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I think social scientists can organize their research to reflect whatever pre-existing theme they want to prove.
I've sat behind the one-way mirror a lot of times during consumer research focus groups run by social scientists. The process is about the least scientific thing I've ever seen which explains why, so often, they are spectacularly wrong.
As a test subject I'm not sure how or why you'd think you're qualified to critique their research methodology and certainly generalize it to the entire gamut of social science theorists. You must be AMAZING!
It's pretty obvious you understand neither politics nor money.
Here's the big, fat fallacy that you don't seem to get. Your current economic status isn't because of some massive conspiracy to keep you from having money. It's almost certain that your current economic status is the result of one bone-headed decision after another in your life.
You screwed around in school. Or you screwed around on the job. Or you didn't put extra effort into gaining the skills and connections to succeed in your chosen field. Or you blew every dime of your paycheck. Or you stayed too long at a company, not wanting to see the handwriting on the wall. Or a combination of all of these. And now, when the chickens have come to roost in your life, you suddenly want to blame society.
Screw that. I paid every damned dime of my college tuition by working a full-time job. When I got out of college, I moonlighted. I stuck money back. I started putting money into a 401K. I brought leftovers to work rather than run out to McDonalds for lunch. I went to association meetings of the industry I wanted to be in, even though I didn't know a soul. I called people up. And when I got my foot in the door, I put everything I had into it. Three years later, I was running a department with people ten years older than me doing what I asked.
I chose my wife not just because she was hotter than flowing lava, but also because she had a great head on her shoulders. We scrimped and saved. When times were tough we put our shoulders to the wheel and made it work. And today, at 55, we're seeing everything come to fruition.
And now somebody like you wants to mewl about how unfair the world is. And how you think you deserve a piece of what I earned with the sweat of my brow, by pulling all-nighters, and by taking the considerable risk of starting my own business.
To hell with that. If nitwit beliefs such as this actually came to represent mainstream political thought in this country, I'd cash out my 401ks, sell our stock, and get it all overseas where the undeserving can't get hold of it. Because you only deserve in life what you make. Not what you take.
What does your narcissism has to do with the fact that the only thing making your stellar income possible are the folks serving your needs for less and doing things you are not willing to do for them? Without them all your work, social calculations and naptual strategies will bring you just the things that labor of two people can bring, which is not much. For you to disproportionately capitalize on those stellar efforts of yours you must move up the ladder where your efforts are multiplied by a certain parasitic amplifier provided by the "system". You are a true ingrate, you truly belive it is just wonderful you nothing else. Here's the big, fat truth that you refuse to get. I put it in a simple equation.
Your Economic Status=(Your Efforts)*(Parasitic amplifier)
Those at the bottom can kill themselves working but since their parasitic amplifier=1 they will make nothing like those up the food chain whose parasitic amplifier not just humongous, in the extreme cases it's exponential. It is not your efforts it is your place in the ladder gives you this or that parasitic amplifier. You can save the rest of slave conditioning for your next talk radio call. We live in the master slave reality, and your proposal that every slave can move up the ladder, provided proper efforts, to enjoy substantial parasitic amplifier of his own is the most ludicrous circular slave pacification trick. It just seems that an individual slave is better off by accepting this conditioning as truth and just running towards a parasitic spot of his own. But speaking of the slave collective it is absolutely self defeating conditioning to have since docile slaves get less, less and less as a collective. Why pay more if a slave blames himself and accepts every indignity under the Sun because allegedly he's made all those bad choices? You preach collective escape from the laboring class by means of hard work and education. How idiotic is that, really? At least slaves docility and self blame are somewhat rational views for you to have. Think outside of your narcissism once in a while.
Last edited by RememberMee; 02-11-2018 at 10:26 PM..
What does your narcissism has to do with the fact that the only thing making your stellar income possible are the folks serving your needs for less and doing things you are not willing to do for them? Without them all your work, social calculations and naptual strategies will bring you just the things that labor of two people can bring, which is not much. For you to disproportionately capitalize on those stellar efforts of yours you must move up the ladder where your efforts are multiplied by a certain parasitic amplifier provided by the "system". You are a true ingrate, you truly belive it is just wonderful you nothing else. Here's the big, fat truth that you refuse to get. I put it in a simple equation.
Your Economic Status=(Your Efforts)*(Parasitic amplifier)
Those at the bottom can kill themselves working but since their parasitic amplifier=1 they will make nothing like those up the food chain whose parasitic amplifier not just humongous, in the extreme cases it's exponential. It is not your efforts it is your place in the ladder gives you this or that parasitic amplifier. You can save the rest of slave conditioning for your next talk radio call. We live in the master slave reality, and your proposal that every slave can move up the ladder, provided proper efforts, to enjoy substantial parasitic amplifier of his own is the most ludicrous circular slave pacification trick. It just seems that an individual slave is better off by accepting this conditioning as truth and just running towards a parasitic spot of his own. But speaking of the slave collective it is absolutely self defeating conditioning to have since docile slaves get less, less and less as a collective. Why pay more if a slave blames himself and accepts every indignity under the Sun because allegedly he's made all those bad choices? You preach collective escape from the laboring class by means of hard work and education. How idiotic is that, really? At least slaves docility and self blame are somewhat rational views for you to have. Think outside of your narcissism once in a while.
Weird how you define narcissism. You think the entire world is out to get you, when in truth your economic situation is the product of the decisions you've made in life. The entirety of your whine boils down to, "It's not my fault. It's never my fault."
As a test subject I'm not sure how or why you'd think you're qualified to critique their research methodology and certainly generalize it to the entire gamut of social science theorists. You must be AMAZING!
Actually, I'm on the purchasing side of those social scientists, thanks. And, yes, if you don't believe that the individual has agency in the purchasing decision he or she makes, if you think they are just puppets dancing to the tune of whatever corporate masters you whip up in your paranoid worldview, you're absolutely wrong. All you have to do is look at historical savings rates among all classes of individuals. They cratered in the 80s. And it wasn't because they were suddenly in thrall to whatever ads they saw on television.
It's pretty obvious you understand neither politics nor money.
Here's the big, fat fallacy that you don't seem to get. Your current economic status isn't because of some massive conspiracy to keep you from having money. It's almost certain that your current economic status is the result of one bone-headed decision after another in your life.
You screwed around in school. Or you screwed around on the job. Or you didn't put extra effort into gaining the skills and connections to succeed in your chosen field. Or you blew every dime of your paycheck. Or you stayed too long at a company, not wanting to see the handwriting on the wall. Or a combination of all of these. And now, when the chickens have come to roost in your life, you suddenly want to blame society.
Screw that. I paid every damned dime of my college tuition by working a full-time job. When I got out of college, I moonlighted. I stuck money back. I started putting money into a 401K. I brought leftovers to work rather than run out to McDonalds for lunch. I went to association meetings of the industry I wanted to be in, even though I didn't know a soul. I called people up. And when I got my foot in the door, I put everything I had into it. Three years later, I was running a department with people ten years older than me doing what I asked.
I chose my wife not just because she was hotter than flowing lava, but also because she had a great head on her shoulders. We scrimped and saved. When times were tough we put our shoulders to the wheel and made it work. And today, at 55, we're seeing everything come to fruition.
And now somebody like you wants to mewl about how unfair the world is. And how you think you deserve a piece of what I earned with the sweat of my brow, by pulling all-nighters, and by taking the considerable risk of starting my own business.
To hell with that. If nitwit beliefs such as this actually came to represent mainstream political thought in this country, I'd cash out my 401ks, sell our stock, and get it all overseas where the undeserving can't get hold of it. Because you only deserve in life what you make. Not what you take.
It's called the Just World Fallacy, meaning it's a fallacy to believe the world IS fair. It's not. Never has, never will be. Sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things to good people. Believing in Karma is also a fallacy but that is a side point to my main point.
That being said, I don't think anyone is trying to discredit your success. Congrats, you did make it. No one, with very very very few exceptions, are as good as they think they are or as bad as they think they are though.
You took some chances, delayed some gratification early on, and followed the pretty typical blue print to success. I'm sure it was anything but a cake walk. It's a good thing you have a high locus of control... I do too. I agree with much of what you said, doing as many little things as possible to put the odds of success in your favor that much more.
Just don't be ignorant to the fact the world is a very unfair place. I myself started from very humble beginnings and have every intention of working my way up the social and economic ladder, however I know the odds are against me even if I do all the right things.
It's not in everyone's brain chemistry to go get an MBA, or become an engineer, or to be a business owner. Just like it's not in everyone's DNA to be born 6 foot 5 and become an NBA player. You play the hand life deals you early on based on your own personality and environment and work from there and do your best. However sometimes someone's best isn't enough to prosper in today's cut throat survival of the fittest economy.
We already know taller men tend to earn more on average then shorter men, and that good looking people make the Halo Effect work in their favor, but we can't control how tall or how good looking we are born. Sure we can eat healthy, workout, and keep groomed but doing all the stuff just puts us on PAR if we aren't born with natural movie star looks. (I did invest my own money in getting dental braces because I know looks matter in the business world, but I don't expect to ride my "nice teeth" alone up the ladder, but I didn't want one more disadvantage then I already had, just like you, who did many small things that added up over time and put the odds in your favor)
My main point is the world isn't fair, so be humble and proud of your life while realizing other people truly get dealt bad hands where even their best won't get them very far. Sometimes it could be something as simple as being born with dumb brain chemistry. Sure a healthy diet versus a junk food diet should improve brain chemistry (something we CAN control) but you get my point I hope.
It's called the Just World Fallacy, meaning it's a fallacy to believe the world IS fair. It's not. Never has, never will be. Sometimes good things happen to bad people and bad things to good people. Believing in Karma is also a fallacy but that is a side point to my main point.
That being said, I don't think anyone is trying to discredit your success. Congrats, you did make it. No one, with very very very few exceptions, are as good as they think they are or as bad as they think they are though.
You took some chances, delayed some gratification early on, and followed the pretty typical blue print to success. I'm sure it was anything but a cake walk. It's a good thing you have a high locus of control... I do too. I agree with much of what you said, doing as many little things as possible to put the odds of success in your favor that much more.
Just don't be ignorant to the fact the world is a very unfair place. I myself started from very humble beginnings and have every intention of working my way up the social and economic ladder, however I know the odds are against me even if I do all the right things.
It's not in everyone's brain chemistry to go get an MBA, or become an engineer, or to be a business owner. Just like it's not in everyone's DNA to be born 6 foot 5 and become an NBA player. You play the hand life deals you early on based on your own personality and environment and work from there and do your best. However sometimes someone's best isn't enough to prosper in today's cut throat survival of the fittest economy.
We already know taller men tend to earn more on average then shorter men, and that good looking people make the Halo Effect work in their favor, but we can't control how tall or how good looking we are born. Sure we can eat healthy, workout, and keep groomed but doing all the stuff just puts us on PAR if we aren't born with natural movie star looks. (I did invest my own money in getting dental braces because I know looks matter in the business world, but I don't expect to ride my "nice teeth" alone up the ladder, but I didn't want one more disadvantage then I already had, just like you, who did many small things that added up over time and put the odds in your favor)
My main point is the world isn't fair, so be humble and proud of your life while realizing other people truly get dealt bad hands where even their best won't get them very far. Sometimes it could be something as simple as being born with dumb brain chemistry. Sure a healthy diet versus a junk food diet should improve brain chemistry (something we CAN control) but you get my point I hope.
I do. And I don't really dispute a word you say. The only quibble I have is with the notion of "unfair." I think a better word is "indifferent" or "unforgiving."
But my post wasn't intended to elevate myself. It was to point out that one's ultimate station in life is largely dependent on the decisions one makes in life. I'm simply pointing out that life threw some serious obstacles in my path and I overcame them. Every once in a while, I did indeed catch a lucky break. But most of the time, it was taking a cold-eyed, realistic view of the world and working my tail off. Luck only gets you an opportunity, a meeting, a foot in the door. The rest is up to you.
The only scenario where luck really figures into riches is the world of lottery winners. And look how many of those people -- after receiving jaw-dropping, empire-building money in one fell swoop -- go bankrupt inside of five or ten years. Any rational person could live exceedingly well on the interest and dividends of such a windfall. Yet they burn through it.
Further, I'm not saying that everyone can be a millionaire. But everyone can pretty much enjoy some degree of financial security. Remember that this is a post about people putting money back for a rainy day. It's about taking your leftovers to work for lunch the next day or not buying whatever shiny trappings of material happiness catch your eye. It's about asking, "Do I really need this?" and then saying, "No," more often than not. If people can't put money back in the most prosperous country in human history, I'm really not interested in hearing excuses. About the only excuse I'll listen to is if someone is afflicted with a terrible disease. To me, that's absolutely understandable. Those people deserve our empathy and support. But some guy who just wants to kvetch about how The Man didn't give him a fair shake? No.
And that's what annoyed me about that post. Here's someone who wants to complain about an unfair system when, in truth, the system tends to reward people who actually bust their asses and make prudent decisions with their money. It doesn't make them millionaires. But it also means they aren't broke, either.
And that's what annoyed me about that post. Here's someone who wants to complain about an unfair system when, in truth, the system tends to reward people who actually bust their asses and make prudent decisions with their money. It doesn't make them millionaires. But it also means they aren't broke, either.
Right...it TENDS to work out that way. That means it is less than a 100% correlation. Which means there are a good number of people out there who worked JUST as hard (maybe harder) as you and were JUST as smart as you but didn't wind up in your position. Why? Because there are random factors (some call it "luck") that come into play and "indifferently" boost some up and lay some low. That's not because of anything they did.
Similarly, some people do really well but don't work hard or work smart...but they "lucked out". For some odd reason the world thinks just as well about those folks as they do YOU...and all the failures are judged harshly, despite the specific factors that were involved.
We conveniently remember what we did...but not the things that "just worked out" to help us get where we are.
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