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Showing posts from December, 2021

The Function of the Myth of Meritocracy

"Haters" We like to think that those most successful in society are the ones who have achieved this by being smarter, more hardworking, more determined, and somehow "better" than the vast majority of citizens. Bezos, Musk, Gates, the list goes on. Geniuses, visionaries, iconoclasts, truth tellers, are some of the names we like to call them. Those who would criticize them are dubbed as lazy, close-minded, jealous, unsuccessful, "haters". The critics will say that these people obtained obscene wealth, and with it political power and cultural influence, via avarice, simply knowing how to play the game, having already come from a privileged position, and perhaps most damning of all, through government help. We can allow a mixture for both sides of supporters and critics.  Unmeritocratic Rise But, if anyone pays the slightest attention to the context and innerworkings of the rise of these figures, the existence of pure meritocracy should be obviously false. For...