Is The US Really A Meritocracy?

[@lastnamefirstname2390]

I love that you admit you would fail in a meritocracy. Most people can't be that brutally honest with themselves. It shows amazing self awareness. Despite that, you have a loyal following and have become successful, while doing something that's good for society. I think this is a wonderful example of capitalist conditioning being harmful. It stops you from doing the things you love and making a difference.

[@sivuyilemtsi9840]

That's why I follow him. He's not arrogant about the fact that he comes from a privilaged background, rather he's very appreciative and humble about it.

[@choronos]

I would not do well in a meritocracy. I have anxiety and depression, and I suspect something else is going on that hasn't been diagnosed (ADHD? I don't know). I feel smothered and oppressed by the current economic system. All I want is to do a job that doesn't crush my soul into dust and make enough money to live without fear of destitution should an unexpected event occur (car wreck, health issue, etc). All that said, I could SURVIVE in a meritocracy. I can force myself to have the appearance and behavior of a "normal" person, I can perform the tasks at a job, however draining it is for me. But what are disabled people to do in such a system? I hate that libertarian types who preach free market economics and meritocracy never consider the millions of disabled people, many of whom cannot work at all. I always think of them when people start throwing the idea of a meritocracy around.

[@phillemon7664]

Very few people would actually survive in a true meritocracy as it is social Darwinist in nature and is designed to cull off the undesirable. I sure know I wouldn’t survive a year in one, that would be literal hell or heaven? (Some interpretations of heaven only the highest of efforts are rewarded by the system and given access to heaven) Meritocracy is not fit for humanity as it would only cause it to self destruct.

[@Krystalmyth]

@@choronos Adult adhd is seriously underdiagnosed. Found out I had it. Had serious addiction issues. I was self-medicating for adhd. I managed to get clean, only after this discovery. Considering Americans addiction issues especially to stimulants, I would suggest looking into your own patterns and seeing if this is something relatable for you. Because it gets harder to stay motivated in fixing the issue as you get older.

[@Krystalmyth]

@@phillemon7664 You'd end up with city plates in the sky like in Alita, FF7 or Elysium.

[@emilydarkness7438]

It's fascinating how those born into wealth and power seem to think they've earned everything themselves.

[@moisesrosario9716]

also they seem to live in a bubble disconnected from reality

[@osl5686]

They practiced for / believed in the intelligence tests.

[@thewhizbang]

Yup and they’ll defend that till their last breath...

[@LetMeEatDem]

Hence the term “entitlement”

[@Yellow.1844]

Theyre so delusional

[@gwendolynsnyder463]

What's considering classy if you're rich, but trashy if you're poor? Receiving money from the government.

[@rickeybernard8156]

That was 🔥 can't lie.

[@isidoreaerys8745]

Cocaine/Crack

[@ThePunter209]

Lack of possessions. For the rich, it's minimalistic philosophy. A poor person without possessions is just another ghost to avoid.

[@seybertooth9282]

Yeah, it's only "socialism" when poor people get the handout.

[@hirozzayz8164]

That's true af

[@rickeybernard8156]

A story real quick. When I was in school I excelled at every subject, a real jack of all trades. Because of this, I was able to go to an honor party, and received rewards. I felt torn. I was black and poor so I rarely got anything so I was grateful, but I had to watch kids suffer because they weren't lucky enough to be intelligent some of which are black. I'll never forget how horrible I felt as I received an award and my fellow students were forced to watch. I am happy could empathize. I hate the idea of being better because of something I inherited. P.S: teachers tried destroying my and other kids' grades when we scored higher than our White counterparts. Merit was never the goal. Feeling superior is.

[@thekingoffailure9967]

Yo pal, do I hear ya. I'm a white dude that grew up in a rural town. Middle school was easy, but my peers hated my and bullied me. after we all matured in gr 10 I had real conversations with them. I was a nice guy, they didnt hate me. They hated that I was "better" than them. That the teachers all loved me and "gave" me good marks, when they would claim the bad marks my friends got were all their own fault. I hated it. I never, not once thought I was better than anyone at school. I was depressed the whole time. I had no social life. And why? Because in gr 3 I had a tenth grade reading level and I was labeled "Gifted." (It was just cause my parents had the time to teach me to read before pre-school unlike the majority. Mom was also a teacher.) I was segregated from the implied stupider kids. Given more attention, more confidence. All of us carried those labels for the rest of our school years. Some will carry them for the rest of their lives. No wonder "non-gifted" students drop out and give up "winning" in the rat race.

[@rickeybernard8156]

@@thekingoffailure9967 just to find out it meant nothing. When I got to school, all of the students cheated or had financial backings. They at least had the heart to discuss things without getting offended at differing opinions, but it became painfully obvious that schools grading systems were a sham. While I thrived academically on subjects that required pure intelligence, I struggled in others where finances were a factor. I wasn't given a scholarship despite my grades and was left with the states that died out quickly. I graduated just to end up working in factories and am struggling to get into my career. That's why I believe everything is a lie until concrete evidence is presented. Living by that, I weeded out all of the bs. I also try to get others to at the very least, think about why they believe the things that they do and not adopt ideologies just they were told to. I hate that you too we're bullied. Some of my best friends I had helped against bullies. Being bullied builds character but having an ally promotes a positive impact. Thanks for sharing your story.

[@HughJass-313]

You lift others up. That's all any of us can really ever do. And you do it... because *it's the right thing to do.*

[@rickeybernard8156]

@@HughJass-313 I agree. Gotta to keep pushing on.

[@rickeybernard8156]

@@thomasmaughan4798 thanks

[@seybertooth9282]

I once heard a Wall Street analyst say this: if you put a thousand people in a room flipping coins, someone is going to get ten heads in a row, just through statistical chance, i.e. luck. When you ask him how he did it, he'll say "It's all in the wrist, you gotta have the right skill". That's the stock market, someone is going to get lucky and he will inevitably think it's because he is good.

[@Kortonox]

There is some skill involved in the stock market. If you do research and invest in things that you know will likely have good outcomes you can be fairly succesfull. So its not like a coin flip. And if you go into short Selling, it becomes less and less a luck game, and more a game of Connections. But Still, you need money to invest in the first place to use the stock market, or connections to get money to invest. And its still like Gambling, so luck is definitley involved. What Second Thought said in this video applies perfectly to the stock market. You get money and connections by being born into a wealthy family. You can accomplish something with pure skill and work ethic, but the odds are stacked against you if you are an outsider.

[@ArcticZombie]

Gross oversimplification of the stock market. No, it is not just pure luck.

[@davidsilverfield835]

Agreed lol

[@DMO-DMO-DMO]

@@ArcticZombie wow, that was an oversimplification?! Gee whiz, thanks for letting us all know

[@Chriscraft-ug3sz]

@@Kortonox getting those connections is also luck

[@Islandswamp]

I don't want to be rich. I want to get by without constantly worrying about everything. Basic survival isn't even close to guaranteed.

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

It is true that being rich has a lot of upsides. But then again: You will be wary about your "friends" and their sincerity (they could be after your wealth, and I heard that this is much worse in the US, according to my American friends) Lawsuit, kidnap, extortion target Nightmarish tax reporting complexity

[@Erupe285]

@@yohannessulistyo4025 That's why they hire people to handle that stuff for them.

[@张桓瑜]

@@yohannessulistyo4025 "Nightmarish tax reporting" that lets them evade billions in taxes? That's the worst excuse I've heard since "Iraq had WMDs"

[@qwertyuiop-tk9rr]

Being able to get by without constantly worrying about financial ruin is a luxury only available for the rich nowadays.

[@steephanroy8461]

@@yohannessulistyo4025 if they are so burdened with money.. they should consider donating the rest after they take what is needed to live a good life. Problem solved.

[@Knedlajz2]

Funny thing is that winning at monopoly isn't so much dictated by strategy as by luck through the roll of the dice

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

Which is why it's such a good critique of capitalism even if people don't know that anymore lol

[@张桓瑜]

The game began as a critique but that has all but been forgotten

[@chengyanboon]

Much of the luck can be mitigated by the diplomatic element of the game (trade and negotiation). I have a brother who is super frustrating for me to play against, as whenever we play with someone new, he always manages to convince them to make all the trades in his favour and to the detriment of everyone else, and they always ignore my warnings and we lose. There are also strategies using the statistically most likely places to land on the board. Of course you can get super unlucky, but that averages out over multiple games.

[@Fell0790]

@@chengyanboon Sure negotiation is part of the game but if I hold the better spots because of the luck of the dice I never need to trade for anything that is not beneficial if you play a game where all players always do the best play then luck is the only factor for success. I've played monopoly online before no one ever accepts trades, especially "equal" trades, if you show you want it they will not give it to you for a equal trade.

[@christopherjohnson9167]

which is why it's a shit game. In capitalism I've gone to school, been in dept, got into a great industry after working hard, paid off my dept, and now saving up for a secure future. You need a plan, you have to commit to the plan, work hard and seek knlowledge, and you can achieve your dreams. And yeah it's a hell of a lot more satisfying then monopoly. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF FFS!!

[@atticuscb]

After college I definitely didn't get my job cause I did well in business school, I got my job cause I did a girl's Spanish homework and she got her dad, who's a VP, to get me a job at the company he works in.

[@atticuscb]

Best part is I saw that she listed bilingual on her Resume 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jimmytimmy3680]

Lile the saying, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

[@atticuscb]

@@jimmytimmy3680 and how you know them 🤣🤣🤣 had to put my ESL to work 🤣

[@randomthings1293]

Thought that ended up at "I did a girl" 😂

[@noonehere4332]

So cheating is worth it haha

[@donchristie420]

Man raised by wolves: “ I’m self made” Wolves: wtf

[@rickeybernard8156]

Y'all killing it with the jokes.

[@verticalfracture]

He pulled himself up by his paw straps

[@ANTSEMUT1]

It's like they think the Network of people that put them there don't exist and everything they did was literally magic.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@ANTSEMUT1 So they exploited opportunities and worked hard to maintain them. What exactly do you consider to be self-made?

[@navilluscire2567]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 Don't you get? There's no such thing as self-made, it's a myth, a lie told to people so they are complacent and will ensure they'll either never rise up or will never be able to effect meaningful changes to society, thus maintaining the status quo. Meritocracy is literally the philosophy of treating your fellow human beings as enemies 24/7 or see them as disposable garbage, particularly even those that are your own fellow countrymen, it is a potent weapon against solidarity.

[@xeyon]

Life should not be seen as a competition but as a collaboration. Beautiful sentiment. Totally agree.

[@zpswim9861]

Unless your a animator! 🙃

[@novacat5037]

​@[zp swim] do you think anime is made by one person?

[@zpswim9861]

@@novacat5037 Studio

[@novacat5037]

@[zp swim] If you're saying that without a studio, it is almost impossible for an animator to succeed because of the oligopoly in the market, then yes, I totally agree. But if you're just trying to answer my rhetorical question, then I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say, I was trying to say that it takes many animators collaborating to create an anime, not asking whether or not an anime is made by one person.

[@zpswim9861]

@@novacat5037 each living Cartoon has to have a Studio and a Group of people to make the cartoons to come to life!

[@WaltersMama]

people might say that we live in a meritocracy, but no one acts like they do, this is especially obvious with parenting. if we really lived in a place where everyone had a fair shot at being successful, then parents wouldn't spend so much time, energy and money on making sure their kids go to the "right" kind of schools, get enrichment activities, extra tutoring help, etc.

[@Krystalmyth]

Uhm you think this is a natural parental trait or something?

[@deisk2707]

Schools is useless right now. It is based on points but not talent. Same as back since 19th century by Napoleon's view to current society, people are promoted based on wealth, not talent.

[@user-qc3dn2el6j]

@@altrag having money doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) be an advantage in a meritocracy when competing in anything that isn’t the business world. Like Ye having money can allow you to start a business but tbh how many us could make a successful business even if we had money. Most of us are gonna just get jobs and then within the hierarchy of that system the most competent should rise up because someone has to rise up so why shouldn’t the person with the most merit do it? In this manner competent people do rise up everywhere which is why our society is all together running pretty good. Not saying it’s perfect and it could certainly be better but meritocracy should definitely be the goal.

[@user-qc3dn2el6j]

@@altrag thanks for the well thought out response. May I ask what you propose as a solution to more closely reach a meritocracy?

[@eriknephrongfr8847]

@@altrag If you haven’t read The Meritocracy Trap(and I bet you have), you’ll think someone’s been reading your mind.

[@kated3165]

The amount of Trump supporters I talked with who genuinely thought the guy's wealth meant he was some successful genius and superior being.... don't know about you guys but had I inherited 250+ millions I'd probably still be doing pretty good financially!

[@jimmytimmy3680]

Had 6 bankruptcies.

[@mickeyg7219]

@@jimmytimmy3680 Yes, the benefit of being from a wealthy family is that you have a cushion against business bankruptcy. For most business owners, they have to take out a loan and spent pretty much all their savings to keep it afloat, and if they failed, they're unlikely to have a second chance. This shows that rich business owners aren't necessarily better at running a business than average business owners, it's just that people are more likely to ignore your failures if you have capitals to fall back on.

[@2FadeMusic]

@@mickeyg7219 “small loan of a million dollars” god how did nearly half the country fall for that shit, its seriously scary to think about how dumb ppl are

[@garygrinkevich6971]

Lol I love quoting his famous line "I began my career with a small personal loan of a million dollars from my father". Conservatives hate it when you pull at the threads of their fables - gives em brain worms for days.

[@huffpappy]

And he still managed to go bankrupt multiple times. I wouldn't call Trump successful at anything but being a conman and complete asshole.

[@this.is.spencer]

"Luck is when hard work meets opportunity" never made sense to me. What gives one an opportunity if not luck? The people who accept and repeat this phrase assume that everyone has been bombarded with opportunities their whole life, because they have been. They don't realize that getting those opportunities is part of their luck, and not freely given to everyone.

[@WanderTheNomad]

Perhaps it would be better rephrased as "luck is multiplied when hard work meets opportunities"

[@christopherjohnson9167]

you gotta do yourself the favor of working hard to increase the percentage of that lucky break happening. Success is not some binary system ruled completely by luck, there are billions of factors interacting.

[@91Vault]

while I agree...I'd interpret it as "when you get lucky, make the most of it" people who have positive mindsets tend to do things that increase their chances of success

[@getango]

@@WanderTheNomad Perhaps a better way to rephrase this is: "Luck is opportunity". As in you are lucky already if you even HAVE that opportunity.

[@WanderTheNomad]

@@getango I wanted to keep the original spirit of the saying.

[@MarkSoupial]

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” ― Stephen Jay Gould

[@gamer24d]

That's Deep

[@hedgehog3180]

People obsessing over Einstein's brain is even more insulting when you realize that he was a socialist too and a jew so he had been persecuted by eugenics programs that used the exact same justifications about superior intellect and stuff.

[@acenull0]

That's an amazing quote

[@deisk2707]

@@hedgehog3180 He is for Equality, and race is not what made him superior. People want their brain to be big as him but they will never succeed like him. He was shaped by the environment around him, mostly society. That's how great people are born, but not made.

[@grmpEqweer]

Yup. Think of kids in India mining mica, harvesting chocolate in Africa, or starving to death in a number of poor countries. Our world and our civilization has the capacity to feed and educate all of them. Most people (about 80%) live in poverty (more or less)and just survive, while a few are inordinately rich, because of capitalism. The world middle class is small. ...Capitalism leaves a HUGE amount of human potential to rot.

[@professorgrimm4602]

As a quite privileged person, I must say: Checking your own privilege and acknowledging that much of the success in your life stems from privilege instead of merit is not a fun thing to do. It's quite uncomfortable, but it is necessary. Ever since acknowledging my own privilege, I've become much more compassionate to other people and much more content with my own life.

[@myronidasvestarossa]

As have I. I always question myself that “what do I have, that was not given to me?”

[@jasonturner6459]

@@thomasmaughan4798 Checking your privilege is at least acknowledging what help you have received and what advantages bthat you may have had over other people before judging them. Nobody said not to try to make things Easier for your kids. Check-out all those billionaires who blather on about being self-made and hardworking genius but forget to acknowledge loans or connections from their parents or the government, etc. Plenty of hardworking and intelligent people fail. Not everyone who succeeds is just that awesome. Some people buck the odds but the wealthy and connected and Better educated have a huge advantage

[@litheon1289]

@@thomasmaughan4798 I'm really not getting your perspective here. You say; "I see it as a duty to "pay it forward" and ensure that my children get off to a reasonably good start; a better start than I had" Do you believe only your children deserve a better start? Are your kids (most likely biological, u dont seem like the adopting type) of more importance than any other? Do you not care about other children, who's parents arent able to 'pay it forward'? If somebody's parents are mentally ill, and cant hold a stable job, are they supposed to be just left behind? Later on, when they're trying to get a further education, it'll be their fault for not being able to get scholarships right? Their fault alone. (Sarcasm) so when they end up working a low-paying job like their parents, it's all cuz of their 'laziness. Privilege exists. It's not something you need to get pissed off about to hear. Some people have far better advantages in life, and thats a fact. You said 'wealthy & connected & better educated have a hude advantage' its not a huge stretch to consider smaller things, also an advantage. People need better resources and grounds to succeed, everyone is entitled to it. America is supposed to be the 'greatest nation' yet we cant even provide such basic things.

[@jaws392]

@@litheon1289 Do you really think it my priority to care about other children that I have never met. The answer to that is no because I don't support lousy parents doing a horrible job raising there kids. If that's the way you think, you're the problem with society.

[@sheepcommander_]

@@jaws392 I'm about to become a grammar nazi so help me god

[@redvorno]

Let's also not forget that even Monopoly has universal basic income

[@ewrh78]

you made me laugh... thx - & u r absolutly right.

[@watch50er]

I honestly thought that was metaphorical for income or basic assets outside the game paying off. But I see your meaning.

[@Krystalmyth]

Hahaha... You're right.

[@Krystalmyth]

@@watch50er That's kind of what this video is talking about. These assumptions about how people make their wealth. The belief we all came into this by the same opportunities and it really is just about the roll of the die. Imagine monopoly without the payout and itd be closer to current reality. Most would go bankrupt and seeing how most Americans are in debt, they kind of are.

[@watch50er]

@@Feefa99 - it still is, people just need to be reminded

[@legateelizabeth]

I’m actually really curious if the reverse of the “privileged people think they did well” thing is true. Do people who aren’t well off say that they’ve failed and blame themselves?

[@fernandonepomuceno7148]

Yes, a lot of them do

[@xmlthegreat]

Yes. There is a pervasive feeling of impostor syndrome, like you don't belong somewhere, or aren't capable of something, or aren't worth it,etc.

[@daisy3869]

For sure. It's beaten into their heads. That's why so many keep grinding hard af and wearing it like a badge. If someone points out how futile and unfair the system is, they get mad because they don't want to face the reality that their genuine hard work wasn't actually doing shit.

[@slowmoe1686]

Yes. Studies have shown this, at least in capitalist societies. IIRC outside of capitalism that happens less. Capitalism is a system that makes the losers feel inferior, like they have gone against the Great Chain of Being.

[@ah_libra]

@Elizabeth Some of us certainly feel that way...😟

[@Naheed_Ahmed14]

"The acquisition of wealth is not due to hard work alone, or the Africans working as slaves in America and the West Indies would have been the wealthiest group in the world." - Walter Rodney

[@danklewis2670]

Talent is more important than hard work

[@LoGStein]

@@danklewis2670 And luck is even more important, since talent is useless if you don't get to use it. No matter how talented and hard working a slave in the 18th century was, they wouldn't become rich.

[@missk1697]

@@danklewis2670 Most of those "talent" thingy is self-fulfilling prophecy and financial support from rich parents since the young age.

[@danklewis2670]

@@missk1697 Not really. Trump was born rich but clearly untalented since he was a kid. Bezos wasn’t born rich but graduated valedictorian and summa cum laude in EECS from Princeton

[@dinklezucc5982]

@@danklewis2670 The video acknowledges that hard work is necessary in a lot of cases. Now imagine someone trying to study with limited access to food and no internet. What are their chances of Valedictorian or top of their class? Let alone getting into an ivy league or top tier college with little to no money or familial support. If its not fair at the start, its apples to oranges.

[@petereng7497]

Luck is sometimes the privilege of being able to throw the dice until they come up in your favor.

[@Indoor_Carrot]

Most people never get to roll the dice at all. A few may be lucky and can roll it once. The privileged can roll it as many times as they want until it suits them

[@MayDayMei98]

Successful Person: "Yeah, I earned all of my wealth. First, I had an idea, then my rich uncle left me a small inheritance of $5,000,000, and then I opened my business!"

[@Gnashercide]

Et donc ? Il mérite toujours, il a fait fructifier un capital sur ses idée... on n'est pas des communistes mentaux aux usa

[@Gnashercide]

@@josecipriano3048 don't need 5 m

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Most millionaires are first generation.

[@hidesbehindpseudonym1920]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 that just means that most millionaires are people in their 50s and 60s who are getting ready to retire and by virtue of being millionaires barely just have enough to retire. Most of those people had middle class or upper middle class parents who were involved in their upbringing as well. Saying that most millionaires are first generation millionaires doesn't imply that most millionaires are people in their 20s and 30s who came from underprivileged backgrounds and were able, through hard work, and sacrifice to become millionaires.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@hidesbehindpseudonym1920 Why are you holding it against people who didn't have poor parents? Ever considered that multi-generational poverty is BECAUSE of poor parents having too many kids and/or unprepared for them? Anyone that can create millions more than what they had must have worked hard and sacrificed.

[@jackvac1918]

The term "meritocracy" was actually coined by British sociologist and socialist Michael Young in his satirical book _The Rise of the Meritocracy_ , in which it describes a future dystopian Britain where a class system based on merit has entrenched a merited elite into a hereditary caste of arrogant snobs while disenfranchising and impoverishing the less merited, eventually leading to a populist backlash against the system. Kind of interesting how libertarians and free-marketeers embraced a word that describes dystopia to describe their neoliberal ideal.

[@SharienGaming]

and again the ghouls have taken dystopian fiction and went "yeah thats what we want"...

[@Dan-ud8hz]

"A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I've been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone." Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

[@Ryan30431]

Think you nailed the point of this Dr. King quote: ``Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entered at the starting line in a race 300 years after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.`` - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

[@Bourikii2992]

And yet despite Obama. Isn't that weird.

[@projectpitchfork860]

@@Bourikii2992 Not really. Obama is a single black person of the ruling class among thousands of whites. It's honestly just statistical propability. But it doesn't make much sense to reduce him just to his skin colour.

[@Bourikii2992]

@@projectpitchfork860 It's a statistical probability that a black man in a supposedly racist country that is also supposedly holding black people back and is supposedly institutionally racist had a black man in the second most powerful position in the country? Not to mention the supposedly racist political party voted in a black man into the third most powerful position in the country whilst the current white president of the supposedly not racist party slandered him.

[@lychnus7761]

"It doesn't matter what you know, but who you know."

[@Roxor128]

Or as I like to call it, "cheating your way to the top".

[@yt_nh9347]

Yeah i'm sure that's why asians that immigrated to the US are performing much higher on average than even whites when it comes to income and education. Stop playing the victim and learn to work hard at meaningful goals.

[@jasonmatthews52]

@@yt_nh9347 Except you left out that the majority of Asians students who immigrate to the US for our education tend come from extremely wealthy, connected, and/or financially stable families, thus illustrating OP's point. You even see the same phenomenon with African groups such as the Nigerians and Ethiopians who come here and vastly outperform the native demographics in regards to academic success; they too often come from upper-middle to upper class families.

[@myronidasvestarossa]

@@jasonmatthews52 not to mention that the poverty rate for most Asians is higher than the national average. Hard work is admirable but you have to realize that it can only take you so far if the system only favors wealthy and connected people. It’s a mix of both personal responsibility and the systems we create.

[@syzygy4365]

​​@@myronidasvestarossa at least Asian cultures respect art and traditions. 🙄

[@johnb5254]

As a professor once told me, it's Who you know, not What you know that really matters in life.

[@imbored01]

@@navajo237 it’s called a professor’s teacher

[@Undeaddeaths]

The part about luck and youtube is a great point. Everyone asks popular youtubers what they did to get famous, and they all give the same response. Truth be told there are most likely hundreds if not thousands of people who have been making videos for 5 or 10+ years who just haven't been found, or haven't had the algorithm push their videos yet. Nobody asks someone who won the lottery how they did it, or what they think influenced their chances of winning the lottery.

[@lukeh2556]

It's funny quite a few youtubers I enjoy have straight up said I don't know how it happened just just blessed by the algorithm one day

[@SergeantSniper]

Never thought about it like that. Leaving those who fail with the callous idea that they deserve it seems sociopathic. We must help each other.

[@chafiqbantla1816]

In europe this idea is well spread but in america the tend to call anything thats social "communism"😂

[@dread-cthulu]

It is sociopathic.

[@cheesyfries5638]

@@chafiqbantla1816 Not the CoMmUnIsM

[@2FadeMusic]

Its always so respectable to me when someone conventionally successful like yourself has the common sense to acknowledge that good fortune played some role in that success and it wasn’t 100% the result of your actions or you being “better” or “more hardworking” than others. Since most rich people are delusional to the point of being incapable of acknowledging that obvious reality

[@behr121002]

Well said.

[@phillemon7664]

Yes, luck is about 80% of why success happens.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Probably because luck is an unintangible thing that you can not easily define, so you can not justify Marxist theft with it.

[@2FadeMusic]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 very insightful comment there you just debunked all marxist theory

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@phillemon7664 That's losers' thinking.

[@matteste]

And one other criticism of a meritocracy that you failed to mention is that "what is merit exactly?" and "who decides what it is?". What's considered merit is what is considered desirable by the system set by a few individuals.

[@destroyraiden]

The way some people toss around merit or they were the most qualified for the job seems to correlate between white, male, and or status quo of that particular industry in question. Sometimes it mixes two other times its all three for bingo, but it's a good question who decides? It seems if you think you are the majority you can decide but that's not true.

[@orvilgrunmeier7559]

That's a great point. Yang discussed this idea a lot during his presidential campaign, that many important jobs and tasks have no market value in our current system. These are people every bit as hard working, and probably even more passionate, than those considered to be higher in "merit"

[@ThrottleKitty]

Most of the time "merit" comes down to just meaning "start up capital". I see people who are terrible at everything rewarded for everything they do I see people who can run a 3 person shift by themselves paid like a trainee teenager

[@matteste]

And another problem with merit I remembered is especially when there are limited spaces available as well as the issue of talent vs hard work. I think this quote from Fullmetal Alchemist 03 summarizes the issue perfectly: *Dante:* "Consider the state alchemy exam that you passed with flying colors. How many others took the test that day? Spent months, years preparing, some working much harder than you. Yet you were the only one who passed. Where was their reward? Is it their fault they lacked your natural talent?"

[@geraldford878]

@@destroyraiden Merit is tricky indeed. But it would be racist and vengeful to think that's how meritocracy works. In reality meritocracy has everything to do "among all those qualified for the job, who will take the job for the least amount of money and work the longest hours." Sometimes its a desperate white male with nothing to lose. Sometimes it's not.

[@TooSickToDressVictorian]

Yeah, what also always bugged me about Meritocracy is that there are people who can’t contribute fully or at all to society, through no fault of their own. Take someone like me, for example. I‘m pretty mentally ill, it is bordering on being disabled. I didn’t choose that, my childhood was simply bad. I‘m pretty smart, by no means a genius, but a bit above average. I‘m pretty creative and I learn really fast. The problem is that I can‘t „work hard“. Don’t get me wrong, for my standards I‘m working extremely hard, but not anywhere visible to the outside world. I would fail in a pure Meritocracy, and so would so many others who have disabilities, disorders or are neurodivergent. It’s crazy to think that everyone has an equal material footing, it’s insane to think that everyone has an equally normative mental abilities.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

So mentally or physically disabled adults that can't work are a significant percentage of the population to justify abolishing meritocracy as a whole? NOBODY has said that we all have an equally material footing. P.S. 👐 🏥 I am PRO-universal healthcare, by the way.

[@hidesbehindpseudonym1920]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 no, the disabled adults who can't work, are not on their own a sufficient justification for abolishing meritocracy. But the accumulation and amplification of human capital by involved parents with resources on the abilities and opportunities of subsequent generations as compared to children of uninvolved parents with or without resources, that is enough of accumulative effect to justify the abolition of meritocracy.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@hidesbehindpseudonym1920 So you want to abolish meritocracy because, through no fault of other successful people, because THEIR parents were responsible???

[@hidesbehindpseudonym1920]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 no, because through no fault of poor people we can't guarantee for everybody that the parents that they are born to will have been responsible or involved. It's not the fault of responsible parents that some parents are irresponsible but much more importantly than that it is not the fault of children of irresponsible parents that their parents were irresponsible. Another important thing to point out it is not the achievement of the children of responsible parents that they were born to responsible parents.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@hidesbehindpseudonym1920 I am NOT blaming the children of bad parents and am even FOR some social institutions to equalize their opportunities. What I hate is bashing the good ones, however their wealth, and making their kids suffer for it. If you want to help the poor, then HELP THE POOR. What you do NOT do is BRING OTHERS DOWN.

[@garygrinkevich6971]

I was once getting a "annual evaluation" at a job and my manager said something like "if i gave you a raise over 3% we would have to give everyone a raise", and I responded with "well Is this a meritocracy? I didn't know there was a workers union here?" And she scared pikachu face at me before doing the hokey pokey 6 times and changing the subject. Love the blatantly Hippocratic appeal to "family values" or "employee solidarity" when they want overtime or as a mental judo move to screw you out of a raise, but when you call a capitalist out on it they get real uncomfortable and quickly show you the door.

[@Bourikii2992]

Meritocracy doesn't mean you slave away at the same job for decades. Lmao if one job doesn't value you, there are plenty of others hiring for more pay.

[@garygrinkevich6971]

@@Bourikii2992 forming a labor union USED to be a way to bargain collectively so individual didn't have to keep quiting jobs and restarting careers, which (I'm told by elders) lead to better products, services, happier employees, and more valuable companies. These days you have to own your own business and do every role of you want that security and you'll still be competing for every dollar against outsourcing corporate greed but that is so much better than punching a time clock and interviewing for the next read end job imo.

[@Bourikii2992]

@@garygrinkevich6971 Quiting isn't restarting your career automatically lmao. You don't quit to make less you quit to make more. Unions still exist lol.

[@garygrinkevich6971]

​@@Bourikii2992 people quit jobs for many reasons upward mobility can be - but isn't usually one - of them according to all quantifiable metrics like home ownership, birthrate, income, savings, and investments all of which have decreased over the past 50 years along with average union membership. All while the workforce has actually grown in size, skill, work hours, education (every quantifiable metric). Unions still exist but have been gutted through anti union practices, worker propaganda, and the private managerial class committed to serving capital interests.

[@Bourikii2992]

@@garygrinkevich6971 Nice job trying to use statistical lies lmao. Birthrates always go down in richer countries, you don't need 18 kids helping on the farm or in the factory in the US. Yes home ownership is down... By 2% and it's still been in the 60% margin for nearly 100 years. Yes median income is down... We just had a pandemic in which all the earth's governments promptly fucked their economies, it's still higher than it was from 1990 all the way to 2017 so nope wrong again. Personal savings is down, down from the highest point it had ever been by an extreme margin 2020-2021 was the highest personal savings had been ever in the US. Yes investment % of gdp is down... 0.6%.

[@diegowushu]

I'm always mystified by people who firmly believe meritocracy is real that are not at the same time in favor of abolishing inheritance and every non-public education institution where everyone has to go, among other equalizing measures. I can't decide if they're actually dumb or disingenuous.

[@virtualalias]

I don't understand? Why would these be mutually exclusive? The playing field should be balanced and equal. Those that generate the most value are still going to succeed and those that don't aren't. If we lived in a 5 person village and villager A is an expert fisherman and villager C is a crap fisherman + the village enjoys eating fish... You can give both of these villagers a fishing pole, a boat and a sailing education; one of them is still going to do better than the other.

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

@@bradhicks4057 I think we should combine the 2.

[@Kh79797]

@@virtualaliasthat’s just false equivalence. Some people being more talented isn’t the same as some people being born with more material and resources. A more an accurate analogy is that one is trained by the best fishermen, the other trained by underpaid public servants. One has money to fall on (thanks to their family) after a day with no fish, the other not.

[@Srijit1946]

10:33 "Instead of encouraging winners and losers, why not structure society in such a way that everyone is afforded a decent quality of life? Where life itself isn't seen as a competition, but a collaboration. Each contributing however they are able, and everyone benefiting from societal advances." That's a great way of rephrasing "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" and explaining what it means. Great video as always, comrade!

[@SecondThought]

Yep, that was the idea! Thanks!

[@mickeyg7219]

Yes, contradictory to what capitalists are telling you, for much of the behavioral human history, we live in a close-knit, collaborative society. There are even archeological evidences that during Neolithic period, the old and disabled were properly nursed with whatever knowledge they have at the time, despite their inability to contribute labor to the tribe. In some sense, we lost our ways as a human being.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@@mickeyg7219 we still very much live in a collaborative environment in modern times, it's just that the Capitalist have pushed the fetishised version of self-reliance so much that that people believe they have IRL plot armour if they work hard or have enough faith. Like people unironically believe self made billionaires are 100% that.

[@carpevinum8645]

For a long time I thought I was just inherently lazy. And thus undeserving. I was undiagnosed ADHD. I remember the first time the meds worked. Crying on the phone to my girlfriend, because I didn't know it was supposed to be that easy. I was referring to the process of getting ready for and going to bed. Something which had been a brutal mental battle every night of my life. That was my normal. For something that basic. No wonder working full time and managing uni had never worked out long term (my parents were unfortunately not in the position to support me, but in a good enough position for me not to qualify for benefits). Being a female, and presenting different to the stereotype, I even had to fight for the psychiatric referral, with my psychologist supporting me, I doubt my then GP would have given it to me. And I have A LOT of privilege in many ways. A lot of not too. But my heart genuinely goes out to everyone undiagnosed, especially those without the means to get one. If only to understand that they are not crazy, or lazy. Their brain just works different to how they've been told it does. They're not alone. It can be okay. And not that f***ing hard.

[@frennauta]

Describing your own case of privilege and hard work in the grand scheme of capitalism was really impressive and a very humbling move. Respect, man.

[@charlesrichard7715]

That feeling when you refresh and new content is uploaded 6 seconds ago.

[@PaleGhost69]

#NoLifeSquad

[@spoon7543]

@@PaleGhost69 sheesh

[@MP-ut6eb]

@@PaleGhost69 😂

[@TheDanaYiShow]

"Where life is not a competition but a collaboration" damn that was good

[@jacobodom8401]

@@thomasmaughan4798 agreed - it’s not one or the other, it’s both

[@byotec]

As usual commenting for the algorithm but while I'm here I would like to say that my mom is a nurse who is paid 9 dollars an hour who grew up as a straight a student in a working class family. The us was never meritocratic

[@thabokgwele5268]

Damn

[@andrewliu8048]

For the algorithm

[@jacksmith-vs4ct]

Wait what my aunt was a nurse in the deep south and made like 15 an hour like 20 years ago. I think see needs to move to a different place

[@cakeisyummy5755]

For the Algoritham!

[@xmlthegreat]

@@jacksmith-vs4ct who's gonna pay the aunt's bills to move? There's a reason that you can tell a person's earnings by zipcode.

[@17raysplays29]

The idea of America being a Meritocracy never entered my mind before now.

[@demon_xd_]

Well, for a good reason, *it’s called the american dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it*

[@jetzdream]

"My parents paid for the rest of my school and took 90% of my debts" ngl I audibly gasped

[@Saraseeksthompson0211]

I took all advanced classes in middle and high school, was in the top 3% of my school upon graduating, the top 1% in the state of California, graduated with a 4.8 GPA, and didn't get anything despite applying to every educational scholarship under the sun. I finally got one for music, due to being in choir, but still couldn't afford to go to school. I was even invited to visit the White House with a group of 12 students from around the nation when I was in middle school, but we couldn't afford it, and the fundraising options weren't available in a town as small and as poor as mine. Although I did a sport, because I wasn't in student council, and hadn't done x hours of volunteer work (due to having to actually work to buy food) I didn't get anything in terms of an educational scholarship. However, 7 kids I know, whose parents were rich, got "educational" scholarships, even though their GPA's were below a 4.0, and many were below a 3.5, and they'd taken the easiest classes they could, and were years behind me in math and every other subject. School never came easy to me, as I have ADHD,OCD, and am autistic, dyslexic, and have multiple vision and hearing disabilities due to genetic illnesses. Just sitting through the school day was difficult for me, yet I worked so hard and got absolutely nothing. The kids who were accepted into universities, had worse grades than me, and didn't even write an essay for their application. They were accepted because their parents were alumni, or (and I genuinely believe this), because colleges evaluate a student's parents' income, so they only want people who can pay cash on the spot. Student loans also pull from your parents' income, so if they don't make enough, you can't get loans that universities will accept, and just getting loans for a Junior college was extremely difficult. I decided to skip college, even though it'd been my dream to have a master's degree by the time I was 22. I tried years later, hated it, decided to skip it all, struggled in poverty, working my butt off for 10 years, before I finally got hired by a company that took chances, and hired me for $20,000 more than I had been making at my previous job. All of the staff were not qualified for the positions we got, but they wanted us for our personalities. I'm exceptionally lucky, as now I have an opportunity to afford to take a test to get certified in one year's time (it's $3000 just to test) and can actually apply to jobs in the 90-100k region, and finally get better opportunities. In 3-4 years, I can apply for jobs in the $120k - $150k range. But the debt and poverty I was in for so many years, just trying to survive and not starve, will be over my head for another 3 years, while I pay off things and build up my savings and credit. I'll be lucky to have $6000 in savings in the next year, but I doubt I'll reach it. The key thing here is - everything the middle class feeds us is bullshit meant to make their kids be friends with other well-off kids, and continue to the poverty that allows them their success in America today. Anyone who has ever actually came from nothing, knows hard work doesn't contribute to success. It's all about luck, and someone else using you as their puppet to get what they want. Their is no american dream - the reality is capitalism is the same as the monarchy or aristocracy, with a different name and disguise.

[@suicune2001]

What about MAP or PEL grants? Didn't you qualify for any of those? Especially since you have disabilities. Where was DARS in your state? Mine helped pay for whatever the MAP an PEL grants didn't cover.

[@epiphanyperry1877]

Well Said!!!

[@BillHawkins0318]

Brother you are literally saving the world one video at a time. You knocked it out of the park with this one. Your presentation of complex topics In an easy to understand format; is absolutely Flawless.

[@SecondThought]

Wow, thanks so much! That really means a lot.

[@luc6284]

The earth is rich enough to sustain a modest living for every person alive!

[@toppersundquist]

There was a study put out recently, that showed how, if ALL wealth was distributed equally, how much the average person's wealth would change. In a lot of countries, it went up by like 7x, 10x, 20x. Even in America, the average person's wealth would go up like 1.15x. I live in one of the few countries where the average wealth would go down, and as far as I can tell I'm above average in this country. And I am 100% in favor of doing this, because holy hell, I'd much rather live in a world where everyone had everything they need to thrive.

[@whydoievenbothertoputthish2199]

Your milage may vary

[@arttukettunen5757]

With money alone, eh but with all the assets and things earth has, absolutely.

[@garygrinkevich6971]

@@toppersundquist Shit Cray Yo!

[@alecrochon3531]

@@toppersundquist I love that

[@LenaMel]

Its worth noting that the book that coined the word "Meritocracy" was both satirical and dystopian. It wasn't supposed to be a good idea, and its inherently eugenicist.

[@jensbrandt7207]

What is the name of the book?

[@toxicedge8308]

@@jensbrandt7207 Rise of The Meritocracy by Michael Young

[@jensbrandt7207]

@@toxicedge8308 Thanks!

[@Bourikii2992]

Kind of like the guy who coined gender and gender theory was a pedophile murderer with Nazi level of sick experiments?

[@rubixtheslime]

I've hated the notion of meritocracy ever since high school. My family was middle class, I spent upwards of 105 hours per week on my studies, and the vast majority of my school would say that I was the smartest person in my class. With all of that, under proper meritocracy it would be a guarantee that I get perfect marks, a 4.0 GPA. But I suffer from autism and severe ADHD, so nearly killing myself in the name of doing my absolute best got me a 3.1 GPA. Good, but not good enough. Hard work didn't give me opportunity, it gave me depression. There were countless times I considered suicide and the only thing stopping me was having no energy left. In my senior year, I all but gave up on my studies and it gave me time to learn useful skills and even become an eagle scout. Unfortunately, this trend continued into college. A large part of it is being in a classroom and working on homework just instantly reminds me of high school and I have to start fighting back thoughts of suicide again. At this point I struggle to finish a semester taking a mere 2 classes, and most often need to drop out and pray that my mental health will be better the next time I can afford college again. In the end, the biggest lesson I learned from high school is that society is corrupt AF and the biggest determiner of success is luck. And because I was unlucky, I am not wanted by society.

[@ixorix]

Stay strong man, I hope things will improve for you one way or another - I'm in a similar situation of stunted potential but with different factors, it's really awful to be held back by things out of your control

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@@ANDROLOMA damn.

[@slap_my_hand]

The idea that only the top achievers in a society deserve to live a comfortable life is downright appalling. Meritocracy is just a euphemism for "rat race".

[@phillemon7664]

@@czaralexander5156 except it should be about justice if you really care about your fellow man. Do you care about others or are you just trying to act tough? What if I your loved ones just went bankrupt one day and lost their homes and means of eating/safe living? Do you think it fair for them to arbitrarily be unable to live just because of one miss step? Of course not, you want to see them survive like any other human with empathy would.

[@phillemon7664]

Meritocracy is a purely Social Darwinist system and would only decrease the quality of living in the world as everyone would just be reduced to animals struggling to survive, trampling over those they once called their friends in the name of success. That system would only cause pain and strife and make people forget the importance of being socially competent as a Meritocracy would reward Psychopathy at it’s very core.

[@yo_tengo_una_boca6764]

I agree with your comment but not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting an account with a TF2 reference to be saying this lol

[@XMysticHerox]

@@czaralexander5156 We decide what life is about. All of these issues are human made. Why the fuck should society *not* be just? Why the fuck should we not strive to make it more just? Yes life is not fair right now. So lets *change* it.

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@InternetMameluq I always thought technocracy, aristocracy and meritocracy could be used interchangeably but for instance some people use aristocracy to mean either nobility (which doesn't necessarily imply "merit" at all) or a plutocratic elite (which again, doesn't imply merit either).

[@chengkuoklee5734]

Trevor Noah once said his success was owe to Jon Steward. He said there was a limit how far hardworking can go. Without connection like Jon Steward open a door for him, he won't ended up as Daily Show Host.

[@behr121002]

Casting no dispersions on Trevor Noah, certainly a talent in his own right, but he's honest and makes the point well.

[@yt_nh9347]

Well that is in the realm of entertainment where its all bullshit anyways. You can always work hard towards being a doctor or engineer which is based of skills and knowledge rather than nepotism

[@WorldGovernmentGeoInstitut]

@@yt_nh9347 Not everyone wants to work at STEM, you know, there are many professions that would probably be considered bullshit by STEM professionals like Journalism, Political Science or Sociology but they're definitely needed just as much. A good journalist for instance is one that actually has integrity, they can become corporate talking heads and get uber rich but lose integrity, therein lies a contradiction between success and money.

[@Blankusername_01]

These videos have been an absolute godsend. The pandemic and the George Floyd protests radicalized me, and now these videos are only advancing that process. Mostly commenting for the algorithm, but I just want to say well done. Keep up the great work!

[@choronos]

Same here. I was a vaguely conservative liberal until the 2016 election and the subsequent events leading up until now morphed me into an anarcho-socialist. That's who I am at heart anyway. In practical terms I favor more of a democractic socialism, because I consider more and better social safety nets the logical first step towards building a better society- and anarchy is not a realistic short term goal by any means. Here are some channels that have helped me in my growth as a leftist, I hope you find them as useful as I have: -Some More News -Shaun -Three Arrows -Beau of the Fifth Column -Thought Slime -Folding Ideas -Philosophy Tube -Hbomberguy

[@xmlthegreat]

@@choronos lmao that is literally my subscriptions list (go check lol)

[@ah_libra]

@@choronos I will check these youtubers out. Thank you!

[@jonathanm9436]

Agree. But: "there is no difference in intelligence in young children" - really? "socio-economic is the prime detriment of future success." Likely, but not without both luck, intelligence and diligence - see "Outliers" by Gladwell.

[@arnegeybels3860]

“The notion that “the best and the brightest” are better at governing than their less-credentialed fellow citizens is a myth born of meritocratic hubris.” -Michael Sandel

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Who is that loser?

[@AndrewManook]

The US is a democracy so yeah...

[@harrycooper5231]

And then America ended up with Trump as leader, a moron who suggested injecting household disinfectants as a cure for covid.

[@mehdihassan8316]

Meritocracy traps entire generations inside demeaning fears and inauthentic ambitions.

[@christopherjohnson9167]

then stop being scared, believe in yourself! you can accomplish your dreams, all you need is a long term plan, commit to it, seek out all the knowledge you can find online and in school, and work your ass off. Don't chase inauthentic ambitions, look deep into your heart of what you are truly passionate about, and go for it 110%!! This is the public school system failing to teach us how to pursue our dreams, capitalism isn't to blame.

[@sterlingmorse5409]

@@christopherjohnson9167 Ok Lib

[@christopherjohnson9167]

@@sterlingmorse5409 try centrist, ya filthy commie

[@banoko]

@@christopherjohnson9167 emotions, passion and dreams won't give you a living wage

[@tsar7761]

@@christopherjohnson9167 I don't believe in myself.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

If by Meritocracy you mean people with Money, Power, & Influence, cut to the head of line on Everything from College to Vaccines. Then Yes.😒

[@eianfederle2715]

Meritocracy is the government by people of ability and skill instead of social wealth and class.

[@mikolowiskamikolowiska4993]

@@eianfederle2715 govt is a function wealth and class

[@TheWinterscoming]

Look at this engagement! I am engaged with this content! So soon too!

[@SecondThought]

We love engagement, don’t we folks?

[@alexsmith2910]

@@SecondThought We do!!!

[@ColbyWanShinobi]

You: “Why don’t you setup a way of life that gives everyone a chance!” Capitalists: 🤣😂💀

[@DaughterofDiogenes]

I am someone who had intelligence and hard work ethic, but came from poverty. My entire life has been nothing but struggle and watching opportunities I worked so hard to get handed over to someone else. Now I have 90k in student loan debt, ballooned from 30k over the years with no/underemployment. The only reason I’m not in poverty now is because I was able to marry into the “middle class”. It’s crazy!

[@thegoodsmaster]

"m in meritocracy is MONEY"- Mr Krabs

[@张桓瑜]

No Patrik, the United States is not a meritocracy.

[@Connor-rk8ei]

Part of the reason I am on the left is realizing that I've had it easy. Best school district in town, college paid for, etc. Allowed me to buy a house in my mid 20's. I'll bet a lot of folks who grew up on the other side of town didn't have the same chances I did.

[@geraldford878]

Sounds like guilt. Your empathy is admirable, and you will surely get a lot of praise from your lefist peers. Here's a story you can relate to: A rich and a poor fisherman are at a pier. The rich man has caught hundreds of fish, enough to feed a hundred families. The poor fisherman has caught barely enough to feed his family, but no more than that. You furiously charge the pier and push the rich man aside. You tell him he can't fish here anymore, and you turn proudly to the poor man to give him the abandoned equipment, the live bait, and most importantly the special fishing hole that the rich man was monopolizing. The poor man shakes his head in wonder. "Why do you give me all these gifts I have no love for. Knowledge is the greatest gift you can give anyone and I already know how to fish. What do you have to teach me? How to steal? But...you are not so bad because you did save that rich man. I come here every day and that guy never went home. He was going to fish here until the day he died until you chased him away."

[@brandonwombacher2559]

Not that many I assume

[@juliangarcia46]

Thanks for the content Second Thought. You have changed at least one apathetic person who doesn't think they have power to see what they can do. I could have gone one of two ways. Angry and empathetic or angry and yearning for a dictator. Thank you sincerely.

[@potusforus9331]

MERITOCRACY for me means building a society where every human has intrinsic value. The hempresolution on facebook illustrates this point well, friend. 🌍✌🏼👆🏼🌍♻️🙏🏼

[@honeybellebuzlucay5867]

To all the people who think The Bell Curve is an honest study, I highly recommend watching Shaun's video on it!

[@windyvidz4434]

I love how @SecondThought makes zero effort to hide any of his privilege, and acknowledge where we have it good (Living a more humble/sustainable life is the direction we should be moving in though.) Being a socialist isn't about lowering your own status to the poor. It's about empowering and raising the poor out of their conditions. Love the content! God bless ya

[@SecondThought]

Thanks! Everyone has a role to play.

[@behr121002]

Well said.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Empowering and raising up the poor HOW?

[@windyvidz4434]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 Redistribution of wealth with a heavy focus of improving social safety nets. If the very few didn't live so beyond their needs, there would be more than enough resources for everyone so nobody has to suffer.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

@@windyvidz4434 WHICH social safety nets? And the rich do NOT lives beyond their MEANS. Did you mean NEEDS? WHICH resources? How are they suffering?

[@martinfischermann6194]

Meritocracy and inheritance are incompatible

[@lyokianhitchhiker]

I guess the logic is that not gaming the system means you have merit.

[@PGGraham]

Loved this on Nebula, and I've already shared this on Facebook. Wealth and luck. Those are the real indicators...

[@SecondThought]

Thanks so much for your support!

[@gfy2979]

It's not just unequal footing etc. but people who couldn't care less, don't even bother to do the simplest tasks in their work, and have no talent, skills, or passion are actually promoted in society to things like management positions. We almost live in the opposite of meritocracy.

[@xsellepoch9954]

Quick thing but I just wanted to point out that if things like “talent” and “natural intelligence” play a role in whether people succeed or not, that alone already disproves the concept of a meritocracy. You don’t need to say anything more past that.

[@mickeyg7219]

Kids from rich family can start a business, failed (and they often do), they can just wait for a while before their parents give them another million to try again. However, for most people, if they can afford to start a business at all, if they failed, it usually means they'll remain poor for the rest of their life. And another thing, telling people to go "start a business" to get rich is just a way of telling people that you either have to exploit other people or become exploited. This is how many working-class Americans, some are small business owners, are working against their interests just simply because they think they're going to become a billionaire one day, a chance no better than winning a lottery. There are studies that indicated that senior positions in business are 3-4 times more likely to be a psychopath (Robert D. Hare, criminal psychologist), and could be as high as 10% in other studies (2011 Australian study).

[@Tybaltus]

this is so true. I take the time to get to know small business owners before I support them, met so many people who came from affluent families and most of the time thats one of multiple businesses they own. Your comment is spot on!

[@discoplatypusplayz3389]

I have recently made efforts to expose myself to more conservative media. My reasons for doing so boil down to concern at potentially inhabiting an echo chamber. The downside to this is that I am repeatedly exposed to arguments for eugenics. In regards to this video's topic specifically, the idea that "lesser" human beings should be sterilized in order to make for a more intelligent society. Aside from the fact that this "lesser" includes the most hardworking people in the United States because of anti-immigrant bias, and the fact that the economy would be destroyed within a generation without the means to enact automation, I am utterly shocked that these kinds of ideas are genuinely posited by the right.

[@alexsmith2910]

I appreciate your desire to not live in a bubble. But you are not the first to see the right is a massive lie. They are driven SOLELY by a fear of change. Every fear based off of that is still fearmongering at it's core.

[@behr121002]

I definitely see and accept your point about not wanting to get trapped in an echo chamber--a very commendable trait, and something of which the right could use a HUGE dose. However, assuming one always tries to keep and open mind and reassess, (even if the ideas and thoughts expressed in that echo chamber tend to fundamentally correct, demonstrably factual and truthful), I don't feel that one needs to go to great lengths to search out counterbalance or comparison to one's clearly more positive world view, particularly when the opposing ideas are clearly so bad for individuals and society, not to mention environment and planet, both short and long term. I recognize one doesn't want to entrench oneself in a closed loop of rhetoric and periodically 'poke your head out' for ideological tripping points and updates, it shouldn't take too much to see the ever-present, never changing negative entrenchments of certain ideologies, particularly when it comes to the right-wing/conservatives.

[@ludicrousreality0]

why is eu genics bad?

[@alexanderwalden376]

Happy to be a patron, knowing that I’m sponsoring great content like this!

[@SecondThought]

Thank you so much for your support! It really helps!

[@Tybaltus]

as soon as I can afford to be a patron, this is where my extra dollars are going.

[@gunjfur8633]

Now Im just wondering how many ACTUAL "rags to riches" stories there are in real life

[@demon_xd_]

Most of them are actually “ *Rags with rich parents* to *Rags fighting over inheritance* to *rags with a massive inheritence* to *riches* “ stories

[@inaperfectworld8087]

I bet it is a very , very small number.

[@nathanielhellerstein5871]

The UK has more social mobility than the USA.

[@Megacooltommydee]

Not much, which is why the few that do escape poverty are elevated by the media to serve as examples, despite being the exception, not the norm.

[@ALNYTheGreatScientist]

People who think only talent and hard work are enough for success are blinded by survivorship bias.

[@kenwal]

This is the problem that many Americans have they cant understand how their situation has helped them get through life while someone else situation that is less fortunate makes it alot harder.great vide!

[@UniquelyUnseen]

As someone who grew up in a "rich" part of the East Coast with a lot of wealth inequality, something I've noticed is the fact that some groups of immigrants (largely from Canada, EU, Asia) will disregard the basic facts of life here for those not born into wealth. Being from the northeast, I was constantly asked how many supercars my family owned without a hint of irony, when I grew up in an old factory town. Many people who come from a non-STEM background (& some that do, mostly South Asians) have an insane difficulty actually attaining permanent status to reside here. There's money to be made, but not for the majority and the chorus of "LeArN HoW tO CoDE" screams of people so enthralled in tech they can't understand basic political/social concepts. If you are able to immigrate to the United States, chances are you are insulated from the poverty and lack of mobility experienced by most Americans. Meritocracy only exists as a fiction for these people.

[@PurpleLemurs]

I’m from a well off background, as well. It’s taken a lot of deprogramming, even though my parents are liberal. I’m scared to support myself on my own. I know I don’t work nearly as hard as my friends who aren’t as wealthy and I do feel guilty about it. Basically I’m upper middle class and I went to a public high school that was mostly lower middle, working class, or even below that, so I’ve always been painfully aware of my wealth. Your channel really helps and it’s nice to know we come from similar backgrounds and have the same thoughts on capitalism.

[@robbiealderton1361]

What I learned from this video is that if my millionaire parents don't pay for my college that I am screwed in this day and age. Kinda sad that's how it works

[@amboo1003]

Your story sounds exactly like mine. My parents started out lower middle class/poor when I was born, but my dad was plucked out of the blue for a great job and we are now upper middle class and very comfortable. I coasted through high school with a 3.75 GPA, didn't do well my first couple years of college, took a break and lost my scholarship, and now have $16,000 in student debt (from one of the cheaper colleges in the state) that has only stopped climbing because I got married and started receiving Pell Grants (set to graduate in the fall). It is impossible to talk to my dad about socialism. He feels that since he made it without a college degree, anyone can. A lot resonated with me in this video. Thank you.

[@张桓瑜]

Meritocracy only works when everyone has equal opportunities to excel.

[@phillemon7664]

And a safety net as to not to kill the untalented/weak

[@missk1697]

@@phillemon7664 talent is a capitalist invention, much like the divine right of kings

[@prime_optimus]

@@missk1697 "Why are you a better painter than me? Must be because of those damn capitalists."

[@bj0rnen]

I’m still salty about the time I played monopoly for the first time and was winning but then lost because my friends lied about the rules to screw me over

[@bucketslash11]

"meritocracy" was coined by a UK Labour politician in a book written about a dystopia

[@raskolnikov8644]

name of the book? sounds interesting

[@bucketslash11]

@@raskolnikov8644 literally that "meritocracy"

[@张桓瑜]

Before or after Blair fucked up the party?

[@chafiqbantla1816]

Watch the show on netflix "3%" they show the struggles of a real meritocracy

[@bucketslash11]

@@张桓瑜 before, it was in the 70s i believe

[@MaddieFishblob]

I do still think there are many aspects of meritocracy tho. Yes ppl are born at different starting places, different SES, natural intelligence, etc, but *if you compare yourself to yourself,* what you choose to do/not to do has a massive impact on where ur life currently is relative to where it could be. So all in all, hard work isn’t futile. No matter how hard I work, I might never be as successful as a rich CEO’s kid, but I’ll be wayyy more successful than the version of myself that never took action.

[@SpoonLady]

I was also adopted, and can completely relate with you there. Thanks for the brief glimpse into your life - :)

[@florida12341000]

My family is pretty poor. I was raised in a trailer growing up but now im over here making a shit ton of money but still to this day i recognize that I was and am incredibly lucky. I did work hard and had a nack for technology but at the end of the day I got very lucky with my grandparents supporting me, with randomly stumbling into fields, with having someone to fall back on if i fail.

[@dos4gwexe]

I remember the study at 2:00 being covered in an old Radiolab podcast ep. There was a funny moment where they point out that the advantaged players would even make more noise when they moved their piece around and they had audio from it, where the winning player was just slamming his piece on the board as it went around

[@moxi_floxi]

Another part of it (in my personal experience) with applying for jobs is how you present yourself and "who you know." Depending on your educational background and specific circumstances, sometimes having a solid resume/CV or cover letter matters more than your actual skills in even just getting an interview, or who your letters of recommendation came from (i.e someone who's reputable). Hiring practices in the context of a meritocracy are very complicated and I'm obviously oversimplifying, but navigating the job market can be very challenging without the resources or know-how to present oneself as a strong applicant, which goes back to socioeconomic disparities.

[@johnwalker1058]

Sadly, a bit of nuance like this lovely explanation of one of the difficulties of navigating job searches is something that seems lost on the people who look at someone struggling with employment and simply say "well, just get a job!" or "well, just apply harder!"

[@idlenaut_]

Similar to what he says in the video, here is my privilege: I coasted by in high school as well and graduated with decent grades, I then went to college and for 3 semesters my GPA was a 3.8. I then switched universities and went through a difficult time in my life where I was dealing with depression and alcohol abuse. I stopped going to class, started failing classes, and eventually it got so bad that my school told me they would no longer accept any financial aid on my behalf. My parents were very much working class, and could not afford to pay for my education with their own income. This led to me being forced out of college and having to go directly into the workforce with no degree and with college debt. I have since achieved a stable and decent-paying job, a good credit score, a marriage, and a house of my own after many years of exhaustingly difficult work. But here is the thing, if I wasn't a white man from the suburbs of southeastern Pennsylvania, I am pretty sure I never would have been able to pull myself out of that pit to achieve financial stability and a good standard of living. I know meritocracy is a myth through my own personal life experiences, just like Second Thought.

[@epiphanyperry1877]

Thanks for sharing and for your honesty. I truly wish more people like you would speak up. My upbringing and story is vary similar to yours, except I'm a black woman and my mother was a widow. After dropping out of college I struggled to find work. When I did get hired I was expected to be exemplary just to keep my job. I worked extremely hard, passed all licensing exams required for advancement and still didn't receive pay increases to bring my earnings uo to the norm. It took me years to earn what others (also no degree but white and or male) earned. I watched coworkers from wealthy families use all paid vacation and still call out, screw up weekly, mediocre work whenever they showed up. They didn't have any of the licenses I passed yet made more, were promoted, and rarely contributed. Whenever there were layoffs, they kept their jobs while we were let go. Then I struggled for 5 years to get back to 75% of that former income I'd worked so hard to achieve. Either I couldn't get hired without a degree or I was told you're over qualified. Finally in my new job there was no formal training and I had to struggle to learn complex coding on my own while the white new hires were taught every step of a process. I endured all of that whilst working with people who claimed racism didn't exist.

[@idlenaut_]

@@epiphanyperry1877 And thank you for sharing your truth as both a woman and a POC - one that is far too often overlooked and ignored, but that affects far too many people simply because they didn't win the birth lottery. I'm sorry to hear of all the unfair challenges and setbacks you've had to overcome just to earn less than others who were less hardworking, due to the bigoted ideology that's woven into the fabric of our society. I hope some day (optimistically, during our lifetime) we can break down these discriminatory and disenfranchising systems and social norms, and radically rebuild this country to finally meet the needs of everyone and not just a privileged few. You should feel very proud of yourself and your tenacity to try and thrive in a society that was built to exploit you and then ignore the impact it has on you. I wish you all the best, and I sincerely appreciate your openness to share your experiences.

[@Cosmosisification]

The real astounding part of the study is how they got 80 people to sit down and play monopoly

[@canyouguesswhatami8301]

Always so stoked when Second Thought uploads! Such a great and thought-provoking video. Keep it up!

[@SecondThought]

Thanks so much!

[@artichokethejoke1563]

Can't wait to watch, I'll have to take a minute though

[@thatyoutubechannel9953]

It's been 15 now

[@CF4herty]

"I am Gene Roddenberry , and I endorse this Message!" I think the Star Trek founder and the Society he envisioned therein would support your message!

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

The economy makes no sense in 'Star Trek.'

[@starwall8755]

I absolutely love these videos, they're so much more easily digestible than a lot of other explicitly political content. It's plainly spoken with illustrative examples, exactly how teaching should be.

[@TheDudeManBro]

It's very clear that my mom very much does not want a janitor where they work to earn as much as them even though these guys are literally doing all the work making sure the place looks presentable at all times for the customers and making sure their bathrooms are clean. And the reason is constantly "I went to college, he didn't. I worked hard, he didn't and he got where he is." and that's only an assumption because they don't want to talk to them because they feel more important thanks to the hierarchy in their job that eventually went bankrupt.

[@ConMan4]

Wow! I didn’t realize you had 2 adopted sisters, that’s awesome!

[@slowmoe1686]

Also did not realize he was adopted, that's cool.

[@70good91]

@@slowmoe1686 I think only his sisters were adopted. It is very rare for chinese males to have been adopted. Chinese don't wanna give em away, Americans don't want em. Just my observations over the years

[@slowmoe1686]

@@70good91 I think he said he was also adopted, from somewhere else,, though he is white or somwhere around there I think

[@toppersundquist]

Took a lot of words to say "no", but I appreciate the thoroughness.

[@jasonmatthews52]

This reminds me of that one scene on a show called Little Fires Everywhere. "You didn't make good choices, you HAD good choices. Options that being rich, white, and entitled gave you!" - Mia

[@stayelusive]

The concept of meritocracy also poisons social circles, people overly value talent and intelligence and other signifiers of superiority when seeking out friendships, so people who outwardly lack these things fade out of existence. This leads to people wearing their achievements on their sleeves and boasting on social media so they wont be forgotten.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

😂 The excuses some people come up with to defend their mediocrity!

[@jackbaxter2223]

Yet another thought-provoking video. I had similar problems in college (and the later years of high school), where I was so used to coasting through on natural smarts that when I actually needed to put time and effort into studying, I was too lazy to do it and my grades suffered horribly. I ended up dropping out of university, and I admit my ego suffered quite a hit for it.

[@mush1e979]

A comment for the algorithm and to remind myself to save this for whenever a libertarian or AnCap tells me billionaire wealth is deserved. God speed second thought!

[@SecondThought]

🙏

[@idrathernot_2]

I've met or known quite a few millionaires who busted their ass to get where they are, with years of development. I've never heard of a billionaire that didn't inherit their wealth, or just be the luckiest son of a bitch who proceeds to ride an entire stable of such hard-working motivated men to the top.

[@christopherjohnson9167]

Sometimes it is sometimes it isn't, you really have to judge the person on an individual basis.

[@mush1e979]

@@idrathernot_2 Ohyeah, I agree with you 100%. Some millionaire make it there off of actual hard work. But being a billionaire is mathematically impossible to be off of hard work. To put into perspective for anyone else, a million seconds is 11.5 days, a billion seconds is 32 YEARS. So theres no way somone could ethically earn a billion dollars.

[@idrathernot_2]

@@mush1e979 pretty much. CEO pay being magnitudes higher than even the skilled tradesman in-house shows how at some point you go from being a successful business person to a government sponsored Ponzi scheme sort of arrangement. Bonus points for how these people at the top are the ones selling the bootstraps. Should start outsourcing three letter jobs, see how they like it. I might be the most right flavored poster on this channel, which shows how busted the system really is that I come here to meet people in the middle.

[@tricksonafixed]

This is a concept I’ve tried to explain to some of my more privileged friends to either silence or outright denial and obfuscation of reality. It’s a real shame because I never deny the necessity of hard work and personal responsibility, but when everything is so stacked against you it can be discouraging. I’m no longer choosing to submit myself to the grind of American greed and dissolution.

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

What is your solution?

[@tricksonafixed]

@@marlonmoncrieffe0728 A solution to what?

[@christyburk6006]

America in a nutshell: 10 players sit down to a Monopoly game board. We hand 3 players $10, 3 players $1, 3 players 0.5 cents and 1 player the entire remaining bank. Then we all act shocked that the player with the bank in hand wins the game, and post dozens of critique thought pieces on how he's an unqualified genius and self-made man. We raise rents to $25 on the $10 players, force the $1 players into 12 hour days for another $1 and let the .05 cent players starve in the streets while claiming how lazy they are.

[@codacreator6162]

This is a great video. You remind me of the Johnson & Johnson heir who started making films about legacy wealth and confronting his family members about their belief in this artificial social order. It is utterly astounding, but they honestly believe they deserve it. From my own experience, I once worked for the "other" Johnson family. To say it was a lesson in dysfunctional delusion would be a gross understatement. As little as one generation back you can see a dramatic shift in attitude that still held a great deal of gratitude for their wealth and endeavored to "give back" in meaningful and substantial ways. Fast forward through the Reagan era and that attitude is all but gone. They're so freakin' clueless that it's difficult to believe they're from the same family.

[@oldlantern4754]

as a disabled person who genuinely does not have the spoons required to succeed in a meritocracy, I love you. I have to take breaks from watching ur videos because I agree with them so much. It would be so easy for you to slowly lead me into some conspiracy theory. So far it seems good tho so keep at it 🤙