In all these criticisms of the Occupy protests, I see a common trend: critics pick words like "fairness" and "equality" and extrapolate absurd arguments from these words so as to make protesters' outcries look ridiculous. This type of specious argumentation is called "attacking a straw man". It is not as though such people don't understand what those words actually mean. They do. And you can tell that they do because they go to great lengths to misinterpret those words in every ludicrous way possible, carefully avoiding the most obvious, simple and straightforward representation. All just to obfuscate real issues and vitiate the spirit of public discourse by throwing around such red herrings as the suggestion that protesters' messages all boil down to the Marxist principle - "from each according to his ability to each according to his need". Do they, really?
Equal rights. Equal access to opportunity. Fair play. Rule of law. Equality of all citizens under the law. Justice for all. Not difficult concepts to understand, are they? Or maybe they are, for some of those critics. Maybe not all critics are attacking a straw man on purpose - maybe their very understanding of these concepts is nebulous. So here's a new rule that should clarify some of this.
Purpose of New Rule: This rule is meant as a guide for those who don't understand the meaning of fairness and equality, or why it is important for the health of capitalism to preserve and protect such ideals.
Description of New Rule: Think back to when you last took an exam (assuming, at the very least, that you went to school, if not college). Equality means all students answer the question paper under the same set of rules, within the same time period, under the same watchful eyes of the same invigilator. Fairness means that all students are given access to the same learning material and teachers, and in general, the same opportunities to prepare for their exams. Some students have a better grasp of the subject and/ or take the pains to be better prepared, and as a consequence, fare better than other students. That's fair. What would be unfair is if a select few were given an opportunity to be better prepared by "leaking" the questions to them ahead of the exam, or given opportunities to plagiarize, or given extra time to complete their answers. Not all students score the same marks. That's not what equality means! Nor does it mean that students who are less capable but "need" to do well in their exams should score higher marks. Assuming a "normal" distribution, some students will top the class, most will be somewhere in the middle while others will remain stragglers. As long as they used fair means to achieve their distinction, a merit-based outcome is not only an acceptable outcome but the inevitable outcome of a fair and just evaluation system. This is exactly how it works with capitalism. Given a normal distribution and a level playing field, some people will make more money than others. As long as they used fair means to make money, it is not only acceptable but inevitable that their abilities, ambition and industriousness merit their economic rewards. What is unacceptable is when a few people use unfair means to make disproportionately large sums of money. Unfair means such as gaming the system or bending the rules. Or even breaking the rules and leveraging powerful connections to get away with it.
Protesters of the Occupy movement are not against meritocracy. On the contrary, that is exactly what they are asking for - the restoration of true meritocracy. They are decrying the perversion of meritocracy by the few, for the few. Criticism of these protests can only come from those who are so foolish that they just can't get this, or from those who are so guilty (of the perversion of meritocracy) that they just won't get this. Can't or won't, you know who you are.
Post Script, Oct 29
Having quoted Karl Marx in this post last night, and having come across this other quote from another Marx (Groucho) this morning, I think this says it best: "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made."
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Post Script, Oct 29
Having quoted Karl Marx in this post last night, and having come across this other quote from another Marx (Groucho) this morning, I think this says it best: "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made."
Posted via email from HyperActiveX's (Pre)Posterous Posts
