Comment by tonyedgecombe | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tonyedgecombe | Hacker News Reader

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I'm not sure about that, the trouble is if you flip it around you end up saying people are poor because of their own failings.

Modern society looks down on poor people, labelling them as losers when they are really a product of unfortunate circumstances. Unfortunate because they had no books in their house, unfortunate because they were surrounded by family who derided learning, unfortunate because they had the wrong colour skin or wrong gender for the career they wanted.

I'm not even sure I buy your argument that they feel better about themselves. Being constantly reminded of your supposed failings isn't a great place to be.

The worst part of "work hard and you may become a millionaire" is for the majority it is a lie.

I suspect some people are missing the declension here:

* I am a temporarily embarrassed millionaire.

* You should work harder to be successful.

* They are poor because they are moral degenerates.

As long as you can keep the three attitudes separate and attached to the proper groups, you'll have no problems understanding modern American culture.

"The worst part of "work hard and you may become a millionaire" is for the majority it is a lie"

What else is there to believe in? I find the supposedly realistic belief that "life is hard and then you die" very depressing. From personal experience, the only thing keeping me going in my worst times is the thought that I can still turn things around and succeed (again) - otherwise I would just give up because what the f am I living for?

And I don't see success as being a millionaire - people define success in different ways, to each his own. You gotta have something to keep you going and it does feel better to believe that you're just temporarily down rather than being a born loser who will die a loser.

But the reality is it's much more realistic to adjust your wants to your present circumstances than adjust your circumstances to your wants.

I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to improve your situation, just that adopting the stoical attitude of appreciating what you have will result in better outcomes for most people.

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