Charlie Hall comments here that "It is people like Adam Neumann who create Communists." Gotta' love that. Props.
Might we generally add to that people like Martin Shkreli (aka Pharma Bro) and include the generic label 'extremists'?
Apples and oranges in a way. But when you have an arrogant and literally criminally greedy hedge fund manager raising by hook and crook the price of a cheap lifesaving drug by 5K+% and attempting to completely block any generic competition, the folks directly affected by that - and no doubt no small number who weren't but were aware of it - just might start to get the idea that capitalism just ain't working for them all that well, never mind the fact that, unlike Neumann, there was actually some comeuppance for that little shit in the end.
Perception of how a social / economic system is working goes right along with how it actually is working. Pharma Bro was a relatively 'small' failure in the system that ultimately was 'corrected', at least to some degree. But the media amplified it, as the media is wont to do, and it is the failure that is remembered, not the correction. Which does nothing to burnish the upside of capitalism.
Rinse, spin and repeat enough times, throw in a few larger 'system failures' of some kind, and more than just a bit of serious burnishing might be required.
I'm sure they do. And rightfully so. The 'one rotten apple' doesn't in fact spoil the whole barrel. But when it comes to the perception thing, in a lot of people's minds it does. And that's so unfair to others in the barrel.
But I would argue that sometimes one bad apple does spoil the whole barrel. Witness what the disgraced ex-president did to the entire Republican party.
I preceded "one rotten apple" with "The" thinking that would indicate my meaning of *in this case*, which, of course, I realize now that it doesn't. Should have added "in this case" to be clear. But that's ok, because it let you bring up a point that's well taken, and which I see Charlie speaks to below.
Whether the rot came from one putrid piece of fruit, or a whole host of them, the whole of the barrel is now a reeking mess and needs to be dumped out, steam cleaned, disinfected and refilled with a new batch.
I think you may have the causality mistaken. It was the degradation of the Republican Party (since Gingrich/Buchanan) that led to Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.
Gringich, Limbaugh, et .al., tilled the soil, but it was the emergence of the disgraced ex-president, in my view, that caused the rot to spread throughout the entire party establishment with the notable exception of only two party members.
It's hard to see any of his competitors in the party doing what he has done.
Charlie Hall comments here that "It is people like Adam Neumann who create Communists." Gotta' love that. Props.
Might we generally add to that people like Martin Shkreli (aka Pharma Bro) and include the generic label 'extremists'?
Apples and oranges in a way. But when you have an arrogant and literally criminally greedy hedge fund manager raising by hook and crook the price of a cheap lifesaving drug by 5K+% and attempting to completely block any generic competition, the folks directly affected by that - and no doubt no small number who weren't but were aware of it - just might start to get the idea that capitalism just ain't working for them all that well, never mind the fact that, unlike Neumann, there was actually some comeuppance for that little shit in the end.
Perception of how a social / economic system is working goes right along with how it actually is working. Pharma Bro was a relatively 'small' failure in the system that ultimately was 'corrected', at least to some degree. But the media amplified it, as the media is wont to do, and it is the failure that is remembered, not the correction. Which does nothing to burnish the upside of capitalism.
Rinse, spin and repeat enough times, throw in a few larger 'system failures' of some kind, and more than just a bit of serious burnishing might be required.
Rich, greedy people always, always ruin it for the rest of us.
BTW...I *really* liked that Neumann / Communists thing. I'm still chuckling about it. ;-))
I'm sure they do. And rightfully so. The 'one rotten apple' doesn't in fact spoil the whole barrel. But when it comes to the perception thing, in a lot of people's minds it does. And that's so unfair to others in the barrel.
But I would argue that sometimes one bad apple does spoil the whole barrel. Witness what the disgraced ex-president did to the entire Republican party.
I preceded "one rotten apple" with "The" thinking that would indicate my meaning of *in this case*, which, of course, I realize now that it doesn't. Should have added "in this case" to be clear. But that's ok, because it let you bring up a point that's well taken, and which I see Charlie speaks to below.
Whether the rot came from one putrid piece of fruit, or a whole host of them, the whole of the barrel is now a reeking mess and needs to be dumped out, steam cleaned, disinfected and refilled with a new batch.
I think you may have the causality mistaken. It was the degradation of the Republican Party (since Gingrich/Buchanan) that led to Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.
Gringich, Limbaugh, et .al., tilled the soil, but it was the emergence of the disgraced ex-president, in my view, that caused the rot to spread throughout the entire party establishment with the notable exception of only two party members.
It's hard to see any of his competitors in the party doing what he has done.