Dear Friends,
It seems the acme of hubris to me, for someone to think they should take over that which they could never have created. We see this in armed robbery, hostile takeovers, and nationalizations. When someone who was unable to create a thing usurps control they always run it into the ground. This is true judged pragmatically and historically. Historically, close to 50% of lottery winners have filed for bankruptcy within 5 years of winning. Many go on to have great lives, but that huge number of people who turn a windfall into a liability can’t be ignored. When Spain became richer than rich from looting Aztec gold the nation became indolent and then indigent. Logically, when someone gets a thing they didn’t create, the learning curve is steep, and the incentive to climb it is weak.
We all look at the role of others and mock them. Heck, I could be a CEO, says the janitor. Even as the CEO says, if I were a janitor I would do five times the work of those layabouts. This is because we see our labor close at hand and the efforts of others at a distance. We personally feel the sweat run from our brow into our eyes. That sting lets us know we work harder than anyone else. Others struggle under great mental weight. With no time for anything but conniving, struggling, and winning… whether or a corporation, nation, or their own start up, they believe everyone else is an anchor. This is why we see our ourselves as heroes and others as lazy. This absolutely natural mindset leads us to think we can run that corporation, nation, or firm much better than them.
That arrogant mindset of superiority to that which we are ignorant of leads many to seize control. Why should that idiot be allowed to run a firm that has so much importance to us? Forget he built it himself, his politics, ethics, or choices disqualify him… or her. So those with the political favor usurp power over the state, a corporation, or the entire economy. It’s bad enough when a half-witted third generation industrialist is handed the keys to an empire, then set themselves to obliterating it with every foolish decision they make. How much worse is it when someone saturated with the Dunning Kruger Effect seizes control of an entire economy? The first harms the workers, shareholders, executives, and themselves… the second destroys an entire nation of people.
Thrasymachus said law serves the strong against the weak. Put another way, law serves he who wields it, not justice. Postmodernists accept this as canon and have concluded from it then that they should wield power at all costs. Usurping everything they see is the natural consequence of that attitude. Postmodernists, however, are not the only ones to follow Thrasymachus’ code. History is replete with examples, Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, and Lenin are but three of them. The outcome must be the destruction of the seized property. No matter whether that property is a wad of money, corporation, or a national economy. The arrogant usurp then destroy everything they see, This destruction keeps a lid on how much or how fast and economy, philosophy, or science can grow.
As economies, corporations, and even science itself are usurped, they are destroyed… by those ill equipped to control them. So we could conclude that the more usurpation is allowed, unpunished, or encouraged, the lower will be the standard of living, rate of scientific advancement, and economic growth. Because the rate of destruction gets close to or exceeds the rate of expansion. If the predilection of the arrogant to seize that which they are unfit to run, is mitigated by law, custom, and culture, the rate of growth in all areas of life will increase, as a natural consequence of less destruction. So it behooves us to limit the ability of the arrogant to usurp that which they are unfit to run. To do otherwise is an act of self-destruction.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Hubris Leads To Destruction
Dear Friends,
It seems the acme of hubris to me, for someone to think they should take over that which they could never have created. We see this in armed robbery, hostile takeovers, and nationalizations. When someone who was unable to create a thing usurps control they always run it into the ground. This is true judged pragmatically and historically. Historically, close to 50% of lottery winners have filed for bankruptcy within 5 years of winning. Many go on to have great lives, but that huge number of people who turn a windfall into a liability can’t be ignored. When Spain became richer than rich from looting Aztec gold the nation became indolent and then indigent. Logically, when someone gets a thing they didn’t create, the learning curve is steep, and the incentive to climb it is weak.
We all look at the role of others and mock them. Heck, I could be a CEO, says the janitor. Even as the CEO says, if I were a janitor I would do five times the work of those layabouts. This is because we see our labor close at hand and the efforts of others at a distance. We personally feel the sweat run from our brow into our eyes. That sting lets us know we work harder than anyone else. Others struggle under great mental weight. With no time for anything but conniving, struggling, and winning… whether or a corporation, nation, or their own start up, they believe everyone else is an anchor. This is why we see our ourselves as heroes and others as lazy. This absolutely natural mindset leads us to think we can run that corporation, nation, or firm much better than them.
That arrogant mindset of superiority to that which we are ignorant of leads many to seize control. Why should that idiot be allowed to run a firm that has so much importance to us? Forget he built it himself, his politics, ethics, or choices disqualify him… or her. So those with the political favor usurp power over the state, a corporation, or the entire economy. It’s bad enough when a half-witted third generation industrialist is handed the keys to an empire, then set themselves to obliterating it with every foolish decision they make. How much worse is it when someone saturated with the Dunning Kruger Effect seizes control of an entire economy? The first harms the workers, shareholders, executives, and themselves… the second destroys an entire nation of people.
Thrasymachus said law serves the strong against the weak. Put another way, law serves he who wields it, not justice. Postmodernists accept this as canon and have concluded from it then that they should wield power at all costs. Usurping everything they see is the natural consequence of that attitude. Postmodernists, however, are not the only ones to follow Thrasymachus’ code. History is replete with examples, Tamerlane, Genghis Khan, and Lenin are but three of them. The outcome must be the destruction of the seized property. No matter whether that property is a wad of money, corporation, or a national economy. The arrogant usurp then destroy everything they see, This destruction keeps a lid on how much or how fast and economy, philosophy, or science can grow.
As economies, corporations, and even science itself are usurped, they are destroyed… by those ill equipped to control them. So we could conclude that the more usurpation is allowed, unpunished, or encouraged, the lower will be the standard of living, rate of scientific advancement, and economic growth. Because the rate of destruction gets close to or exceeds the rate of expansion. If the predilection of the arrogant to seize that which they are unfit to run, is mitigated by law, custom, and culture, the rate of growth in all areas of life will increase, as a natural consequence of less destruction. So it behooves us to limit the ability of the arrogant to usurp that which they are unfit to run. To do otherwise is an act of self-destruction.
Sincerely,
John Pepin