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Originally Posted by Airy
I dont know how to quote specific things individually (someone has to teach me please!)
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Merely cut and paste the individual quotes and on/off html commands individually.
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Originally Posted by Airy
I have first hand experience in this reality.
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Actually this, would be second-hand, but tha's a very minor quibble. Not anywhere near as important as:
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Originally Posted by Airy
My grandfather fled Russia and walked into China...then took his family and fled China when the Japanese came in. He took his wife and 2 daughters to Australia. He left them there and moved to the US. Speaking NO English, having less than 5$ to his name. He worked 4 jobs (for Pan Am, painting houses, tending bar and in a jam factory). He lived in a water tower and after 5 years sent for his wife and 2 daughters. My grandmother was one of the first women doctors in China...she worked changing bed pans in the hospitals here because they wouldn't recognize her skills, she also cleaned houses, and did mending on the side. They all lived in that water tower. They saved and worked and bought a small deli...then later bought a house...and 50 years later (with NO government help and nothing but hard work) owned 2 successful businesses, over 20 houses/rental properties, put all of their grandchildren thru college with no student loans, and did all this themselves. They worked till the day they died. They built a legacy (sure we aren't the Hiltons) that has provided for and left enough for our children. The American Dream is possible....it's just not easy.
They did not build this at the expense of ANYONE. They did not play on the hardship of anyone. They worked hard, they sacrificed, and they had hard times. They also then spent years helping get other families out of China and other areas and help them.
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Yeah, yeah, Ive heard this all before. "I/my father/my friend/my cultural hero, worked his/her/their assess off, and never exploited anyone", blah, blah, blah.
Hey, if that response seems dismissive, it's because it is.
The problem with this line of argument is that it totally ignores the vast majority of people who did exactly the same amount of work, worked exactly as hard as whomeever you're aggrandizing, and yet ended up with nothing to show for it.
The line of argument you're pursuing, (and I am attacking the argument, not you personally), is not much more than a continuance of the "blame the victim" mentality.
The social paradigm is that "In America, anyone can succeed. Therefore, if you don't succeed, there*must* be soemthing wrong with you."
...as opposed to the idea that we have something wrong with a system that encourages people to do whatever it takes (and "whatever" means "whatever": there can be found numerous examples of people who do succeed in socially acceptable ways that aren't as nasty as other, equally socially acceptable ways) to succeed. Indeed, "success" under this system is largely defined as being "better" than the majority of people, in whatever aspect you, the individual choose to emphasize.