owlsbooks Chapter 2139 The two sides of the elite! (Monthly ticket requested!!!)
Chapter 2139 The two sides of the elite! (Monthly ticket requested!!!)
Chapter 2139 The two sides of the elite! (Please give me a monthly ticket!!!)
The magic of Kamar-Taj is different from the magicians in the general orthodox fantasy novels. Most of the time, they don't chant spells. Many of their spells are cast through gestures, but it doesn't mean that their spells don't have spells. In fact, the difficulty of learning a spell is almost equivalent to a college student reading a professional book. By analogy, the magicians of Kamar-Taj are medical students among spellcasters. None of these guys are stupid.
On the contrary, most people are very smart. In fact, the mages of Kamar-Taj are basically elites. There is no such cool plot that a poor loser is suddenly noticed and then soars to the sky. The qualifications for this thing are very high!
Don't think that these people are bad just because you hear they are elites.
The elite class itself has two sides!
The elite class refers to a successful class that has wealth and social status, has received higher education, and has certain social connections and backgrounds. It mainly includes the property class such as senior executives of state-owned enterprises and private business owners with rich assets. This class controls 80% of the wealth and resource allocation rights in society and has become a leader in all walks of life. Their core advantage lies in their proficiency in capital operation and their ability to use leverage to expand their influence. High education, strong assets and high income are their common characteristics. Usually, their families have rich assets, enjoy true financial freedom, and their income is often in the millions. Among these elites, there are many examples of rising from the grassroots. Through education and continuous self-improvement, they have become leaders in the industry and even shape the future of the industry. Their decisions can often lead the development direction of the entire industry. People in this class have keen insight and can get to the heart of the problem.
The reason why the elite class can stand out in various fields is that they have unique knowledge and ability advantages. In terms of the depth of thought, they can conduct in-depth analysis and thinking on complex problems and put forward forward-looking views and solutions. For example, in the field of science and technology, elite engineers can accurately grasp the development trend of the industry and lead the trend of technological innovation. Take Silicon Valley 15 years ago as an example. Many Indian engineers created brilliance in the highly competitive field of science and technology with their outstanding professional capabilities.
They not only master advanced technical knowledge, but also have innovative thinking and the ability to solve practical problems. The professional ability of the elite is one of the keys to their success. They usually accumulate rich professional knowledge and experience through long-term study and practice. Whether in the fields of finance, education or art, the elites are able to use their professional skills to create value for society. At the same time, the elites often have the qualities of diligence and self-discipline. They are able to drive themselves, constantly pursue progress, and maintain a high level of output. This sense of self-management enables them to stand out in a highly competitive society and become leaders in their respective fields.
The elite class often has eccentric qualities.
They do not follow the crowd and dare to challenge traditional concepts and thinking patterns. When faced with problems, they are able to think from different angles and come up with unique solutions. For example, in the field of scientific and technological innovation, elites often rely on their reverse thinking to break the routine and promote the progress and development of technology. In addition, the elite class usually does not like to trouble others, and they have a high degree of self-management and problem-solving ability. In the process of pursuing their goals, they prefer to rely on their own efforts and wisdom rather than rely on the help of others. At the same time, the elite class also pays attention to the pursuit of spiritual satisfaction. They are not only satisfied with the accumulation of material wealth, but also pay more attention to the enrichment and improvement of the spiritual world. They broaden their horizons and enrich their inner world through reading, traveling, art and other means.
This is the kind of person Kamar-Taj needs. Those who have always been educated in a happy way will not be able to learn Kamar-Taj spells... Although that thing is metaphysics, it is actually an extremely complex and rigorous system, even more profound and difficult to understand than modern science.
Most people don’t have clear logical thinking skills, strong learning abilities, and strong self-discipline, so they simply can’t learn it!
Most importantly, Kamar-Taj does not charge tuition, and there is no student loan.
Of course, this is not a complete advocacy of the elite class or elitism.
Early elitism did have a certain aristocratic tendency, using identity, status and property as the criteria for measuring elites. However, over time, elitism gradually incorporated democratic elements, and its attitude towards the masses became more complicated. On the one hand, elitism was misunderstood as contempt for the masses. In the eyes of populists, elitists seem to be a group of people who despise ordinary people and think that the masses are ignorant, blind and pretentious.
Of course, this is not completely nonsense. Just look at the founding fathers of the United States and you will know that they are complete elitists who despise the masses.
To tell you something that goes against common sense, the United States has never been a democratic country.
It was founded as a republic, and the so-called Founding Fathers were openly hostile to democracy. This is evident from the Federalist Papers, America’s founding documents, and the governance practices that emerged from them. It is well known that Native Americans, who were referred to as “ruthless Indian savages” in the Declaration of Independence, were not granted democratic rights in the new republic, nor were slaves and women from Africa. The same was true for ordinary white workers. As scholars such as Terry Burton have documented in detail, “Most ordinary white people did not believe that the [American] Revolution established a government with their ideals and interests as their primary goal. Instead, they were convinced that the revolutionary elites reshaped the government to their own advantage and undermined the independence of ordinary people.”
After all, the Constitutional Convention did not establish popular elections for the president, the Supreme Court, or the senators. The exception was the House of Representatives. Qualifications for election, however, were set by state legislatures, with a general requirement to own property as the basis for the right to vote. It’s no surprise, then, that progressive critics of the time pointed this out. “This is not a democracy,” Patrick Henry said of the United States. George Mason described the new Constitution as “the boldest attempt to establish a despotic aristocracy among freemen, that the world ever saw.”
Although the term “republic” was widely used to describe the United States at the time, this began to change in the late 19s when Andrew Jackson—known as the “Indian Killer” for his genocidal policies—ran for president. He portrayed himself as a democrat and called for an end to the rule of the aristocracy in Massachusetts and Virginia. Although there had been no structural change in the model of governance, politicians like Jackson and other members of the elite and their managers began to use the word democracy to describe the republic, implying that it served the interests of the people. Of course, the tradition continued: democracy was just a euphemism for rule by the bourgeois oligarchy.
Meanwhile, class struggle in the United States has been going on for two and a half centuries, with democratic forces often winning very significant concessions from the ruling class. The electoral field has been expanded to include senators and the president, and although the Electoral College has not been abolished, Supreme Court justices remain lifetime appointments. But the franchise has been extended to women, African Americans, and Native Americans. Of course, these significant gains should be defended, expanded, and made more substantial through deep democratic reforms of the entire electoral and campaigning process. However, as important as these democratic advances are, they do not change the overall system of plutocracy.
In a very important study based on multivariate statistical analysis, Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page demonstrated that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent influence on U.S. government policy, while ordinary citizens and popular interest groups have little or no independent influence”. Of course, this form of plutocracy is effective not only domestically but also internationally. The United States seeks to impose its anti-democratic form of business rule wherever it can. Of course, I do recognize that the expressions bourgeois democracy, formal democracy, and liberal democracy are often used to describe this form of plutocracy for various reasons. It is also worth emphasizing that the existence of some forms of democratic rights under plutocracy is a major victory for working people and its importance should not be minimized in any way. What is ultimately needed is a dialectical assessment that explains the complexity of the governance model that includes the control of the state by the American oligarchy and the important rights won by the people through class struggle.
The framers of the American Constitution: We never recognize a democratic system. The republic is ours, and democracy is yours.
Many people think that democracy means that all rights belong to the general public and they decide everything. But this is actually a kind of extremism and anarchism, which will result in the government being unable to function and the country falling into chaos. In order to prevent this situation from happening, the founding fathers of the United States pondered and formulated a constitution, and found a way to limit the spread of democracy - the "U.S. Constitution" does not mention democracy at all; the United States implements a republican system and resolutely abandons the democratic system; the United States implements the "separation of powers", the purpose is not to strengthen democracy, but to limit the supreme democratic rights of the Legislative Council and the Parliament. The government implements the presidential responsibility system. The president has the right to shelve legislative proposals and the right to dissolve Congress. No matter how much legislation reflects public opinion, it cannot be passed if it does not reach an agreement with the president. According to the U.S. Constitution, the president is not elected directly, but indirectly by the "electoral college" of each state.
Rush, a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, said: "Democracy is the sin of the devil, and those who shout democracy are mad dogs."
Adams pointed out: "The experience of all previous times has shown that democracy is the most unstable, the most volatile, and the shortest-lived." "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, consumes, and murders itself. No democracy has ever committed suicide before." "Democracy will soon degenerate into dictatorship."
Madison said: "Democracy is a spectacles of tumult and contention, never at variance with the safety of individuals, or the rights of property, and generally short-lived in tumult."
Fisher, who wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution, said: "Democracy is a volcano containing its own flammable materials that will erupt and cause destruction. It is a known tendency of democracy to regard ambitious calls and ignorant beliefs as Freedom comes to overflow.”
To prevent "tyranny of the majority," states with small territories and small populations can still obtain a considerable number of electoral votes.
Morris, one of the signers and authors of the U.S. Constitution, said: "We have seen the noisy end of democracy. Everywhere democracy ends in dictatorship."
Hamilton put it more bluntly: "Democracy is a disease."
This is what the founding fathers of the United States emphasized when introducing the American political system. The most important principle of the American political system is to ensure that "the executive branch has the courage and determination to act according to its own opinions", rather than to govern according to public opinion; the government should not only serve the people, but also have the ability to educate and tame the people; the people can express their opinions, but public opinion is not allowed to interfere with the government's administration. The founding fathers of the United States were very vigilant and repulsive to public opinion. They bluntly pointed out that "some people with ulterior motives say nonsense that the people are wise at all times and can find ways to solve problems. But the people know from their own experience that they will make mistakes; because the people are deceived, bewitched, and blinded by those parasites, ambitious people, and bootlickers with ulterior motives all day long. It is a complete myth to say that the people will not make mistakes frequently when they are often disturbed by such interference."
To people today, "democracy" and "republic" mean almost the same thing, but during the Constitutional Convention, the delegates were very concerned about the difference between the two.
Democracy: refers to the use of systems to ensure that people can participate in governing the country.
This is the elite. They don't trust the people, they only trust themselves. At the same time, once the elite class spreads, it will have a great impact on the entire society. They will cause the entire social class to solidify, the most obvious example is the United States. (There is no way, this country is too typical)
From kindergarten to university, the differentiation of the education system has quietly solidified social classes. Elite education paves a broad road for a few people, while happy education pushes most people into the abyss of cognition and skills. There is a shortage of grassroots talents, a rising illiteracy rate, and a lack of social mobility.
Happy education is not really for the happiness of children, but for the lower class to accept limited knowledge and completely lose the ability to climb up. Starting from kindergarten, most children have entered a "free-range" route. They go to school at 8 o'clock in the morning and leave school at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There are almost no homework and exams. The classroom atmosphere is so relaxed that it can even be called "undisciplined": teachers are indifferent to students' learning, the content of the textbooks is ridiculously simple, and many students can't even master basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Children who grow up in this environment have almost no competitiveness after graduation. They can only enter factories or low-end service industries, tightening screws, delivering express deliveries, and moving shelves year after year. Many people even drop out of school and live on the margins of society.
At the same time, elite education in the United States has gone to the other extreme.
In top private schools, students are instilled with completely different ideas: competition, hard work, and the pursuit of excellence. These schools have high tuition fees, which can easily reach $50,000 or $60,000 per year, which ordinary families simply cannot afford. The children who are lucky enough to enter these schools are driven by strict schedules and heavy academic pressure. They only sleep four or five hours a day, supplemented by coffee and energy drinks, and spend all their time improving their grades and accumulating background. Because they know that only by performing well in school can they enter top universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and these schools are the "passports" to the middle and upper levels of society.
Therefore, Kamar-Taj’s selection criteria are very unique. They will never choose those who are complacent and think they can control everything. Such people’s pursuit of power is too serious, which will affect the entire atmosphere of Kamar-Taj. On the contrary, scholars or people who see through the truth of life and society will be selected!