Stand On Your Own Two Feet

[Waldo 96]

35 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Very  interesting programme on Radio 4. An American professor talking about the dark side of the meritocracy. The most salient points being that those who've made it,  believe they ve achieved it all on their own without help, when nothing could be further from the truth, and they blame those who haven't had their opportunities as failures with no one to blame but themselves.

Rang a few bells and Made a lot of sense.

Absolutely this happens, it’s a form of vanity.

[Caswall 7]

4 hours ago, Anna B said:

Very  interesting programme on Radio 4. An American professor talking about the dark side of the meritocracy. The most salient points being that those who've made it,  believe they ve achieved it all on their own without help, when nothing could be further from the truth, and they blame those who haven't had their opportunities as failures with no one to blame but themselves.

Rang a few bells and Made a lot of sense.

Opportunities don't knock on your door and appear on a plate - you search for them, identify them and work towards making them produce rewards.  The opinion of that professor - and it is his opinion only - is wrong (in my opinion).

 

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

3 minutes ago, Caswall said:

Opportunities don't knock on your door and appear on a plate - you search for them, identify them and work towards making them produce rewards.  The opinion of that professor - and it is his opinion only - is wrong (in my opinion).

 

Hmmm...

I was just about to post the exact same thing!

[Waldo 96]

I think he has a point, we tend to take full credit for any success we experience, and not attribute any portion of it to our good fortune (advantages we have, that other people don’t).

 

It’s not a level playing field, but we all have to make the most of it, no matter how much things are slanted against us.

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

1 hour ago, Waldo said:

I think he has a point, we tend to take full credit for any success we experience, and not attribute any portion of it to our good fortune (advantages we have, that other people don’t).

 

It’s not a level playing field, but we all have to make the most of it, no matter how much things are slanted against us.

Hmmm...

Probably more frustrating (to the rest of us) is the fact that many people who fail to achieve 'success' always seem to have some excuse and blame other people for their own failure...

... and they also seem  to find great pleasure in others also 'failing', which makes them feel a bit better about their own inadequacies.

[Waldo 96]

1 hour ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

Probably more frustrating (to the rest of us) is the fact that many people who fail to achieve 'success' always seem to have some excuse and blame other people for their own failure...

... and they also seem  to find great pleasure in others also 'failing', which makes them feel a bit better about their own inadequacies.

I think…

 

You always need to look to yourself and contemplate your own contribution to your failures (with a view to future improvement).

 

Understanding that some of us are more advantaged (purely as a matter of luck), doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always strive to make the most of our own lot in life, wherever we are.

 

Nor should we take full credit for our success, without being mindful of the role good fortune has played. Nor look down on others who were not successful because they were not as fortunate as ourselves (not born to wealthy family with good role models for example). 

That’s how I see it.

 

I take your point, it’s not helpful for a person to blame (for lack of success) factors outside themselves, and get bitter and despondent about that. Those factors may well contribute to failure, but you amplify their effect by paying them too much regard.

[Anna B 1,414]

14 hours ago, Caswall said:

Opportunities don't knock on your door and appear on a plate - you search for them, identify them and work towards making them produce rewards.  The opinion of that professor - and it is his opinion only - is wrong (in my opinion).

 

True, but your access to opportunities begins at birth: what sort of parents you had, were they strong and supportive roll models for instance? Were they intelligent themselves? Did they instill confidence in you from an early age? What area did you grow up in? Were you strong enough to withstand negative Peter pressure? What kind of education did you get? Good inspirational teachers, or a sink comprehensive full of disruptive elements? Did your parents have enough wherewithall to furnish you with horizon expanding life experiences? Or not. How was their health, and yours? The list goes on and on. 

Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes and aren't always about looking for them.

 

[Mr Bloke 1,445]

21 minutes ago, Anna B said:

True, but your access to opportunities begins at birth: what sort of parents you had, were they strong and supportive roll models for instance? Were they intelligent themselves? Did they instill confidence in you from an early age? What area did you grow up in? Were you strong enough to withstand negative Peter pressure? What kind of education did you get? Good inspirational teachers, or a sink comprehensive full of disruptive elements? Did your parents have enough wherewithall to furnish you with horizon expanding life experiences? Or not. How was their health, and yours? The list goes on and on. 

Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes and aren't always about looking for them.

 

Hmmm...

It doesn't matter how many opportunities you have...

... if you're too idle to get out of bed and make the most of them!

[Waldo 96]

 

[El Cid 220]

On 23/10/2021 at 12:14, Anna B said:

The point is, all things being equal, the person with money and connections will always win out in just aboout any situation. There's legislation to try and even up every group of people, black, minority groups, transgender, female/male, etc. But very little to even up rich/poor, connected/ unconnected, who have very little support.

 

Society only works because it is so diverse. Who would clean the street if everyone opened up a bank or set up a new airline?

The reallity is that Government can only try to make things fair, not make everyones parent a millionaire.

Our diverse society was working ok untill free movement was stopped, we dont have anyone that will do the awfull jobs, that involve working away from home or in the early hours.

[Anna B 1,414]

5 hours ago, Mr Bloke said:

Hmmm...

It doesn't matter how many opportunities you have...

... if you're too idle to get out of bed and make the most of them!

Strange comment

If l had a little kid who wouldn't get out of bed of a day l'd be seriously worried about his health. 

Sign of depression. If you've ever had it (and it's not just being fed up) you'd realise just how debilitating it can be. Poor housing, stress, debt - perfect recipe for depression.  

 

 

[Staunton 18]

To be clear, just seven percent of children in the UK have a privileged independent school education, and these go on to take over half of the places at Oxbridge (many other places at these, the UK's most prestigious centres of learning, are grabbed by wealthy foreign students - they are not welcoming of ordinary people who might wish to share in the educational and cultural advantages on offer, in spite of any claims to the contrary). To send a child to an independent school for one year will cost more than the average annual salary in the UK. Our children are excluded by our lack of wealth. Because we are not from that high-income privileged sector, we are not permitted to enjoy access to high-status education or the networking opportunities that come as part of the package. Our children can only hope for 'training and skills', not education and wealth.

Also, around seven percent of the population have ease of access private healthcare. The rest of us are dependent upon the NHS, that former public service now being vigorously eroded by the tories by privatisation and the associated employment techniques that mean a slow decline of skilled staff because cheaper labour is more profitable for the private contractors taking over our NHS. And these contractors are not interested in providing services, their only aim is profit.

Who are these contractors? All those tax- abusing multinationals and the in-crowd with tory connections that enjoy those 'warm' introductions. Anyone who doubts this need only cast their mind back to the PPE and test & trace scandals last year, shocking crony capitalist scams that cost the taxpayer £billions, that's public money that went to fraudulent and incompetent outsourcing companies, or who used their tory contacts to win bogus contracts, a scandal that cost thousands of lives in the UK during the pandemic.

The political project of the tories is to support this seven percent, maintain their privilege and work to further enrich the already enormously wealthy class, and to do so at the expense of everybody else. There are a few hangers on of course, who see themselves as members of this privileged minority and gather the crumbs from under the table, but around 90% of the population are exploited, forced to live a life of subservience to the few and watch our living standards erode and our childrens' schooling decline in this 'not what you know but who you know' culture of independent school, Oxford or Cambridge University and the old boy crony network that is revealed by the transcripts in my OP.

Unless you are from that privileged section of society, a vote for the tories is a vote against your own interests. Always.

There are those who will still seek to distract and confuse. Their bluster and blather is as easy to spot as Boris Johnson's. Ignore them.

These themes will never be covered in the mainstream media. Even when some elements are revealed by the BBC or the Guardian, it will be in their documentary programmes or special reports, never on the front page, never on the Six O'clock News. The dots sometimes emerge but they are never connected so that we ordinary people might get an idea of what is going on. My work here on Sheffield forum over the last ten years has been an attempt to reveal what is hidden.