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This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.Subscribe
This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.
As a former poor American (not nearly as bad as many other country’s state of poverty,) I find this a bit insulting. I know you’re trying to say something nice, but what it ends up sounding like is that poor people have no one to blame but their own lack of confidence. Poverty can be an MC Escher-style nightmare that’s impossible to get out of.
As a first-time commenter, let me also thank you for the work you do here. There are some very charming and often inspiring little index cards on here. Please keep it up!
Honestly this is straight on. Having grown up in poverty (welfare, living in a car) the hardest thing for me to do was gain the confidence to get out of it (fortunately now I am low middle class with a wonderful wife and a thousand light years away from the poverty I grew up in).
Also, I have noted a lot of the upper class people have a lot of confidence but not the skills that some of the poorer people I grew up with.
Well done!!
@Ben E: I sort of interpreted it the opposite way, that being poor can destroy your confidence even if you’re highly skilled, while being rich can give you an inflated sense of self-worth even if you don’t have any skill to back it up with. I can easily see how your interpretation works, though.
Change “skill” to “reality” and you could easily diagram our political system now…
I’d rather see two horizontal lines. That would display that regardless of skill the rich carry a confidence that the poor lacks.
This version says that poor are always more skilled than rich, I doubt that that’s the point.
Ben E: Maybe you should stop looking for places to be offended. Life’s easier that way.
It’s interesting to me that “being rich” and “being poor” seem to be addressed as though they were conditions, something you are or have inherently, like gay or curly hair or a Roman nose.
change skill into laziness, and you have yourself a nice chart there.
This is the very fantasy of the Left that has disillusioned me so much, though I once self-identified so strongly with them.
Meanwhile, ‘derp’ perfectly encapsulates why I will never shift all the way Right.
Here resurfaces the American illusion that somehow the rich have acquired their wealth by chance or dubious means. Not that I think that all rich persons are honorable, but the rich become and remain rich because they are capable of handling money and other resources effectively. This takes considerable skill, and that is why CEOs have large paychecks, because they are skilled at making business profitable. If they were not able to perform this task, then corporations would gladly spend those resources elsewhere or to line their own pockets.
I thought that graph was about sex….
HAHA Andrew has it totally right. Look at the title and it has absolutely nothing to do with economical standing.
I’d tend to say that those top and bottom points should be horizontal lines instead, that would be closer…
Replacing “confidence” with “willingness to be a total dick” may work a bit better.
I’m not sure if I agree necessarily. People get rich by inheriting it or by earning it…
Replace the “Rich” dot with “Cut-Throat Bitch,” and the “Poor” dot with “Foreign Degree,” and I definitely agree. =p
This is, in a way, true. I know poor people personally who have(a few, had) 0 confidence, but more skill than anyone else I could think of. They are now in good jobs and making a good salary.
Me, personally, I am confident(at times, arrogant), and I have skill. There should be another dot at the right angle of the first two dots that says “Everyone else.”(sorry, I’m a math nerd :p)
It’s not “The Rich” and “The Poor” it’s just rich and poor. (Which are relative terms, by the way.)
I took it as an inspirational message, and it reminded me that the one reason I am not rich, despite my extraordinary skill, is my lack of confidence.
I thank the author for the kick in the pants.
(that was meant to be “reminded me that ONE reason I am not rich” – not “the one reason”
Very well said.
Good grief. Most of you commenters need to get the hot poker out of your ass and just have a laugh. Charts on recipe cards ≠ Serious business, folks.
I would change “rich” to “success” and “poor” to “fail”. a confident talentless “fake it till you make it” type will get further than a pure talent that is paralyzed by self doubt.
This isn’t necessarily true. I’m poor, and I have very little skill AND very little confidence.