3 ms·
Luck was not mentioned to diminish what the person has accomplished. It was intended to point out that their story may be difficult to replicate.
by II2II 6y ago
Luck was not mentioned to diminish what the person has accomplished. It was intended to point out that their story may be difficult to replicate.
- old_fart_dev 6y agoRe-read the objected to line: "I made it and you can too." Note that I emphasized "can" in that quote. "Can", not "will". This isn't a guarantee by throwaway-0987, it's words of encouragement to try. On a forum that celebrates startup moonshots, I find it odd that anyone would piss on the idea that trying is worth while.
- KittenInABox 6y agoI genuinely don't know if even "can" is applicable to allpoor people in this context. A person who has a similar background but ended up with a chronic illness preventing them from working... that dream of working for 200k/yr is impossible.
- tobib 6y agoWe're not even talking about "that dream of working for 200k/yr" but the dream of living a decent life
- KittenInABox 6y agoYeah I think it's still nearly impossible if you're too disabled to work. You can't even get married without losing what meager benefits you have.
- old_fart_dev 6y agoDo you watch Tasty videos on Facebook with their two hands and three ingredients and four steps and think "What useless advice - what about people with no hands! How dare suggest they can make bakeless chocolate brownies!" I think the "can" is applicable here and can think that even while acknowledging there are people who can't physically work. I don't want to put words in your mouth, so I'll ask: is this the only reason you object to using the word "can"? What would be more accurate in your view?
- II2II 6y agoPersonally, I doubt that luck plays a major role. The bothersome part is that some people seem to assume that success is replicable if you follow some sort of recipe. The thing is, socioeconomic status affects our outlook. It doesn't matter if you're poor, rich, or somewhere inbetween. A simple example is taking advantage of opportunities. You may be unaware that they exist, view them as being out of reach, or simply see the risk as being too high. Only one of those even imply that chance plays a role. It is also worth noting that values may play a role. Some people like to blame being poor on bad decisions. While it may be true that some decisions are bad in the sense of generating wealth, they may be good decisions in other respects. Many jobs serve have social value or serve the public good, yet are woefully under compensated. Some people will choose that path simply because they are more intersted in serving others and simply don't have the will to be selfseving.
- dionidium 6y agoI think this is backwards and the opening lines of Anna Karenina get it right. It's "bad luck" that you should look out for, but every (moderate [0]) success story sounds more or less the same. (Said yet another way, success isn't the result of good luck, but it does require the avoidance of bad luck.) [0] We're talking about routine success here, not Elon Musk. We're talking about avoiding poverty, not going to Mars.
- andi999 6y agoI also goes the other way. I see people making bad decisions which might lead to poverty.