By now you've probably heard about the young man who walked 20 miles to work and was rewarded with a car from the CEO.
This is not to be confused with the kid a little while back who rode his bike 6 hours to school and was rewarded with donations and a job.
We love these stories. And with good reason! They are the ultimate in that underdog, true grit, can-do spirit that Americans love. To sum up that second story, Fred Barley rode his bike 6 hour to register for college classes. Dorms hadn't opened yet so he set up a tent in some bushes. Cops came, heard his story, and paid for a couple nights in a hotel. After a few nights, one of the cop's wives put Fred's story online and it went viral, donations started piling in and the college allowed him to move in early. Soon he got a job at a pizzeria, because, as the owner said: "I guess I had a soft spot for anyone who is that determined to succeed in life.”
This is by all means a great story. Honestly, I am very happy for Fred and the other young man who got a car from the CEO. I'm glad that there are some bosses/administrators/cops that do care about workers/students/civilians.
The problem is, these stories are framed as if they are the natural outcomes of working hard. They are used to push the narrative that the US is a meritocracy. Look at the wording of the pizzeria owner's statement. Fred was "determined" to succeed. The message being put forth is that if you work hard enough, you will be rewarded. I don't fault the owner for saying it, and determination should be encouraged, but the reality is that many people work very hard and still find themselves underpaid, in debt, or even homeless. And let's be real here. Fred got a job at a pizzeria, it's not like he was made an executive at Google. Let's hope he doesn't have any medical emergencies in the near future.
The media often takes exceptional stories like these and uses them to moralize against the poor and working class. You're complaining about working conditions and low pay? Look at this kid, he walked 20 miles and didn't complain!
These stories are like the casino putting up pictures of the big winners on their walls, or making the slot machine's buzzer loud enough for the whole casino to hear when it pays out. They serve to create an illusion that this can happen to you. Technically, it can! You might win $10,000 at the casino! You might get a job offer or even a free car if you work hard enough! Or, you could lose all your money. You could work your ass off for minimum wage for years and then get fired when the boss wants to increase profits. Those things are actually much more likely, and common.
But we flock to the stories of the generous boss because they give us hope that our hard work will pay off. I believe that hard work "pays off" in the sense that if you work hard, you're more likely to put yourself in a position where good things can happen to you. People should work hard, but it's never a guarantee that hard work will be rewarded..
Yet, Americans are so determined to, or more accurately, shamed into working hard that they are literally working themselves to death. Our minds and spirits are so broken that there's a new trend at workplaces around the country of donating vacation time to new mothers. So, instead of demanding that companies pay for adequate maternity leave, we are giving our own hard earned vacation time to our fellow employees.
That's very noble, and it's great to see workers supporting each other, but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. The real benefits of all this hard work go to a select few. Only the company really benefits from people "donating: vacation time. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, the richest man in the world, is worth $150 billion. His workers in Spain and Germany just went on strike to protest the horrible working conditions. Bezos could easily spread $50-100 billion around to his workforce and he and his company would still be fine forever. Same with the son of a South African emerald miner, Elon Musk. These guys benefit from shitty working conditions, yet they are still looked at as self-made, moral leaders for some reason. They have rabid online supporters that will attack you for questioning their billionaire idol's motives. People think guys like Bezos or Musk are gonna save us from Trump. The problem is...they are exactly the same! They benefit from keeping their workers poor. These guys are maybe not quite as racist or dumb as Trump, but business wise, they are all cut from the same cloth.
And we, average Americans, think it's some great honor if we can just touch that cloth for a second. So these stories get passed around with the subtext that this can all happen to you. Job doesn't pay you enough to buy a car? Take public transportation! The public transportation in your city is notoriously broken and shitty? Walk! Your job is 20 miles away? Start walking at midnight! You might get a free car out of it!
This messaging is so deeply ingrained in our society. It's the American Dream! That dream is used as a weapon to bludgeon the poor. If you haven't moved up, it's your fault because in America, if you work hard enough you'll always succeed. Except, we have extremely low financial mobility compared to most first world countries. If you're born poor in America, you mostly stay poor despite your education and "effort.".
Why did a college student have to bike 6 hours and sleep in some bushes just to get to school? Even with that effort, he was very lucky to have found cops willing to pay for his hotel room, a guy willing to give him a job on the spot, and a woman to tell his story online. There are so many factors involved with Fred finding success. It took a lot of hard work, sure, but it also took a lot of kindness from strangers and plain luck. Let's not act like this will happen to anyone who just "tries" hard enough. How many people out there are just as hardworking and determined as Fred but yet still fail?
Look at the discrepancies in education for the poor and the wealthy. If you grew up in Bridgeport instead of Fairfield, you'll have an entirely different and more difficult path to success. This "homeless teen goes to Stanford" shows how hard this oe student's journey to college was, and while she also deserves a lot of credit, this story pushes the same narrative as the others, with the added bonus of the "homeless person has actual talent omg!" angle that the media loves so much.
We hear about these stories because they are so unusual. Most people don't get this lucky, but we share the stories because they give us hope. We use them as examples of "hard work equals success" instead of examples of how high the chips are stacked against us. Using these stories as an example of how the system works if you just put in enough effort is like using Katniss as an example that the Hunger Games system is working for everybody, and you can be like her if you just work hard enough; knowing full well only one person will survive.
These stories are used to make us tolerate the intolerable. Don't show me a story about a young girl who started a lemonade stand to pay for her brother's healthcare and tell me it's inspiring. That's horrifying! What kind of country is this? These stories show the power of human determination, but they more clearly show the level of inequality and dysfunction in this country.
Instead of just praising these individual students and workers and then using their stories to shame others into working harder, lets figure out how we can correct the conditions that led to these stories. Let's create a society that actually does reward hard work, but also supports people in ways that makes it more likely to succeed. I certainly don't have the solution, but acting like these stories say something great about our country (and not just something great about the individuals directly involved) is ignoring the deeper reality.
I Love You All...Class Dismissed.
This is not to be confused with the kid a little while back who rode his bike 6 hours to school and was rewarded with donations and a job.
We love these stories. And with good reason! They are the ultimate in that underdog, true grit, can-do spirit that Americans love. To sum up that second story, Fred Barley rode his bike 6 hour to register for college classes. Dorms hadn't opened yet so he set up a tent in some bushes. Cops came, heard his story, and paid for a couple nights in a hotel. After a few nights, one of the cop's wives put Fred's story online and it went viral, donations started piling in and the college allowed him to move in early. Soon he got a job at a pizzeria, because, as the owner said: "I guess I had a soft spot for anyone who is that determined to succeed in life.”
This is by all means a great story. Honestly, I am very happy for Fred and the other young man who got a car from the CEO. I'm glad that there are some bosses/administrators/cops that do care about workers/students/civilians.
The problem is, these stories are framed as if they are the natural outcomes of working hard. They are used to push the narrative that the US is a meritocracy. Look at the wording of the pizzeria owner's statement. Fred was "determined" to succeed. The message being put forth is that if you work hard enough, you will be rewarded. I don't fault the owner for saying it, and determination should be encouraged, but the reality is that many people work very hard and still find themselves underpaid, in debt, or even homeless. And let's be real here. Fred got a job at a pizzeria, it's not like he was made an executive at Google. Let's hope he doesn't have any medical emergencies in the near future.
The media often takes exceptional stories like these and uses them to moralize against the poor and working class. You're complaining about working conditions and low pay? Look at this kid, he walked 20 miles and didn't complain!
These stories are like the casino putting up pictures of the big winners on their walls, or making the slot machine's buzzer loud enough for the whole casino to hear when it pays out. They serve to create an illusion that this can happen to you. Technically, it can! You might win $10,000 at the casino! You might get a job offer or even a free car if you work hard enough! Or, you could lose all your money. You could work your ass off for minimum wage for years and then get fired when the boss wants to increase profits. Those things are actually much more likely, and common.
But we flock to the stories of the generous boss because they give us hope that our hard work will pay off. I believe that hard work "pays off" in the sense that if you work hard, you're more likely to put yourself in a position where good things can happen to you. People should work hard, but it's never a guarantee that hard work will be rewarded..
Yet, Americans are so determined to, or more accurately, shamed into working hard that they are literally working themselves to death. Our minds and spirits are so broken that there's a new trend at workplaces around the country of donating vacation time to new mothers. So, instead of demanding that companies pay for adequate maternity leave, we are giving our own hard earned vacation time to our fellow employees.
That's very noble, and it's great to see workers supporting each other, but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. The real benefits of all this hard work go to a select few. Only the company really benefits from people "donating: vacation time. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, the richest man in the world, is worth $150 billion. His workers in Spain and Germany just went on strike to protest the horrible working conditions. Bezos could easily spread $50-100 billion around to his workforce and he and his company would still be fine forever. Same with the son of a South African emerald miner, Elon Musk. These guys benefit from shitty working conditions, yet they are still looked at as self-made, moral leaders for some reason. They have rabid online supporters that will attack you for questioning their billionaire idol's motives. People think guys like Bezos or Musk are gonna save us from Trump. The problem is...they are exactly the same! They benefit from keeping their workers poor. These guys are maybe not quite as racist or dumb as Trump, but business wise, they are all cut from the same cloth.
And we, average Americans, think it's some great honor if we can just touch that cloth for a second. So these stories get passed around with the subtext that this can all happen to you. Job doesn't pay you enough to buy a car? Take public transportation! The public transportation in your city is notoriously broken and shitty? Walk! Your job is 20 miles away? Start walking at midnight! You might get a free car out of it!
This messaging is so deeply ingrained in our society. It's the American Dream! That dream is used as a weapon to bludgeon the poor. If you haven't moved up, it's your fault because in America, if you work hard enough you'll always succeed. Except, we have extremely low financial mobility compared to most first world countries. If you're born poor in America, you mostly stay poor despite your education and "effort.".
Why did a college student have to bike 6 hours and sleep in some bushes just to get to school? Even with that effort, he was very lucky to have found cops willing to pay for his hotel room, a guy willing to give him a job on the spot, and a woman to tell his story online. There are so many factors involved with Fred finding success. It took a lot of hard work, sure, but it also took a lot of kindness from strangers and plain luck. Let's not act like this will happen to anyone who just "tries" hard enough. How many people out there are just as hardworking and determined as Fred but yet still fail?
Look at the discrepancies in education for the poor and the wealthy. If you grew up in Bridgeport instead of Fairfield, you'll have an entirely different and more difficult path to success. This "homeless teen goes to Stanford" shows how hard this oe student's journey to college was, and while she also deserves a lot of credit, this story pushes the same narrative as the others, with the added bonus of the "homeless person has actual talent omg!" angle that the media loves so much.
We hear about these stories because they are so unusual. Most people don't get this lucky, but we share the stories because they give us hope. We use them as examples of "hard work equals success" instead of examples of how high the chips are stacked against us. Using these stories as an example of how the system works if you just put in enough effort is like using Katniss as an example that the Hunger Games system is working for everybody, and you can be like her if you just work hard enough; knowing full well only one person will survive.
These stories are used to make us tolerate the intolerable. Don't show me a story about a young girl who started a lemonade stand to pay for her brother's healthcare and tell me it's inspiring. That's horrifying! What kind of country is this? These stories show the power of human determination, but they more clearly show the level of inequality and dysfunction in this country.
Instead of just praising these individual students and workers and then using their stories to shame others into working harder, lets figure out how we can correct the conditions that led to these stories. Let's create a society that actually does reward hard work, but also supports people in ways that makes it more likely to succeed. I certainly don't have the solution, but acting like these stories say something great about our country (and not just something great about the individuals directly involved) is ignoring the deeper reality.
I Love You All...Class Dismissed.
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