Mike: It's not 20 percent holding back the 80, rather they're leading the 80 into behaviors that benefit the 20. And it's not 20 percent, rather, it's more like 2 percent. It's the ruling elite ...
So you think being a member of the 2 percent "ruling elite" gives one a free pass from membership in the bottom 20 percent of my semi-serious notion? Not so. "The ruling elite" ... as though kings can't be stupid?
In my first post, I suggested that the notion wasn't elitist. I wrote something like, "Get the 1,000 smartest people on earth assembled to solve a problem and the bottom 200 will hold the rest back."
Who cares if superwealthy bottom 20-percenters are calling the shots for a world complex beyond our imaginings? They still represent the bottom 20 percent. (I'm suddenly reminded of the Kozinski novel where imbecile Chance suddenly has power...)
Historical example: United Flight 93. Less than 20 percent, who happened to be al-Qaeda, spoiled the flight for the doomed 80+ percent. Though it's satisfying to imagine those Islamist swine in the moment they realized their master plan of destruction had been foiled by non-passive passengers, it's much more tragic to consider the 80 percent who died as a result of the sunstruck madmen scheme devised by the less-than 20 percent (al-Qaeda).
Semi-serious as always, Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
