Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Episode 111: I've Got Your Ragged Dick
Play Now!People have been describing the ascendence of busy business mucky-mucks from poverty to power for over a century as those that lead a Horatio Alger life. The trouble is, I'm willing to bet that precious few of these people so quick to throw out their easy descriptor have ever actually read a Horatio Alger book. Let's correct that in this Episode 111: I've Got Your Ragged Dick.In this episode, I read from: Horatio Alger's 1867 book Ragged Dick; and from my computer's quickie dictionary. I also gave some plot examples from Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series, at least that portion I've read.Musically, I played Jahzzar's "Storyteller." KMFDM opened the show backing Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders; and I'm closing the show today with Mistle Thrush's "It's All Like Today."I'm releasing this and all my episodes under a Creative Commons 4.0 attribution, share-alike, and non-commercial license.
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Oh my goodness, I was about to write that I can't wait until your next episode and suddenly it's been two weeks! I'm not able to download the new ep at work, it'll be as soon as I get home.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're doing this. That "Horatio Alger" myth is so deeply ingrained in the American psyche that most people who've never even heard the name, end up regurgitating it on a daily basis whenever I discuss politics or economics. I just listened to two other podcasts last month that criticized the unconscious myth (calling it by name)...
But as an example of how deeply unconsciously it has penetrated... My brother (who lives in Europe) sent me a couple of articles from the UK Guardian (too lazy/busy to retrieve them right now) where government and even medical officials use the phrase "Sh#t-Life Syndrome" to refer to the things that we in the US have dubbed "Appalachian" (or "rural") "Diseases of Despair".
Now consider that difference for a moment. In Europe, it's acceptable for professionals to note that some people's "lives" are "sh#t", in other words, the problem objectively rests with the quality of their lives. That's an acknowledgement that life itself might be fundamentally unfair, or these people have tangible problems or disadvantages in their lives.
In America, it is strictly verboten to think that life might not be fair or that people's lack of success might possibly reflect problems imposed upon them from outside. No, as the American moniker notes, a bad life can _only_ result from a bad attitude ("_OF_ despair")
I mean, I know as well as the next guy, that the proper attitude can make a big difference and can even be transformative. But for the purposes of this myth, Americans seem to toss out the whole logical definition that a good attitude is a "Necessary But INSUFFICIENT" condition for success. I've butted heads with my fellow Americans about this for decades.
Hey, Kevin!
DeleteI'm glad I found a topic (dare I say, "yet another"?) than needs debunking!
You are dead on target with everything regarding how meaningless and dead our present lives seem. Just today, I got a chance to do something meaningful at work——help a fellow co-worker avoid bullshite persecution he simply doesn't deserve. And damn, I want to do more of that!
Sadly, the rush I got offering that help was once common in American workplaces. The War on Labor waged for decades now has simply reduced the number of people who get to talk back to the boss with contractual impunity.
As cool as it is talking on this 'cast about paid influence and the embedded system of sponsorship poisoning our culture and politics, I would give it up tomorrow if I could do every day what I had a chance to do today. It was hard, damned hard, in fact; but it was meaningful!
Don't worry. There isn't enough union activity even at my quite large workplace to displace my work on the Attack Ads! Podcast, at least not yet.
And feedback like yours, Kevin, also gives me a sign that my microphone efforts are not wasted, either, so thanks again for that!
I only wish the Searchies would fix the bug that forces me to manually check for comments….