4 ms·

Extremely well put. One of my favorite quotes from fiction comes from The Great Gatsby’s first page, “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me

Extremely well put. One of my favorite quotes from fiction comes from The Great Gatsby’s first page, “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had."” How dare we assume we would be who we are (good or bad / rich or poor) without the life events that exist outside of our own domain (who our parents were, education, income levels etc) of control!

js2 6y ago
FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA - I mean, my values, in terms of what I think my obligation – my personal obligation – Michelle Obama – is that it is not enough that I succeed on my own. I have to care about the kid in the desk next to me at school because he’s just as smart but his mom works. And my father always kind of taught us to take in everybody’s full story. Not to judge people, the drunk uncle or the cousin out of work... PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA – Cause you didn’t know what was happening... FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA – You didn’t know what happened to them. You know, we weren't special. And as a result, you know if something good happens to you, if you have an advantage, you don't hoard it. You share it. You reach out. You give back. And I can say that my family, my neighborhood, my notion of community growing up shaped that view and shaped the choices that I made in life as I felt your experiences shaped yours. https://spoti.fi/TMOPtranscripts https://spoti.fi/TMOPtranscripts
- mythrwy 6y ago
  While this is excellent advice for consideration of others, it changes _nothing_ for drunk uncle or out of work cousin that there are "reasons". Maybe government can help, depending (likely the underlying motive of the quote. i.e. promotion of social programs over "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" rhetoric). Or maybe government can not help but will try anyway at great expense and possibly make things worse. We have seen both scenarios. Thus I'm always personally suspicious of any ideology that regards government as a universal and infallible solution to all problems, and any ideology that regards government as perpetual failure at effectively and efficiently solving anything.
  - kergonath 6y ago
    Government is a substitute for people whose social network cannot help them in hard times. It’s not perfect and it won’t solve everything, but it’s necessary because otherwise nobody will help these people. The only way to be sure not to make any mistake is to do nothing, which itself makes things worse. Whilst drunk uncle won’t be saved by the bare minimum a state can provide, he certainly will be worse off if he ends up on the streets. And sometimes all out of work cousin needs is a bit of money to pay rent and food for a couple of months until he finds some work. So yeah, a welfare program is not a panacea but it is useful, and also cheaper overall.

js2 6y ago

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA - I mean, my values, in terms of what I think my obligation – my personal obligation – Michelle Obama – is that it is not enough that I succeed on my own. I have to care about the kid in the desk next to me at school because he’s just as smart but his mom works. And my father always kind of taught us to take in everybody’s full story. Not to judge people, the drunk uncle or the cousin out of work... PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA – Cause you didn’t know what was happening... FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA – You didn’t know what happened to them. You know, we weren't special. And as a result, you know if something good happens to you, if you have an advantage, you don't hoard it. You share it. You reach out. You give back. And I can say that my family, my neighborhood, my notion of community growing up shaped that view and shaped the choices that I made in life as I felt your experiences shaped yours. https://spoti.fi/TMOPtranscripts https://spoti.fi/TMOPtranscripts

mythrwy 6y ago
While this is excellent advice for consideration of others, it changes _nothing_ for drunk uncle or out of work cousin that there are "reasons". Maybe government can help, depending (likely the underlying motive of the quote. i.e. promotion of social programs over "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" rhetoric). Or maybe government can not help but will try anyway at great expense and possibly make things worse. We have seen both scenarios. Thus I'm always personally suspicious of any ideology that regards government as a universal and infallible solution to all problems, and any ideology that regards government as perpetual failure at effectively and efficiently solving anything.
- kergonath 6y ago
  Government is a substitute for people whose social network cannot help them in hard times. It’s not perfect and it won’t solve everything, but it’s necessary because otherwise nobody will help these people. The only way to be sure not to make any mistake is to do nothing, which itself makes things worse. Whilst drunk uncle won’t be saved by the bare minimum a state can provide, he certainly will be worse off if he ends up on the streets. And sometimes all out of work cousin needs is a bit of money to pay rent and food for a couple of months until he finds some work. So yeah, a welfare program is not a panacea but it is useful, and also cheaper overall.