Author: Toby Morris
Beware the myth of the self-made man.
this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024
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Yep! Few things are as dangerous as following someone who doesn't understand that they got lucky.
But the entire society is conditioned to do it.
We are shown celebrities before we learn to speak. All around us are those recognizable idiots who rarely have benefited humanity in any meaningful way but have very, very marketable faces. All to make us poor pay for their luxuries.
"If you wish to make ~~an apple pie~~ a man from scratch, you must first invent the universe. ~Carl Sagan
This is one of the best visualizations of this issue. I regularly think back at this comic, awesome!!
And, again, this does not negate the fact that Richard worked hard to get his degree and worked his company's ranks. It should not be about pushing down the Richards of the world, it should be about pulling up the Paulas, and strive for a world were everyone is a Richard [relating to the comic, not all white men or we would be doomed ':) ]
Careful, thinking like that will get you branded as a communist! /S
We need to make things more equitable for people.
Instead we are left with this:
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I have read many comments here about how horrible it is that the rich get everything and we need to make the opportunities equal for everyone, I think they are missing the point of the comic. At the end, Richard's view has been filtered through the things he was given as something that happens to everyone. Nobody told him that he was given privileges that Paula doesn't have access to. To him, everybody has access.
Yep, which is why over the course of history Marxism took hold of the Socialist movement, rather than previous Utopian Socialists who believed they could simply "convince people" of Socialism being better, and reality would form around that, like the Owenites.
Marx added that the ideas people have come from their Material Conditions, which is a core concept to Dialectical Materialism.
So what you are saying, in plenty of words, is that because the dude has the material privileges he thinks that the world has the same access to them too?
Not quite. That's one part of it, but not necessarily.
People hold ideas based on the physical reality they experience. People who grow up in wealthy environments are more accepting of worldviews that either justify or rationalize this, ie the myth of "meritocracy." They can believe that others do not enjoy the same access, but can believe that hard work can get anyone where they are, as an example.
This has further implications. Fascism, for example, isn't spread because it's an "appealing idea," but as a response to decay of Capitalism, typically. Anlyzing the mechanics of why certain types of ideas become broadly accepted based on change in material reality is useful for preventing dangerous ideas as well.
I wish we could make a population with even the basic reading comprehension to understand these facts and then people might start taking advantage of our most powerful tool, democratic voting, to make real changes to how wealth is distributed.
But to this day when you suggest such a thing, people will default to images in their mind of everyone being forced to wear grey jumpsuits and stand in line for hours for a potato. We have the technological and productive means now to socialize many elements of our lives that would give everyone access to more resources and benefits and lower poverty and needless suffering, which helps everyone, even those already privileged.
But the capitalist narrative will push back on these ideas to its last, dying gasp, even as the world starts to burn and people lose everything, we will still see people arguing for "job creators" and how the wealthy are responsible for all our comforts, and that the socialist alternative will mean people will never own anything... as capitalism takes people's ownership of everything.
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Most things came rather easy to me throughout my life. I was talking before most kids my age, reading earlier and more advanced material than other kids. I never truly struggled in most of my classes, generally performing in the top 20-25% without really trying that hard, mostly out of laziness. I've always been quick to pick up musical instruments, figure out how mechanical things work, and was confidently disassembling and reassembling computers at a comparatively young age. I did not complete college and simply worked numerous jobs over the years. I didn't have much money growing up and had a number of financial struggles until I landed in what was essentially my dream job a couple of years ago and am making enough money to be comfortable (not rich).
Am I a self-made man? Not in the slightest.
I had older siblings who encouraged me to talk and reading materials of various levels that allowed me to learn at an organic pace.
My mother was a teacher and about 50% of our toys were educational. In fact, my parents used to give us "fun" workbooks when we were children, which made homework less of a chore later in life.
I grew up with instruments around me and the means to purchase just about any reasonable instrument that interested me, meaning I had a wide array of instruments I enjoyed at my disposal.
My father was an electrical engineer and a pioneer of the PC revolution, so we had internet when most kids didn't even know what "online" meant, piles of decommissioned computers for me to fuck around with, and a functioning computer in every bedroom and office when most homes didn't have computers and any with a computer only had one that the family shared.
I dropped out of college due to boredom and worked whatever jobs I wanted to because my parents said I could continue living at home as long as I was studying or working.
I had financial issues because I had problems spending money I didn't have on things I didn't need. Even at my lowest points in life, I had a roof over my head and family who could have bailed me out of any situation I got myself into. My parents had plenty of money. While they didn't hand it to me directly, they paid for every opportunity possible for me to learn and grow.
A couple of years ago, a job opened up at my work which turned out to be the perfect cross-section of my work-experience, hobbies, and home-projects that I've had the opportunities to work on. I was recommended to apply for the job based on this facade of a "highly intelligent, self-made man" that my old boss held of me. But I'm really just a beneficiary of my circumstances.
Now, I live in a house that my wife and I own because we were able to buy it at a reasonable price from my grandparents when they moved into assisted-living. My wife and I each drive our own cars that I help keep costs low on between my remote-hybrid work and the amount of car repairs that I can do myself because I was afforded the time and opportunity to learn them when I was younger. I also do a good portion of our home repairs, upgrades, and renovations myself because I had the opportunities to help my dad do similar-ish things growing up.
In all reality, I was born upper-middle class and have managed to work my way down towards the lower-middle class. My parents did not accept nor encourage failure and they didn't have enough money or influence for me to fail my way upwards.
But I've always had the opportunity to just coast. And here I am: a child of just enough privilege, challenge, and cognizance to see how easy it is to end up struggling and to recognize what an asshole looks like.
Not enough privilege to need an award for having some semblance of self-awareness, but just enough to enjoy upvotes for admitting it.
I absolutely agree with this comic, and in a lot of ways I was the kid on the left.
I struggle with the solution though. Isn't it the purpose of all life about giving your offspring a better chance?
When we give the kid on the right more opportunity, the left side will keep increasing their investment until it's lopsided in their favor again.
Maybe it's not about trying to reach some theoretical absolute equity, but keeping the distribution at a healthy balance so that one side is not completely locked out of the game. That's healthier for the whole community too since healthy competition ensures there's progress.
The solution cannot be only based on providing more opportunities to achieve equity of chance. To me, (financial/professional) success cannot and should not be the thing to strive for solely. We cannot all be attorneys and doctors and high achievers. We cannot expect a good life for all if everyone strives to be in the top 10% of society and this is the prerequisite for a good life and success, because by definition, this leaves 90% out.
So if you really want to have a good life for all, we need to stop the idea that you need to attain some artificial definition of professional success in order to have a good life, and provide a livable, worthy life for everyone - especially if they put in the time to work and contribute to society. If a person is working 40 hours a week, i.e. gives up 40 hours of their life and free time, why should it matter whether they work as a cashier, collect trash, or work as an attorney. In every case, they have a crucial role in society.
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Isn’t it the purpose of all life about giving your offspring a better chance?
Yeap, but doesn’t mean you willfully or otherwise create a worse situation for someone else
Maybe it’s not about trying to reach some theoretical absolute equity, but keeping the distribution at a healthy balance so that one side is not completely locked out of the game. That’s healthier for the whole community too since healthy competition ensures there’s progress.
Equity is an ideal we may never reach, but the point is we keep trying to reach it. There’s no such thing as a “healthy distribution” of exploitable working class.
The economic models built on exploitation of cheap labor are a relic of the past, and humanity does not need them to ensure future intellectual or cultural growth. We can have capitalism and social welfare together. We can even have Veblen goods without essentially making slaves of other people.
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Needs extra last panel where Richard tells Paula “if you don’t like your job just get another one you like”
And Richard's autobiography that claims he worked since 12.
As someone who (mostly) got this privilege i completely agree with this comic
The toddlers look so much like little old people
richard as a baby looks like an old man
tbh they both look like they start very old and get younger
Natives had it right. There is no privilege when the tribe raises a child. Western nepotism has been a plague on this earth for thousands of years.
The whole "noble savage" stereotype is just another form of racism. Natives everywhere had to deal with the same bullshit any other society did.
It was not that long ago that western children were also raised by a village. The strict nuclear family we know today is a modern phenomenon, only made possible by the vast prosperity western civilisations gained over the past couple centuries.
Go back, read more history books. Nepotism is a dominant trait of every empire on the globe that decayed and fell apart on its own.
"Western nepotism" .. Psh.
this is fantastic 👏
Richard is LinkedIn in a nutshell
This comic strip only hints at the race and gender aspect of it. Myself, a not so impressive product of the working class with a not so great track record, has managed to better than most. When I think about my pastey white skin and the junk between my legs I am never very impressed but to think that I've won some sort of cosmic lottery. Society has some major flaws you guys.
Discrimination comes in many aspects. I wish people would be more comfortable admiting their privileges, this would bring the change faster
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Heartbreaking.
All that drawing and they missed the 'a' in 'on a plate' in Richard's last panel, which is the title of the comic.
Nah Richard is just so privileged he feels he don't even have to speak properly
I once had a machine shop teacher that has a qoute that still lives rent free in my brain.
"I feel bad for the people who grew up rich because they dont know how to do anything themselves and dont know how to fix anything!"
Its pretty true life advice, i wouldnt change the way a grew up even a little bit. Not having alot growing up made me happy to have the small things and take care of the things i already owned. You can be rich with money but the poorest with skills and intelligence and that makes you more sad then ill ever be.
The rich have it better, I feel like that's just cope.
Money buys time and convenience. Mr.Rich has no interest in fixing his dishwasher, he pays "the help" to do that and he gets the "bonus" of feeling better than someone else when "the help" comes to fix it. He can then go on a run or sit around doing whatever the hell he wants, not having to worry about fixing anything. He bought the time we lose fixing things.
I've been "the help" and was literally called as such when a little girl said hi to me and her mother said "dont talk to the help." We're so below them and they enjoy that.
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I hate to be that guy, but the title is “on a plate” but it actually says “on plate” in the word bubble. I can’t unsee it.
This comic would be better if on Richard's recruiter's screen he was also rejected, but recruiter approved anyway.
Hopefully the world can change into a peaceful sci-fi world more like Star Trek or Red Dwarf.
Although we should always strive for it, I don't think we have it in us. But I hope I'm wrong.
The alternative is fascism, nuclear apocalypse, or death from climate change (perhaps all 3). It's up to us to avoid that path and move towards Socialism.
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