Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by alchemist1e9 882 days ago
That book is incredibly relevant to current trends. While envy in small societies spurred improvement, in today’s complex societies it breeds destructive tendencies, vast disparity in achievement makes envy less about motivation and more about resentment, fueling calls for collectivism and redistribution. The rise of Progressive politics might be less about fairness and more about an unaddressed, deep-seated envy. We know historically there are only destructive outcomes for policies rooted in such emotions, rather than constructive societal development.
1 comments

Envy is who has a problem with Inequality. Charity is who has a problem with poverty. Easiest way to reduce inequality is kneecap those at the top and share the lucre with your downtrodden political allies. Easiest way to help poverty is teaching a man to fish after giving him a couple fish so he doesn't need to worry about starvation during class.