip only hints at the race and gender aspect of it. Myself, a not so impressive product of the working class with a not so great track record, has managed to better than most. When I think about my pastey white skin and the junk between my legs I am never very impressed but to think that I’ve won some sort of cosmic lottery. Society has some major flaws you guys.
Discrimination comes in many aspects. I wish people would be more comfortable admiting their privileges, this would bring the change faster
Heartbreaking.
I once had a machine shop teacher that has a qoute that still lives rent free in my brain.
“I feel bad for the people who grew up rich because they dont know how to do anything themselves and dont know how to fix anything!”
Its pretty true life advice, i wouldnt change the way a grew up even a little bit. Not having alot growing up made me happy to have the small things and take care of the things i already owned. You can be rich with money but the poorest with skills and intelligence and that makes you more sad then ill ever be.
This comic would be better if on Richard’s recruiter’s screen he was also rejected, but recruiter approved anyway.
I hate to be that guy, but the title is “on a plate” but it actually says “on plate” in the word bubble. I can’t unsee it.
Hopefully the world can change into a peaceful sci-fi world more like Star Trek or Red Dwarf.
Although we should always strive for it, I don’t think we have it in us. But I hope I’m wrong.
The alternative is fascism, nuclear apocalypse, or death from climate change (perhaps all 3). It’s up to us to avoid that path and move towards Socialism.
I think we do, because I’ve been going around convincing people on these forums to act more like it, using Euclidean geometry principles.
People will often worship shapes you give them and use them to change their minds about things.
Assuming we can successfully transition to Socialism, we will get there! It will just take time.
Same thing but put slightly differently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K5fbQ1-zps
I can’t relate to those things ever.
Who cares about grades when you are able to do anything at this age and not land in the jail? Once you are 18 the fun is over and you must be really careful at all times which is boring as fuck. Use these years to the fullest
Can someone finally make a comic that is an ounce relatable?
What do you guys even pursue with these grades of yours with all the bootlicking and effort when simply knowing right people and making them believe in certain version of yourself trumps everythingAre you really so naive to believe that hard work matters? No it is all about connections, knowing right people in right places. You can work hard for 30 years and have shit all but someone knows a certain guy at the top and is your boss in a year.
This is life, adapt or… struggle. The things they tell you in school is all horse shit the real race is in the casinos, nightclubs and parties. Remember that before you feed your kids with bs that good grades will make them successful.
I may regret engaging, but I can say as someone who grew up in Harlan County, KY (one of the poorest places in the USA), hard work and education absolutely do still make a difference. You can get educated in a variety of ways, and you can meet people and lean on those connections even if your family isn’t born with them.
Raging about the world on the internet won’t fix your problems even if it does provide catharsis for a brief time. You’ve got to do some work. Whether that’s learning to grow a garden and giving produce to your neighbors, or learning music to join a band and connecting to others through songs you write. Those things take work. People want to connect with others who have skills, even outside of a capitalist system.
Anecdotally, I “LeArNeD tO cOdE” instead of bitching that all the mines closed, and it’s worked well for me. Wrapping my head around coding concepts when I objectively got one of the worst educations available in this country has been hard work and I’m proud to be where I am. I hope you find something you can work towards.
Wrapping my head around coding concepts when I objectively got one of the worst educations available in this country has been hard work and I’m proud to be where I am. I hope you find something you can work towards.
Well, coding is only a start on path of programming.
Well naturally, but I was and still am a dumb hick from Appalachia, so I didn’t understand that at the time. I’m a senior engineer now who does system integrations. I was speaking of the cliché advice given to people without marketable skills in a bit of a tongue-in-cheek way.
All I know is that I could easily ignore grades, score good on final test twice in lifetime and leap over all those who worked real hard whole childhood and get to best uni. That kinda changes your perspective.
It’s about putting little jolts of effort where it matters and connections matter vastly more than anything. You can have idiots earning lotta because they know how to party with CEO or know their secrets.
Besides all your hard work matter shit all if you can’t market yourself and that is stretching the reality to your favour no matter the base facts.
I am retired right now at 30
Is it not work to make connections? Is there no value in learning to learn? I think this is a pretty short sighted way to go about life.
You seem like you’re younger than me and also not from the USA, so I can’t understand the exact realities of your situation without more info.
I got straight A’s in school (1992-2005) and found later in life that I was learning what other kids already inherently knew or learned way earlier. My “AP Calculus” was algebra I for the kids in the larger/wealthier cities in the state. Once I got to college/university I made up the difference somewhat, but I still felt very out of place.
Grades are not the end all be all, but learning to learn is important and it shouldn’t be reduced to just “testing once or twice”. How will you pass the test if you don’t know how to study or have at least some underlying knowledge of the test subject? Maybe I’m misunderstanding your meaning.
Learning is just somehow easy for me I don’t know maybe it is skewing my perspective and everyone else must sit there for hours before they grasp stuff.
I just can do things in less time it feels like this sometimes at least and thus have to fill that time and get bored.
Maybe some other people would use that to meet more and more challenges and overcome them but I for some reason always had more nihilistic and cynical mindset.
School always seemed so stupid, uni too. You can learn that stuff in a month by yourself more quickly and efficiently if you felt like you wanted instead of feeding dopamine scrolling phone.
I don’t think education system here was made for me in mind let’s just say. Not for someone who always questioned everything but never got answers but only reprimands and yelling and tons of bad behaviour notices.
I was always surrounded with people who worked hard and I just waltzed there scoring with no effort making their work sorta pointless that probably changed me for the worse.
So yes I don’t relate to these comics or most of the things really except for adhd meme comics yay. Most people are super unrelatable for me anyway.
Few who were, we used way too much substances and done way too overboard things (such as vandalism mainly) to keep them around in a healthy way. If I meet someone I relate to it is the best and worst thing that can happen to me and everyone around as we literally destroy places in a drug fuelled madness and get away with it somehow. In a fun company I have been shooting road signs out of my balcony in the middle of a city with an air rifle for whatever insane reason. Or throwing eggs at the cars while laughing like a total insane person. Can’t say I regret any fun times.
One time we were at someone’s house we just grabbed as much wine as we could from the cellar and ran. I shouldn’t miss those times but I do.It was such a blast, adrenaline fun and laugh and on top of all stolen shit tastes super good.
But I can’t do this because we live in a society and all and I have this carefully built image and double life would be such a pain in the ass to maintain so I must decide on a single image that makes it all most fun and comfortable and pleasurable.
What’s least relatable is that I am focused on chasing the fun while everyone else seems to have these grandeur problems that seem contrived. Partner left them? Find another one then and the like. People are not relatable at all. Sometimes they even feel more like some npc characters, background noise. Hard to realize they are beings with their own autonomy and the like, goals, dreams. Impossible to grasp it even. They are 2D most often sort of.
Learning is just somehow easy for me I don’t know maybe it is skewing my perspective and everyone else must sit there for hours before they grasp stuff.
We talk about systemic problems, not about your personal experience. And not about just “everyone else sitting there for hours before they grasp stuff”, but about not being taught stuff for them to be grasp.
School always seemed so stupid, uni too. You can learn that stuff in a month by yourself more quickly and efficiently if you felt like you wanted instead of feeding dopamine scrolling phone.
If uni was so boring for you, how it comes you are talking about licking some CEO’s ass instead of advancing science in CERN?Frankly I don’t really care about systemic problems not genuinely so but wanted to write lotta words I cannot say aloud to anyone.
You see having someone to confide this stuff is rare usually I have to be acting. Weaving some personas
Just so occasion arises with some semi vaguely connected comic.
So I can just shower ya all with my deepest thoughts without any repercussions. Brutal honesty is what I miss sometimes that was always fun.
I usually am focused on my self improvement journey but once a week I get a cheat meal so to say. This is my cheat meal
Feels good but also is so socially bad lol but hey you have to let loose sometimes
It sounds like you’re a narcissist and psychopath or sociopath. If you’re in the US, you won the jackpot as our wealth-obsessed society allows people with antisocial disorders like that to go very far, especially if they’re intelligent and skilled at masking.
EDIT: After reading more comments of yours further down, you definitely are and are aware of it. Not having empathy is antithetical to my whole being, but I do appreciate your honesty and hope you at least don’t take pleasure in other people’s pain.
That is I could find easily people I could say it to but like they are disgusting and I ended this phase and no longer have a company of unsavoury types
Now I am a proper citizen, good, kind and all the stuff and my company consists of similar.
I am in lgbt circles now and even socialists so like not the best audience for this sorta talk lol
Cool Gary Stu fan-fiction, bro.
It isn’t tho, that’s the thing. sounds too crazy and pretentious but I swear on my real estate that it is all true
This whole timeline is too crazy to be a random chance I am convinced we are in the simulation and someone like flipped a switch okay give that person this and this whatever they do. Yeah they should be by all means be dead or smh but we need them to test that hypothesis
After all I probably wouldn’t get away with all that if not for the early capitalism woes of eastern bloc that was more like a Russian mindset than western. Early birds get all the rewards. Ppl born today will probably have it truly fkd up and be brainwashed that it is all okay and just hard work and will be fine yeah lol no. All the fruits have been already picked. Only scraps are left and good luck getting them now without these magic 100% value appreciation per year thingies that happened in the past
There is a vast frontier of knowledge and value to be gained in renewable energy, fusion technologies, CRISPR/medical science, systems integrations and automation, environmental cleanup, food science, etc.
These all take hard work and knowledge and aren’t quick fixes, so of course it seems like all the low hanging fruit is gone.
There are a ton of problems that need solving. It’s not the dog eat dog universe you say it is.
I used to be nihilistic and cynical for a time as well. Then I went through a divorce, went deeply into debt, became an alcoholic, lived in my car for a while and got sober and got my shit together. Not to say I recommend it, but the survival instinct is strong, and a wife and kids are a wonderful thing to wake up to every day.
I hope you can get some distance from the drugs and you might also get some perspective.
Your story is at least interesting, and if true, it sounds like you at least have the resources to improve your mindset and lot in life.
“It worked for me, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for everyone”.
As a fellow, “did bad in school, but still doing well compared to my peers” person, I think you are ignoring a lot of the subtle benefits you had in life.
For instance, I grew up with six siblings, and at times not only did I have to share a room with 5 of them, I needed to share a bed with my brother. My parents divorced when I was young as well, which takes away a lot of stability and resources for a child.
Despite this, I still had massive advantages compared to my peers. My grandfather worked with computers at a university, and that trickled down to me always having access to a computer. My dad was an early adopter of home Internet access, I had cable broadband in the house at least since 2000, and DSL/dial-up way before that. I had both parents, and although they were not very collaborative while raising me, I still got some benefit of having them both. My interpersonal connections through my siblings helped me land a decent retail job, and from there I was able to use connections from my dad to get my foot in the door in IT. I didn’t grow up with much, but I sure as hell grew up with a lot more than many other people, and it’s easy to forget that sometimes.
