http://editorseye.com/WordPress/2008/04/28/the-witnesses/ i run my own damn think tank Thu, 24 May 2012 07:54:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://editorseye.com/WordPress/2008/04/28/the-witnesses/comment-page-1/#comment-2238 You can’t accomplish anything with an unchipped heart | Twelfth Bough Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:11:35 +0000 http://editorseye.com/WordPress/?p=482#comment-2238 [...] Needless to say, this really bothers me a lot. The attitude I typically get from people is that I am a little wacky for caring about things like the Palestinians. They just don’t see the point. I am lacking ‘common sense,’ or something, which is a pretty funny accusation since the driving force of my philosophy is fighting for the common good. Not the good for this powerful group or that powerful group, but the good for everyone. The most frequent retort I get about people who are ‘behind’ is that it’s probably their own fault. Maybe, but maybe not. It’s just an assumption useful to people who want to justify closing a door behind them. Those who have made it ahead give themselves credit for their own hard work and seem to assume that anyone who didn’t achieve XYZ must be a slacker. I find this grimly amusing coming from boomers, the very generation that turned the world to shit for billions. Must we be reminded that wages have been flat for decades, the dollar performs an incredible shrinking act before our very eyes, and most families need two or three jobs just to stay even? I often wonder if some of those who give themselves such big pats on the back for their own success could make it under today’s rules as easily as they did back in the day. Can an honest person really get ahead today just by hard work and a little luck? Not very likely, and that’s the difference between then and now. I wrote about this a little here. [...] [...] Needless to say, this really bothers me a lot. The attitude I typically get from people is that I am a little wacky for caring about things like the Palestinians. They just don’t see the point. I am lacking ‘common sense,’ or something, which is a pretty funny accusation since the driving force of my philosophy is fighting for the common good. Not the good for this powerful group or that powerful group, but the good for everyone. The most frequent retort I get about people who are ‘behind’ is that it’s probably their own fault. Maybe, but maybe not. It’s just an assumption useful to people who want to justify closing a door behind them. Those who have made it ahead give themselves credit for their own hard work and seem to assume that anyone who didn’t achieve XYZ must be a slacker. I find this grimly amusing coming from boomers, the very generation that turned the world to shit for billions. Must we be reminded that wages have been flat for decades, the dollar performs an incredible shrinking act before our very eyes, and most families need two or three jobs just to stay even? I often wonder if some of those who give themselves such big pats on the back for their own success could make it under today’s rules as easily as they did back in the day. Can an honest person really get ahead today just by hard work and a little luck? Not very likely, and that’s the difference between then and now. I wrote about this a little here. [...]

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