<story><title>The Guilt of the Video-Game Millionaires</title><url>http://newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/04/the-guilt-of-the-video-game-millionaires.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jcampbell1</author><text>Consider the following statements:&lt;p&gt;A) We live in a meritocracy&lt;p&gt;B) Meritocracies are fair&lt;p&gt;Most people accept that A is false.  We all know a fucktard that managed to get rich by being manipulative and destroying value.  The problem is that people then fail to realize that B is also false.&lt;p&gt;Meritocracies are not fair.  Allocating wealth to the people that provide a large amount of entertainment, seems fair, but it is not fair in a broad sense of the word.  Meritocracies reward those with good health, good luck, good parents who are encouraging, and the lucky gamete club who have high intelligence or exceptional physical skills.&lt;p&gt;Meritocracies are like democracy: &amp;quot;the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Working hard on a startup doesn&amp;#x27;t really earn you anything.  The best you can hope for is that hard work increases your luck surface area.  Keep in mind, that there are people that came from better sperm and eggs who will work just as hard but have a much higher chance of success.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Guilt of the Video-Game Millionaires</title><url>http://newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/04/the-guilt-of-the-video-game-millionaires.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>refurb</author><text>Interesting and well written article.&lt;p&gt;I think the issue that causes a lot of this emotion around money is the fact that we as a society like to think that the harder you work, the more money you make.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s obviously not a true statement at all.&lt;p&gt;When you come into a lot of money for relatively little effort (the comparison of the kid vs. the mother), you start to feel like you don&amp;#x27;t deserve it at all.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Why do I get $1M for a few months work when my mom gets $20K&amp;#x2F;yr for busting her ass?&amp;quot;</text></comment>