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I think this is a hard truth to accept for people of any political persuasion. A lot of right wing ideology rests on the idea that anyone can pull themselves up
by Eridrus 10y ago
I think this is a hard truth to accept for people of any political persuasion. A lot of right wing ideology rests on the idea that anyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make it.
One could see this as a rallying cry for communism "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need".
I think the left has a tacit acknowledgement that those who cannot support themselves should be supported by society.
Does the fact that a certain group is genetically predisposed to some condition mean we should discriminate against that entire group? I think the answer is obviously not.
The question of diversity gets messy if you assume that this is because everyone is equally qualified and the current state of affairs is only due to discrimination, rather than seeing it as a way to improve society-wide outcomes.
It's a messy topic since much of today's discourse is based on the idea that we are or should be equal when that is clearly not the case, but we keep the fiction going to avoid looking too closely because it is uncomfortable for everyone.
- beefman 10y ago> this is a hard truth to accept for people of any political persuasion I think it should be welcome by people of all political persuasions. To explain inequality, the Right tends to assume epidemic laziness (wanton self-destructive behavior) while the Left tends to assume epidemic racism and hatred -- neither of which is particularly nice. We can still choose whether we want equality of opportunity or equality of outcomes, but we can make that choice with compassion and have a much better shot at effective policy to support it when we acknowledge the truth.
- redsummer 10y ago> A lot of right wing ideology rests on the idea that anyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and make it. The right-wing bootstraps ideology is as absurd as the left-wing equality ideology. The Randian right-wingers don't REALLY believe you can make it anywhere, otherwise they would be happy to move to Mogadishu or Kinshasa. Or even Flint, Michagan. Just like liberal white flight (revealed preference) contradicts liberals equality dogma (stated preference).