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"weak Americans fading away will be a good cultural and physical rejuvenation for the republic" Seriously? What exactly constitutes a "weak" American. Do you c

by kozd 6y ago

"weak Americans fading away will be a good cultural and physical rejuvenation for the republic" Seriously? What exactly constitutes a "weak" American. Do you consider this some inherent generic property or do you recognize the socioeconomic/environmental circumstances that greatly constrain how most of downtrodden America developed and continue to live. What do you mean by "fade away"?

xyzelement 6y ago
>> Seriously? What exactly constitutes a "weak" American ... What do you mean by "fade away"? By "weak" I mean ones with poor reading comprehension :) J/K - I think it should be clear from the previous paragraph that I am making a contrast with those who can handle perceiving and learning from failure and those who can't. On a relative level - two kids go to the same school. They get the same math homework. The first kid gets it wrong but it's told it's fine. The second kid gets it wrong too, but he's told that he got it wrong and feels bad about it but also learns to get it right. Compounded over a lifetime, person B learns and accumulated strength and capability relative to person A, with person A having relatively less wealth and power. That's what I mean by weakness and fading. Remember, kid B didn't start off with more wealth and opportunity, he was just not shielded from painful learning in the name of self esteem. >> do you recognize the socioeconomic/environmental circumstances that greatly constrain how most of downtrodden America developed and continue to live This is a different topic (I intentionally constrain my example to people who start off on the same rung) and not relevant to the point I am making. But personally - as someone who came to the US as a penny-less immigrant (as did most of my current friends and family) - I refuse to "recognize" that and in fact attribute our relative success in this country to not thinking that way.

by kozd 6y ago

xyzelement 6y ago

>> Seriously? What exactly constitutes a "weak" American ... What do you mean by "fade away"? By "weak" I mean ones with poor reading comprehension :) J/K - I think it should be clear from the previous paragraph that I am making a contrast with those who can handle perceiving and learning from failure and those who can't. On a relative level - two kids go to the same school. They get the same math homework. The first kid gets it wrong but it's told it's fine. The second kid gets it wrong too, but he's told that he got it wrong and feels bad about it but also learns to get it right. Compounded over a lifetime, person B learns and accumulated strength and capability relative to person A, with person A having relatively less wealth and power. That's what I mean by weakness and fading. Remember, kid B didn't start off with more wealth and opportunity, he was just not shielded from painful learning in the name of self esteem. >> do you recognize the socioeconomic/environmental circumstances that greatly constrain how most of downtrodden America developed and continue to live This is a different topic (I intentionally constrain my example to people who start off on the same rung) and not relevant to the point I am making. But personally - as someone who came to the US as a penny-less immigrant (as did most of my current friends and family) - I refuse to "recognize" that and in fact attribute our relative success in this country to not thinking that way.