Kissing asses and telling the right lies

Dear Joe,

I've just read "The masses have become lazy, fat and stupid" and I must say that Kelly's letter is most depressing for the fact that he/she -- like many "self-made" people -- seems to remember "fearing every moment that I wouldn't make tuition" and other terrors on the way up only as things she heroically overcame rather than as points in her life when some small change beyond her control might have brought the entire dream crashing down.

Not all of the "fat, lazy, and stupid" have been conditioned long-term by the power structure to accept their lot: no doubt many of them actually experienced the kinds of things Kelly feared would happen to her, perhaps multiple times. You may consider these failures as rigged in advance by ruling classes, and I agree they often are.

The result is a group of people who should be more sympathetic than usual with those who weren't able to "make it," but are instead far less so than those born to power and wealth. Perhaps they are afraid to admit that they are so vulnerable to forces beyond their control, but whatever their reason, they themselves may become an exceptionally big part of the problem for others who would emulate them. Nobody makes it without someone, somewhere, giving them a break, or a key bit of help or encouragement, or even simply standing aside, plus some plain, dumb luck from time to time.

Actually, it seems to me that in many ways, these "self-made" people may in critical ways become "fat, lazy, and stupid"  by refusing to really think about what's going on beyond their own ambition.

There are, of course, also the allegedly "fat, lazy, and stupid" who are simply sick of the bullshit and who could do what is required to "succeed" by Kelly's definition, but refuse to do so on principle. Getting through college, though significant, is barely the begining: much of what follows really has nothing to do with what one knows or can do and everything to do with kissing the right asses and telling the right lies.

Love your website and your essays! Keep up the good work.

Jim