this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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I wouldn't really say I'm who you're asking, but I've looked hard at a lot of statistics on this. It's mostly luck, with a big helping of what you were given either through birth or early life, which is just a form of luck if you think about it.
Anything beyond that is going to be a matter of your particular situation, and which things you're willing and able to change about it. If there was a silver bullet everyone would already use it.
This is honestly why I keep leaning further and further left. I have worked my ass off, and I have achieved a lot. I put myself through school and got a master's degree and have a decent career. I have an awesome partner and my kids are doing well.
I grew up very poor. My parents were religious nut jobs resulting in a perfect combination of abuse and neglect. My first marriage was also abusive.
I'm angry about what I've had to sacrifice and how hard I've had to work to overcome so many things that were completely out of my control. I'm also a white cis man in America. So, so many times people have said things to me about women, other races, LGBTQIA+, etc, as if it would be the default view, that there is no question that there is a ton of bigotry out in these systems. And then I think, what would the experience be of someone in one of these groups and otherwise a similar situation to mine? How much more would they have to sacrifice? How much harder would they have to work? Would they even ever be able to get as far as I have?
This makes me even more angry, and I think this shit needs to change.