4 ms·

The left likes credentials? The right doesn't like intergenerational transmission of income? These aren't any left or right I recognize. Who is PG thinking of?

by aaronsw 18y ago

mindslight 18y ago
That second to last paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb and should be removed, imho. 'left' and 'right' are pretty meaningless terms, their origins being the antithesis of American ideals. That paragraph says more about pg's political self-identification than anything else.
rsheridan6 18y ago
I think the idea is that leftist policies retard the shift from credentialing and large organizations to small, nimble organizations by being anti-business. Therefore, by default leftist policies stick us with credentialing. This is not a conscious goal of the left, it's just what happens. I'm sure the left would disagree with this, but that's the right-wing point of view.
jpcx01 18y ago
I can give an immediate example. The left wholeheartedly supports Teacher Unions who are fundamentally opposed to merit pay, prefering seniority and tenure.
- miked 18y ago
  And in Missouri at least, teachers' unions have made it so that any teacher, no matter how bad, can get a raise just by getting a master's degree or a PhD.
  - blasdel 18y ago
    MiT and D.Ed. degrees are almost completely worthless (even worse than MBAs) largely as a result of such programs. I had several teachers in the DC public schools who were considerably worse after getting graduate degrees. They weren't remotely clever to begin with, and having faddish pedagogy drilled into them didn't help at all.
pg 18y ago
I didn't say either of these things. I said that the left has to fall back on credentials (the wording of which implies they don't like them). And while the right may not like estate taxes, I don't think anyone on the right (unless there are any ancien regime fans left) favors the use of that wealth to buy position. At most they'd probably concede the possibility is an unfortunate consequence of not taxing people twice.
- illumen 18y ago
  Using the left/right abstraction is really silly. It's a broken, continually redefined buzzword concept that is too simple... so don't bother with it.
  - Prrometheus 18y ago
    I don't think that's true. There are certain ideologies that travel together, whose fortunes tend to wax and wane together. If you told me an ideology (say, environmentalism or unionism), then I could easily tell you whether it was on the right or left (in this case, both left). There are exceptions in practice, but to say the labels are meaningless is silly.
    - Radix 18y ago
      Meh, I disagree. There are groups that claim to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. There's no catch phrase for someone who tends toward slight conservatism, but is generally open to government intervention, though I imagine such people exist. That's at least two dimensions to consider, it seems to me we should at least have a plane. Here's one, Net Neutrality, what is that?

The left likes credentials? The right doesn't like intergenerational transmission of income? These aren't any left or right I recognize. Who is PG thinking of?

by aaronsw 18y ago

The left likes credentials? The right doesn't like intergenerational transmission of income? These aren't any left or right I recognize. Who is PG thinking of?

mindslight 18y ago

That second to last paragraph sticks out like a sore thumb and should be removed, imho. 'left' and 'right' are pretty meaningless terms, their origins being the antithesis of American ideals. That paragraph says more about pg's political self-identification than anything else.

rsheridan6 18y ago

I think the idea is that leftist policies retard the shift from credentialing and large organizations to small, nimble organizations by being anti-business. Therefore, by default leftist policies stick us with credentialing. This is not a conscious goal of the left, it's just what happens. I'm sure the left would disagree with this, but that's the right-wing point of view.

jpcx01 18y ago

I can give an immediate example. The left wholeheartedly supports Teacher Unions who are fundamentally opposed to merit pay, prefering seniority and tenure.

miked 18y ago
And in Missouri at least, teachers' unions have made it so that any teacher, no matter how bad, can get a raise just by getting a master's degree or a PhD.
- blasdel 18y ago
  MiT and D.Ed. degrees are almost completely worthless (even worse than MBAs) largely as a result of such programs. I had several teachers in the DC public schools who were considerably worse after getting graduate degrees. They weren't remotely clever to begin with, and having faddish pedagogy drilled into them didn't help at all.

pg 18y ago

I didn't say either of these things. I said that the left has to fall back on credentials (the wording of which implies they don't like them). And while the right may not like estate taxes, I don't think anyone on the right (unless there are any ancien regime fans left) favors the use of that wealth to buy position. At most they'd probably concede the possibility is an unfortunate consequence of not taxing people twice.

illumen 18y ago
Using the left/right abstraction is really silly. It's a broken, continually redefined buzzword concept that is too simple... so don't bother with it.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  I don't think that's true. There are certain ideologies that travel together, whose fortunes tend to wax and wane together. If you told me an ideology (say, environmentalism or unionism), then I could easily tell you whether it was on the right or left (in this case, both left). There are exceptions in practice, but to say the labels are meaningless is silly.
  - Radix 18y ago
    Meh, I disagree. There are groups that claim to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. There's no catch phrase for someone who tends toward slight conservatism, but is generally open to government intervention, though I imagine such people exist. That's at least two dimensions to consider, it seems to me we should at least have a plane. Here's one, Net Neutrality, what is that?