John: Had you said, "My comments were about reading," and ended there, you would have been correct. But you go on and the rest of what you say is wrong. You too give evidence of not reading my posts all the way through, of checking out after skimming my notes and applying a favorite saw, a categories or a label. Had you read on or even understood the post you reference you would understand that the topic was "immigration," and since I live in an area that receives huge numbers of immigrants I have a fair amount of personal experience. I admire our Southern California immigrants. Since I've been reading quite a bit about the European immigrants, I am nowadays more likely to take note of our local immigrants, and in every case I see hard working optimistic people, people unlike the resentful Middle-Easterners described by such people as David Selbourne, Oriana Fallaci, Bruce Bawer, Claire Berlinski, Daniel Pipes, and Jonathan Fenby. Our immigrants don't band together (except for "gangs" which is another subject) to express their resentment. They don't demand that the government take care of them. Yes, they do take advantage of the social security provided them like medical care, but they seem to work hard and be grateful for the opportunities this nation provides them. They compare their circumstances with what they had where they came from and are happy for the opportunities they have.
And then I mentioned that the second generation of our local immigrants do much better because they've taken advantage of our education opportunities and have better paying jobs than the first generation immigrants could qualify for. The first generation wants their kids to go to school, work hard, go to college and "get a good job." And they do. Yes, of course there are exception, gangs, etc., but these are anomalies and not representative of the whole. Our immigrants for the most part want to integrate, and we want to integrate them. The situation in Europe is very different and much worse.
As to my coveting more money or a higher status -- after saying that I didn't -- is either a personal attack or another example of not reading my notes. I'll assume the latter. Anyone who knew me in Aerospace would tell you I had a "problem with management." If you happen to be the smartest one in a department and your boss issues a dumb order, what do you do? Do you go along to get along, or do you do what is right and let the chips fall where they may? Some people joked about my working for the Helm Aircraft Company because I usually, when I thought the situation serious enough, did the right thing rather than follow orders. I retain a low opinion of corporate management. Some were competent but were soon corrupted. Others were sycophants. Both categories disgusted me. I'm surprised the American corporate system works as well as it does. Actually I usually put politicians in the same category. I do tend to mistrust them which isn't something I usually mention, contra Andreas, because I am usually countering one of his bizarre conspiracy theories. Corporate management and people who hold political office are subject to more temptations than the rest of us. I don't trust them not to give in to those temptations. On the other hand, I don't believe they are demons or involved in Fu-Manchu-type conspiracies. They are just normal people giving in to abnormal temptations.
So I don't compare myself to richer, "more successful" people as you suggest. Had you read my notes you would understand that I don't do that. I compare myself with myself' which is a Christian principle. You work hard, do the best you can, and content yourself with the result. I had a tempestuous career in aerospace because, being smarter than most, I felt obligated to help my company make the right decisions. This rubbed certain people, people higher up the corporate ladder who weren't as smart as I was, the wrong way. Why wasn't I laid off? I thought I might be from time to time, but it's never a good idea to lay off your best worker, even if he mouths off more than you would like -- especially when he's invariably right. And so I managed to stay working throughout the entire 39 year period. I began at Douglas Aircraft which merged with McDonnell Douglas; which was finally taken over by Boeing. By the way, Andreas, the Boeing acquisition of McDonnell Douglas was in July of 1997. My last day of work before retirement was in December of 1998; so my time with Boeing was short.
As to feeling contempt for people who don't do what I do, that is not correct either. I think a person should work hard with whatever gifts he has. The situation is such that if you do that here in the U.S. you will normally do well. In earlier periods that wasn't the case. The robber baron-period was a bad time for ordinary workers. Robert Paul and I have bandied words about the early American labor movement, something we were both interested in at one time. Those unpleasant circumstances no longer prevail. The "Fordist" approach to labor has been successful, i.e., pay your workers enough money so that they can buy your cars. We are being paid enough so that we can afford his cars, but if not quite yet, we soon will be.
I do have difficulty not feeling contempt for people who won't work hard, who won't apply themselves, who won't exercise their gifts, and then when things don't go well for them whine, blame others, and demand that someone take care of them.
I believe in the American work ethic. I don't believe that Europeans whose emphases are upon entitlements are going to be able to match America economically -- as long as the American work ethic is believed in by most of us.
Lawrence At 11:54 PM 2/25/2007, you wrote:
On 2/26/07, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:My comments were about you reading Lawrence's post -- reading about a comfortably retired guy (Lawrence) reflecting on the lot of the poor guy with several jobs. You ONLY identify with the poor guy. You don't see Lawrence. You don't react to Lawrence's wife and her illness, which was part of that post, and what that may mean for Lawrence. You don't see the poor guy's relatives (in Mexico, I assume). You don't see the coexistence of all these points of view. Your imagination blows a fuse and sputters out when you imagine the poor guy.I often find myself saying similar things to academic friends who seem to assume as a matter of course that anyone involved in business, but especially those who work for large corporations, must ipso facto be monsters of greed and depravity. Also, as I noted in my reply to Lawrence, I admire his life and what he has accomplished. That said, Lawrence winds up saying (or, at least, this is what I hear), look what I did. The subtext is clearly you should be able to do it, too, and if you don't I will despise you. An analytic aside: This attitude is common among, in particular, moderately successful people who fear losing what they have struggled to obtain. It gives voice to an anxious desire to be grouped with those who are far more successful and a terrified fear of being lumped with those who have, in the speaker's eyes, been failures. What I pointed to in my reply was another common characteristic, claiming that modest success was based solely on personal talent and a willingness to work hard, omitting completely the time and place without which neither talent nor hard work would have guaranteed success. Personally, the longer I live the more I realize how much of the good life I live is a gift received from others and an accident for which I can, at best, claim only partial credit. And I'd rather live in a society with a decent safety net and serious opportunities for the poorest among us to get ahead. If that makes me a Leftist, then proud to be a Leftist I am. John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 http://www.wordworks.jp/ ------------------------------------------------------------------
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