I heard a couple things this weekend that stuck with me. Both turned some old chestnuts on their head, both came from a couple of guys I knew form way back.
When the tough get going, the going gets tough.
That's from Steve and Steve is back. The brash energy was on full display. What people have been saying about Michael Phelps is that he's not satisfied just winning, he wants the other competitors to lose, and feel the sting. True competitors make it tough for the other guys. That's the kind of attitude that makes a difference.
Forget the Talented Tenth, make everybody give Ten percent more Talent.
I know that LB reads Cobb, and like a lot of friends, family and associates he's said that "I disagree with most of what you say, but I see the logic in it." So I can't tell if he was riffing directly off the Error of My Boohabian Ways, the conversation was light anyway. But I think he has a strong point. I very much like the idea of an aristocracy of merit, not one of inheritance, and I have to say that I get the distinct feeling (or at least I used to when I paid more attention) that the Talented Tenth is a bit more on the inherited side.
I think that one of the great misunderstandings I get is that people think I'm on a mission. The fact of the matter is that I enjoy open-source information for people who care. And to have all the arguments out there and free from left to right, I think serves everyone who takes the time to think through politics. I don't think that the Talented Tenth is busted, speaking of the people, I think that the idea is weak and generally inapplicable to much more than middle-class and upper middle class aspiration. But considering what DuBois had in mind, that's all it was ever intended to be. I'm probably not the first and won't be the last person to think that there was more gold at the end of that rainbow than Lifestyles of the Dentist, namely that wealth-creation and black nationalist goals could be managed by a black managerial class.
So I dig LB's vibe for the general health and welfare of the black middle class and all aspirants to achievement. Interestingly, I do so more now than I did when I was a Progressive, because I've been in the position to pay salaries, which I think is a responsibility and a privilege not many Progressives relate to directly.
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