On Meaning and Meritocracy

On Meaning and Meritocracy

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Most of us wish to have some sort of meaning in our lives. What qualifies as meaning varies of course – for some, it's their family; for some, their work; for others, volunteering; still others, religion; and others, art, to name just a few possibilities. We see such pursuits as noble, and profoundly human. I can think of no one who would describe searching for or finding meaning in your life as a bad thing. And yet.

In our society, we like to think we are a meritocracy, but that's not true. Geniuses are born to abusive, poverty-stricken families and good people do desperate things to survive in our harsh world that the majority would call "immoral." Too often, these people tried playing by the rules only to find out the deck is stacked, and not in their favor.

"Playing by the rules" usually means attending school and getting decent grades, which a child might do, but be rejected by their college of choice because their school was a poor school with a bad rating and their parents could not afford a private one. They might be denied scholarships for not having enough extracurriculars when they had to work a job to survive, or babysit younger siblings, or both. So they go to a community college, where a sub-par education not taught by actual professors gets them tens of thousands of dollars in debt, only to find that the degree-required jobs don't pay much more than flipping burgers, with more competition, and carrying that debt. When the job listing requires college but pays nine dollars an hour, you have not improved your life or lifted yourself out of poverty.

"Playing by the rules" demands that you work any job that will pay for your labor, no matter how unfairly. It requires you to keep doing that even when your boss treats you like garbage and your hours are consistently cut and you have no access to health insurance. It sometimes demands two jobs, or three, or school and work, and claims that anything less is lazy.

So while you're working a 9-5, Monday through Friday and delivering papers at 3 AM, while studying for a degree program, perhaps your Masters or a new trade if you already have a Bachelor's… when are you supposed to find meaning if being a call center rep and newspaper boy doesn't do it for you?

You're not. To ask for the time necessary to fulfill a basic human need like meaning is selfish, or frivolous, or pie-in-the-sky, if you are one of the millions of unlucky bastards who have to sell your time for just enough dollars to survive with a roof over your head. "Meaning" is for the lucky, privileged, successful people who have "made it."

This not only drains your soul, your psyche, and your energy, but is yet another double-edged sword for the poor and working class.

Oh, you don't have time to spend with your kids? You're a terrible, neglectful parent! You cut back your hours so you could parent but now you're on food stamps? You leech on society! You spend your time and money on art and art supplies? Better get your head out of the clouds and invest. You lost your 401(k) in the stock market crash? Well, you can still work when you're 80, right? You gave all your money to your church? Well it's your own fault you're broke now for being so gullible! You don't contribute to your church?? You greedy bastard! You don't go to church?! You must be a vile, moralless devil worshipper!

Meaning and the search for it is not for the lower classes. You are supposed to be content to increase value for shareholders while living off ramen noodles and giving 60% of your income to your landlord. Forever. Unless you win the lotto or America's Got Talent. Your hard work and effort will never be rewarded, but you'll hear some great harp ballads played by angels when you die!

How is this fair? How is this human? The meritocracy is a lie. In other times or places, we call this a caste system or serfdom. In America we call it "freedom."

An exceptional example DOES NOT prove the great leap is possible for everyone. An exception is an exception because they defy the rule. And usually had a lot of luck in terms of help, and being at the right place, at the right time, with the right skills. Michelangelo could not have been Steve Jobs nor Steve Jobs, Michelangelo, if their times and places have been reversed. You could be the reincarnation of Einstein, but if born in a village where girls don't go to school and you happen to be one, you're unlikely to revolutionize physics. You could be a straight, white male, the trifecta of privilege, but if born to abusive parents who are so terrible you run away when you're fifteen and live on the streets, the odds of you becoming a motivational success story who gives Ted Talks and publishes a best-selling self-help book are low. Not impossible… but perhaps the same odds as that lotto ticket.

So what's an overworked, underpaid, meaningless proletariat to do?

Guillotine building instructions:

...I kid.

Kind of.

We need a Universal Basic Income. Everyone deserves to have their basic needs met. Everyone. I don't care if you're lazy or have great work ethic; are able to work at all or not; are smart or stupid; male or female; black or white; Christian or Muslim; gay or straight. Everyone deserves a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, clothes on their backs, fresh, clean water, electricity, heating, and communications. Regardless if you are working, got laid off, quit, or anything in between.

Think about how many more Great American Novels we'd get. How many more artists. How many involved parents raising the next generation. How many inventors. How many volunteers. How many people doing jobs they love, instead of what they could get to pay rent.

How much happier we would be. How much less ill from stress- and exhaustion-related disease. How much more rested. How much more fulfilled.

But who will do the work?! you say. Firstly, so many jobs are being automated right now, there is ever-less work to be done. Self-driving cars and trucks. Brick and mortar stores going out of business because people are shopping online. Those Amazon fulfillment centers are staffed by exhausted employees now – but technology is ever advancing. Computer programs. 3D printers. Factory automation. Robot caregivers! The list goes on. We have less to worry about outsourcing and Immigrants Took Er Jerbs than we do automation.

And those jobs that can't be automated (yet)? Some people will want to do them – some people love being doctors or scientists or musicians or whatever it is that they do. The other jobs will have to be fairly compensated to make it worth anybody's while.

Shock! Horror! A fair wage for shitty work nobody wants to do?! Madness! Anarchy!!

There will always be people who want to work. They still deserve to be paid fairly for their trouble. There will always be people willing to crawl in the sewer if the price is right. They really deserve to be paid well. Would you want to do it? No? Then pony up and pay the man.

WHERE WILL THE MONEY COME FROM, I hear the fiscal conservatives scream.

Without even getting into monetary theory, it's simple, really: stop spending trillions on warmaking and CORPORATE handouts. These same fiscal conservatives probably also like the idea of a free market, but that's not what we have right now. Oil companies get subsidies to destroy and pollute, without which they wouldn't even be profitable. Why are we funding century old tech instead of investing in new and better tech?

"BUT THEY HATE US FOR OUR FREEDOM AND WE HAVE TO DEFEND OURSELVES!" Listen. They hate us because we bomb them to hell and murder their families and oust their democratically elected leaders. If we stopped doing that, there would be less terrorism. Also, it's harder to recruit people to blow themselves up if they are able to provide for their families. Just like in America, where the majority of voluntary military recruitment is among the poor and the rich dodge the draft, in the Middle East, a lot of AQ and Daesh recruits join up for a paycheck. We have the largest military in the world many times over in an era of growing peace. Don't believe me? Read The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker.

Take all of that money that is currently poisoning the planet and killing people, and improve the world instead. Let the meritocracy actually exist. Give everyone a chance, and see what improvements rise to the top when harmful industries are not given an unfair advantage. See how much crime goes down with the erasure of poverty and desperation. See how innovative people are when they have the luxury to think about something besides the looming rent or their empty bellies.

Give peace a chance – we've already tried war and suffering. They failed. It's time to try something new.