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Maybe not in their own country. Someone earlier said that it may be because most of them are poor anyway. I can see how that would change things.
So hypocrisy makes it better.
If we're all at about the same level of income, it's OK to talk about it.
But if we're not, it's better to pretend we don't want to talk about it.
In other countries people talk about such things not because they are all poor; but because they don't tie human worth to arbitrarily distributed coins - like Americans do.
And there is quite a bit of income variation in such countries too; not as large as we have it in the US but large enough to get some people curious enough to ask!!
Why does anyone NEED to know anything about you, period?
Because you live in a human community and not in an atomized and alienated jungle??.... It will be a very sad day when no one will need to know anything about anyone anymore.
Besides, you or I or anyone else do not exist in a social vacuum. I am stupid or intelligent in comparison with other people. I am hard-working or lazy in comparison with other people. So goes for talented or not, fast or not, creative or not, productive or not.
I will not take my employer's word for it. I need to make those comparisons myself. Do ya' mind?
I see the same mindset at the elementary school level - where information about how your child stacks up compared to other children is guarded as top secret.
They tell you "child does so well!" but I would be very much interested to know "so well compared to what?".
Given we are forced to elbow our way in increasingly competitive markets, why should people not have a right to comparative information?
Jealousy? Oh, well - cry me a river.
Is it perhaps fear that some of those very large differences in pay could not be honestly justified if everyone was forced to set their cards on the table and show exactly how much dough they get for how much work??
My point is that such questions are all driven by convention; and the "no-talk-about-income" convention of the US is tied to the cultural belief that people are worth what they bring home in a paycheck. Then understandably they get defensive when faced to a cards-on-the-table comparison.
THE belief that people are worth whatever they bring in a paycheck at home is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong across cultures, INCLUDING in the US.
I just think it is tied to privacy. Just like I wouldn't ask someone how many people they have had sex with. Or any number of other questions people don't like talking about. Personally I don't equate not asking about it with what someone is worth.
I would just ask the person and why would you like to know that information. I feel like its someone asking you "What color shirt are you wearing, and then writing the answer down in a notebook". I would ask "What are you writing that for"? When you ask for someones salary i cant think of a valid reason you could have other then being nosiy, wanting to see if you could afford what you have, or trying to determine if you feel its fair that person go that amount of money. Give me some valid (legit) reasons and maybe I will change my thought process?
I think asking somebody "How much money" they make, is not the proper question. It's more proper to ask "What kind of profession do you do" If one says I am an MD, you can draw a mental picture of them making 200,000 a year for example (Not sure about the real number)
Or... asking someone I am a Computer Programist, so you can "assume" they may make 50-80k a year. BUT, I don't judge people by how much money they make. If you are educated and treat others with respect that matters to me more than what series BMW you drive.
I know it's tied to privacy. My question is "why is it tied to privacy"?
Personally I would say because I just don't feel like sharing that information. And it honestly has nothing to do with what someone may feel I am "worth". I could care less.
I will say this. My close friends and family do know how much I make. Those types of conversations have definitely come up. Just like those close to me know lots of information about me that others will never know.
Question for you. Is there any bit of information you wouldn't readily share with others? Either people close to you or people you really don't know well (or at all)?
If we had a database of American salaries searchable by SS numbers and locations, there would be mad rush to pull up the information of the wealthy so they could use the information to create social chaos, if not felony theft and murder. We can already see how this White House uses its IRS information to sow seeds of class distrust even when there is a taboo on disclosing salary information. If they felt justified in sharing actual salaries, I am sure they would.
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