Quote Originally Posted by The Barry View Post
It is an unfortunate truth that those who are availed to privilege in life do better than those that aren't. This is the "gap" that is talked about at length in sociological studies. This gap is unfortunately widening. I hope that the playing field levels out significantly in the near future.
Don't hold your breath (he said kindly). I can't think of a society in history(even contemporaneous history) where some haven't had, by virtue of birth, an advantage over others.

Once upon a time it was Clan Chiefs who by virtue of genes or nourishment were bigger and stronger than their peers. Isn't that a kind of ascendancy by merit? Or is it just a variation of the lucky sperm wars?

Once upon a time there were Kings and Queens who, by virtue of their birth and education, were undoubtedly better prepared to govern than others. Was the French Revolution, and subsequently the Empire, really a different or better society that what had preceded it?

And always...running through the history of human beings on this planet...there were people who, by virtue of their birth and temperament, were in positions of privilege that they did not deserve and almost certainly abused. To...this...day.

And always, just as certainly, there have been shadowy figures who rose from obscurity to positions of power and privilege...on merit--by manipulating those who actually wore the crown or the feathers.

Today, instead of clan chiefs and kings and queens, we have CEO's and sports figures...and movie stars and politicians, both of whom, parenthetically, maintain their positions of privilege by essentially creating and living a lie, or a masquerade, at the very least. Where's the "merit" in the meritocracy?

And we buy into those lies and attend those masques, even if we have to go as footmen and scullery maids, simply because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

It may be better for a large segment of society now...and/or under certain systems of government...than it was in the past but, at bottom, not much has really changed.