Tangential to the balance of luck and work needed for success, whether genetics/... counts as luck or "self-" in self-made, etc. 1) Belief in luck and futility

Tangential to the balance of luck and work needed for success, whether genetics/... counts as luck or "self-" in self-made, etc. 1) Belief in luck and futility of hard work is a useless, in fact harmful belief. I can say this from personal experience of changing beliefs based on nothing more than buying into American self-help gospel for a short time. Even though in Russia, it was/is probably more likely for a rich person to be a crook, believing that hard work is therefore useless is one certain way to go nowhere. I'm happy I was actually deluded the other way ("it's only hard work") for a short time; it paid off immensely. 2) Overall (related), the developing "resentment zeitgeist" around this reminds me of the Soviet joke where the devil is giving a new hire a tour of hell. First, they come upon a pit of fire with bunch of people in it, and a burly demon nearby. "These are Americans", says the devil, "every once in a while one would try to escape; the demon would then shove him back in"... then they come upon a similar pit, with a whole squad of demons "these are [let's say] Swedes; when one of them tries to get out, all the others would try to help him, so we need a whole squad here" ... finally they come upon a pit with a frail, elderly demon napping on a chair nearby. "What about this one?" asks the new guy. "Oh, these are Soviets. Every once in a while, one of them would try to get out, but then the others would just drag him back in."