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Do we get what we deserve?
[View 1] We get what we deserve. If my success is my own doing, something I’ve earned through talent and hard work, I can take pride in it, confident that I deserve the rewards my achievement brings. [this is a powerful notion of freedom; however, hubris and entitlement can build and be one’s downfall]
[View 2: There are factors beyond my control. There are certain things I, as a being, cannot see nor really understand as the Universe and God works their magic. Thus, I am lucky to be born into a certain family, race, culture, and status that enables me to live and experience the brave new world. If I am born rich, I will not look down in contempt or scorn the poor, but help them. If I am born poor, I will not hate the rich but understand that they too are a victim of their environment and influences.
Does luck play a bigger role in your success and achievements? Or hard work? And whatever your opinion or outlook is—how does it impact society?
The relentless emphasis on creating a fair meritocracy, in which social positions reflect effort and talent, has a corrosive effect on the way we interpret our success (of the lack of it). The notion that the system rewards talent and hard work encourages the winners to consider their success their own doing, a measure of their virtue—and to look down upon those less fortunate than themselves.
Meritocratic hubris reflects the tendency of winners to inhale too deeply of their success, to forget the luck and good fortune that helped them on their way. It is the smug conviction of those who land on top that they deserve their fate, and that those on the bottom deserve theirs, too. This attitude is the moral companion of technocratic politics.
Those who celebrate the meritocratic ideal and make it the centre of their political project overlook this moral question. They also ignore something more politically potent: the morally unattractive attitudes the meritocratic ethnic promotes, among the winners and also among the losers. Among the winners, it generates hubris; among the losers, humiliation and resentment. The moral sentiments are at the heart of the populist uprising against elites.
(Inspired from Michael J. Sandel)
These are just a couple of the questions and discussions that will be open for people to share their views, debate, and learn from others to engage in meaningful discussions.
Everyone is welcomed except minors under the ages of 18.
Upcoming events
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