Re: Power, Money, and Values.
From: WOLF1GDSFM (WOLF1GDSFMaol.com)
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:51:08 -0600 (MDT)
In a message dated 03-09-30 12:58:16 EDT, robert [at] arjet.net wrote:

<< money gives people power.  Not that there aren't 
 other types of power, but the whole purpose of money is to distill power 
 down to a portable, readily exchangeable form. >>

I work in a hospital, and I have been having similar thoughts, although as a 
result of what I see in my work, not discussions on cohousing-L.

It seems that it is usually the fortunate who get to call the shots.  Being 
fortunate often ends up as having more money, but other things are affected as 
well.  If all my energy (as well as my money) is consumed by battling an 
illness or that of a loved one, I will not have energy left to fight for what I 
think is right.  In most cases I will not be writing my senator, drafting 
proposals or coming up with plans to build better hosptials.  I may need these 
things, but the energy is not there.

Others, the more fortunate, will have energy to work for what they want.  
They do not feel the plight of the less fortunate in a direct way, and so are 
not 
usually motivated to work as hard as they might for the goals of the less 
fortunate.

This is augmented by what I've heard called the "myth of meritocracy."  As I 
understand it, this myth says that those who have power deserve it.  This myth 
can affect ones thinking about oneself, as in "I don't earn as much as X, so 
X must be more valuable than I am."  A person who thinks this, even 
unconsciously, has ceded some power.  The myth can affect thinking about 
others, as in 
"Look at that guy, he's a wreck.  He must not have taken care of himself."  The 
underlying thought in this might be:  he's a wreck, but he deserves it; it is 
somehow his fault, so it is OK for me to have more power than he does.  Under 
this is, perhaps, a belief that if I live my life right, I won't end up like 
him--I can control whether bad things happen to me.  These examples are rather 
obvious.  I have noticed this sort of mythical thinking to be very devious 
and difficult to recognize.

It is frightening to think that I cannot control whether bad things happen.  
Futhermore, there are some things I can do to keep bad things from happening, 
so there is no clear line beyond which things are beyond my control.  It is so 
tempting to think I can control more than I can.  This can easily lead to me 
thinking that "that guy" could have controlled more than he has, and a subtle 
feeling of superiority in me.

Jan
member of Sunward
Ann Arbor
_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L

  • (no other messages in thread)

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.