The biggest problem with the idea of winners and losers is that it would starve the country of a lot of what it needs. Everyone will want to become a yuppie. Nobody will want to become scientists, teachers or the police. These professions don’t make very much money, and many people in them are seen as losers. However without them prosperity would be impossible.
I’ve been on both the winning and losing sides of capitalism. I made a lot of money in the computer industry when I was younger. Then that crashed, and I was under-employed. I gave up on looking for work in computer industry because I don’t see how I can compete against a guy in India who can do the same job for $6000 a year and has a master’s degree. So now I’m taking a class in relationship counselling, where I hope to help couples improve their relationships and stay together.
I have a friend named David. We have a lot in common with one another, but on many issues we disagree. He is anti-work and I am not. He thinks that rich people are bad and I don’t. I have known a number of rich people whom I respected. And I haven’t seen a correlation between levels of wealth or privilege and levels of personal goodness.
I attended an elite school on a full scholarship. I have been impressed with a number of people from that institution. Many became good people as adults even if they weren’t as teenagers. Here are people who come from privilege, who are good people. That refutes the claim that people from privileged backgrounds are all bastards.
I was with a woman named Julia, who was descended from English royalty. She was with a self-made millionaire from a bad background, and he was horrible to her. Many people who’ve had to struggle develop contempt and hatred for people who have it better than do they. My response to these people is that there will always be people who have it better than they do and there will always be people who have it worse than they do. That man had it worse than Julia, but he had it better than the folks in Haiti.
Can people from diverse backgrounds get along? I know that they can. I’ve been with women from both good backgrounds and bad backgrounds, and I got along with all of them. The matter in many cases needs to be put into perspective. The person from a worse background must be made to realize that there are many people who have it worse than does he. By global standards, just about every white person in the West is privileged.
As for winners and losers, as a mentality it is a turkey. It results in wrong incentives in society. There are many professions that are seen as being for losers, which are necessary and whose contributions are vast. The yuppies and businessmen would be nowhere without scientists, teachers and police. The people in these professions deserve respect.
This matter needs to be reworked. The professions that are needed should be treated with respect, whether or not one thinks that people in them are losers. We need teachers, we need scientists and we need the police. If you need someone you better be good to them. And that means letting go of one’s judgments about winners and losers and treating these people right even if you think that they are losers.