The idea that the rich get richer isn't a new one and, it isn't a fallacy at all, the rich do in fact generally get richer in this world as it is by design, their design. Wealth is power, power is influence, influence affects the engineering of the environment. There is no way around it really unless the design changes and, that is what we are here for isn't it, to change the design for a fairer distribution? But, there is an uncomfortable truth in all of the rich gets richer conversation and that is another saying, like begets like.
Like begets like simply means there is a strong similarity between parents and their offspring, it is the process of selective breeding for various traits in animals and it obviously has effects on us as humans. Of course, when it comes to economic vales, there is the inheritance processes that leads to old money as well as the position of the money that leads to cronyism but, there is more to it than that.
Last night, I had a coffee with a friend and being Sunday night in this city and the time it was, we ended up at a service station restaurant and were talking about various things. He is a financial controller by trade. What we were discussing is the differences in the way people manage themselves and their various lifestyles. What we do matters, what we eat matters, how we move matters, the things we buy matters, who to and how we talk matters, the books, shows and who we choose to spend our time with matters.
If we look at this from a like begets like perspective where one action becomes the parent of the next action holding some level of similarity, we could see that changing behaviors would form an evolutionary process. Through selection of actions, there is the possibility to make some more habitual and increase their likelihood of parenting new similar actions which means that if one is doing what leads to what they consider a success commonly, rich gets richer.
I am a firm believer in small steps leading us onto all things in life and this is for the positive and the negative. If what we do matters and where we focus our time and energy leads us onto the next steps, expecting to be somewhere our steps aren't taking us is going to be problematic. And complaining about the system is one thing but if our steps aren't leading to being able to influence that very system, we have no chance of ever changing it.
The gaps are increasing and this isn't just wage gaps and income gaps. While we drank our coffee and spoke about some of these things last night we had a look around at the other clientele. When I came to Finland 15 years ago, there were very few obese people while now, there are many. Many. This is a massive cultural shift and it is going to have ramifications on other areas but it symptomatic of the world in which we live, one of hedonistic excess and availability to satisfy desires, even if their satisfaction is not in our best interest. On-demand life cycles.
We have been told for decades to do what we enjoy, follow our heart, love ourselves and that everyone is expected to accept us for whatever we are, how ever we are. It is nonsense. Doing what we enjoy means a child doesn't eat their vegetables, following our heart doesn't consider that our hearts can be influenced by things like the media, love ourselves while we poison and make our selves sick through consumption, and expecting everyone to accept us for who we are while simultaneously complaining that the way we are is someone else's fault. See the conflicts?
The rich get richer because that is the system they have set up through their continual habitual processes that they have created in the same way that someone who eats poorly and has a sedentary lifestyle will likely get ill. These are just processes that we support or don't as humans through our behaviors. We aren't all born into privilege, we don't all have the same resources, possibilities or potentials but, we can all have some effect over how we choose to live our lives and the purchasing decisions we make.
If you are reading this right now, you are on the internet. Where you spend your time here, what you choose to consume and learn and how you choose to use this resource to affect your life is completely up to you. You can watch the latest shows, spend your time laughing at memes, stare at people playing games or whatever you choose but, there is a consumption and a creation process and the consumer class will never out-earn the creator class and, they will become ever more reliant on the creators to provide what is to be consumed.
All of society is trend based and if we are to change the trends, we have to change the behaviors that create them. Trends are made on what we buy. The material things of course but more importantly, the ideas and belief systems we choose to accept as ours and act upon as if they are a part of us, often without realizing that the very thing we have bought promising to satisfy our immediate desires, is making us ill in the long-term.
We get what we want now, at the cost of tomorrow.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]