when ppl say the equivalent of "i pulled myself up by my bootstraps"
i think "you had the *opportunity* to pull yourself up by the bootstraps"
and i think about all the people without boots yanking their achielles tendon raw just trying to stand up.
YouTube link
@tychi I think Tim Minchin put it well in this university address thing. Re the bootstraps.
@tychi Yep. There are a LOT of folk in the world struggling 2get ahead, but as you say: their lack is so great, that the task of even standing up is impossible.
Yet our culture is trained 2accept the idea of meritocracy: so that no conversation of simply giving folk their necessities so that they can seek out the limits of their potential, live, &contribute, never comes up.
Can't put a plant in a closet with no water &get upset that it dies. Yet, that's the vibe we accept w/people &it's gross.
@tychi some people are given a raw deal and manage against all odds to succeed. Others are given everything and still manage to screw it up. Yet others are screwed from birth, could probably make it, but choose not to try. Still others are given every opportunity, don't need to step on others to succeed, but choose to anyway for whatever reason. ppl are complicated and sometimes life just sucks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯