mashed articles by Pat Darnell | Nov 10, 2013 | Bryan TX
What is more important: Universal knowledge, or Micro-management knowledge? MooPig Report from the Middle Department would like to subscribe to both extremes. However, that leads us to today's subject, "--ocracy." After all we find we represent the Middle, which hardly has universal understandings, nor all that much micro management skills.
For instance: Rich man, self-made millionaire, lived his youth through the 30's and Great Depression, builds up his street cred, and buys a few distressed banks which he flips and sells for big profits. He gets to middle age, and gets the "politics bug." Not too many politicians stray very far from this stereotype.
So what then does the newly elected politician do? He picks from the huge list of --ocracies; which one to use in his dialogue with others? This is true for every politician, from lowly council members to presidents; Chairman of the Board to CFO's ... lot's of rich guys think they are doing a self-evaluation of their lives as they pick an --ocracy. What they are missing is that while rich and powerful, they can't even make a cup of coffee for themselves.
When we, the lowly non-elected, think of Meritocracy, we think of schooling. We might think also of churches, sports, artists, and other labor intensive institutions. Rarely would we think of politicians. As usual at MooPig Enterprises we most often think of things in terms of cow herds. Politicians exist because of a long standing curse on mankind. Stand out politicians are not natural to the herd.
But for transgressions-that-will-remain-untold, one can make Meritocracy mean anything one wants it to mean. On face value, let's go with the root "Merit." For the rich man, merit could mean making a big pile of cash in business. In America that seems to be all one has to do in life. For this to be true, the ends justify the means. We would agree if all the rich men and women start from a position of "no inheritance" like the definition of meritocracy implies.
Whoa, what is that? Yes, meritocracy says all people start from the same position, like a horse race, and proceed from there.
Meritocracy And John Galt! | DOCMARTIN1: Its Business and Personal: " ...“The Rise of Meritocracy.” It was published in 1958, and dealt with a society obsessed with talent. “The date was 2034, and psychologists had perfected the art of IQ testing. But far from promoting social harmony, the preoccupation with talent had produced a social breakdown. The losers in the talent wars were doubly unhappy, conscious not only that they were failures but that they deserved to be failures. Eventually they revolted against their masters.” I wonder why something like this would happen?"
'via Blog this'
Yes, a high percentage all of the 'racers would be losers. Is that how it really is out here? No; no more than how a calf could not make it through its first year without its mother. To lose means dependence on others for your decline. To win also then, means dependence on others when you succeed. Meritocracy is relative to institutional support systems, and correlates with advancing in one area while sucking wind in another, usually crucial, area.
MooPig Report from the Middle Department brings up "meritocracy" because while not being fully understood as an --ocracy, it is used in many ways today. Schools have almost nationwide lost their minds to delusions of "merit." The Core Curriculum idea, and its acceptance by states, has just about destroyed education in the USA. Its cumulative result has been one of stamping a student with an achievement number as related to the whole student body's achievement.
Such unpardonable meritocracy is wrong, because:
1. Students lose respect for facts - they become skeptical
2. Students lose respect for people - they become morally relativists - they start to think humanity is screwed up by nature, they start to dismiss the significance or importance of any one individual, and they start to think that the only way to change the world is by forcing policy down people's throats.
As students become professionals, they adapt these flaws to their own understanding of their professions.
We don't know who Mencken is but this is our conclusion:
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”That's our Report from the Middle where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are above average.
― H.L. Mencken
___________________Reference
http://docmartin1.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/meritocracy-and-john-galt/
http://www.salon.com/2011/04/05/my_father_the_objectivist/
http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/12/the-fable-of-market-meritocrac
http://forum.objectivismonline.com/?showtopic=22958
http://polly-rage.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-is-wrong-with-meritocracy.html
https://www.facebook.com/AynRandInstitute/posts/10150244228762534
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/meritocracy
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/meritocracy.html
http://docmartin1.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/meritocracy-and-john-galt/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101127051151AAYYI9L
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100310030041AA4bGVY
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-meritocracy.htm
http://www.reference.com/example-sentences/meritocracy
http://www.economist.com/node/3518560
http://climateofsophistry.com/2013/04/23/meritocracy-its-weaknesses-and-how-to-improve-it-a-lesson-from-climate-alarm/
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/Magnani_2_2013(2).pdf
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2012/12/12/our-fractured-meritocracy/
http://pribek.net/2013/10/09/what-is-core-really-its-not-what-you-think/comment-page-1/#comment-31417
No comments:
Post a Comment