|
dafremen
|
What is there that is noble about succeeding in the way in which we, as a society, measure success today?
To be successful, we prey upon those who don't have our advantage, whatever that advantage might be. The strong prey upon the weak, the intellectually endowed prey upon the not so intelligent. The experienced prey upon the not so much so. The haves prey upon the have-nots. The street wise prey upon the urban savvy challenged among us.
To get ahead, we look for those whose inexperience, ignorance or lack of ability we can take advantage of.
"Caveat Emptor!", we say. "Let the buyer beware!" And we call that intelligent. We call it succeeding.
We create products and services, perhaps at first with the best of intentions, perhaps with a certain amount of the pride and satisfaction that comes with having created something. Then we find that our products or services are either useless, over priced or even worse, harmful. Yet once we've invested a certain amount of our resources in the endeavor, we don't even consider abandoning our efforts.
Instead, we find those who are unaware of the uselessness, priciness or harm in our product.
We sell the up side, downplay the downside..in our best moments of conscience advising them with print too tiny or confusing to be of any use in informing them. At worst, we out and out LIE.
And we do this all to succeed we say. But what success is there in taking from another in exchange for something worthless or harmful? What pride should we really have in our ability to sell snake oil to the less informed? What was our conscience REALLY asking us to do when we felt the need to hide the not so salable realities of our goods behind deceptive words or small print?
When we take advantage of the not so informed...and the not so intelligent among our own kind..and label ourselves "successful" for doing so, what have we really become?
The same holds true for folks that take advantage in relationships; predators who search out those with weak self esteems or are attention starved. Men that prey on vulnerable, silly women. Women that prey on vulnerable, foolish men. Is it REALLY ok...because they LET us? How does another letting us act heinously reflect on them? Doesn't it really reflect on us? Isn't the need to prey upon the weak..a sign of weakness? Who REALLY believes the expression, "If they were stupid enough to let me"? Shouldn't it instead be said that we were too weak to resist?
I used to ask my son a question to illustrate the point. If there were a severely mentally retarded girl in the neighborhood who would do anything, including sexual favors for an ice cream cone..would it be ok to take advantage of that? His answer was no..that would be sick. Why is it any different because she is retarded than if she were simply unintelligent..vulnerable or uninformed? Isn't it the same thing...just not as obvious?
And what's REALLY the difference between beating someone down with your fists and beating them down with words? Aren't the intentions the same? To put them in their place? To establish "the pecking order"? To shut them up? To take what's theirs? Except, instead of their material possessions, we hope to deprive them of the not so tangible assets: their self esteem, their peace of mind, their hopes and aspirations (however mindless or misguided they might or might not be.)
I'll ask the question again..what have we become if instead of lifting up those who don't have our advantages..we prey upon their disadvantage?
How can a society whose main mode of conduct consists of its members taking advantage of one other REALLY be called social?
|
090402
|
