The Tyranny of Exceptionalism.

This may have been written of before, quite probably somewhere, but it struck me yesterday, that the last few years have seen this form of oppression, through the Media, grow exponentially.

Everywhere, the achievements of people with disadvantages are glamourized and lauded.
This is a good thing, until............
Until, everyone who is Poor is told, if only they 'wanted' it enough or 'tried' hard enough they could be a Billionaire.
When the image of people crippled by long term illness, is adjusted, to say, oh they are just differently abled.
Yes, some people suffering with terrible conditions achieve Heroic feats in the sciences ( for example Mr Hawking), or even in Sports, and this should not be undervalued, but to then say, anyone, with those conditions, can do it, is crazy.

It seems, the Exceptional People, are being held up, as the general rule, against which the ordinary people are being judged.

Another example, Lifespan.
More people are achieving their one hundredth birthday, but these are still the Exception, they are the far end of the Bell Curve, and the way Statistics are manipulated, are transformed beyond any reflection of the true reality, who even knows what the average lifespan really is?

But of course, the Exceptional People are again being used to define the Rule, which disadvantages the ordinary people, most of whom, will be lucky to live to Seventy.

You just have to look at the ages of death, of wealthy and famous individuals, who have access to state of the art healthcare, and see how many of those, died in only their sixties, even only their fifties.

And, yet, the Exceptional perfromance of a minority, is being used to raise the State Pension age, to deny, a Retirement with a State Pension, to the majority of ordinary people.

The reality of course, is that many people, forced out of the Labour Market due to changes beyond their control, subsist through their partners income, rents received from letting their old properties, or struggle on Sickness Benefit, or Unemployment Benefits.

The lucky ones, have Pensions they can take earlier, often at a loss, in the form of a lower annual income, but which keeps the Wolves at bay, at present.

Many of these people manage to find some kind of Part Time or Self Employment, to earn a few more shekels, to supplement, anything they may get otherwise.

A lot end up Homeless, or indeed, dead.
Funnily enough, the extra deaths don't really seem to show up in the Statistics. But then the Statistics are being used to advance a Victorian , or even Dickensian, work place agenda, which with the imminent arrival of automation in nearly every walk of life, bodes nothing but ill, for people who depend upon working for a living.

So, if the Philosophy, of judging the performance of Ordinary people against Exceptional people continues, how will they compare people to Robots?
A normal person would say, you cannot compare Human performance against a Machine, I would agree, just as you cannot compare the performance of a highly dedicated and trained athlete, against an ordinary person, or a Business or Criminal Genius, against an ordinary Poor person.
The comparison's are, entirely unfair, and to a balanced mind, with no hidden agenda, clearly ridiculous.
When the Agenda would appear to be, some kind of Social Cleansing, then the ridiculous comparisons make more sense.

When the Tyranny of Exceptionalism, is viewed as a policy of Survival of the Fittest, it makes more sense.

In other words, ordinary people are being unequivocally told, be a Hero, be an Exceptional person, or suffer, whatever travesties of Gov't Policy, are inflicted upon you, and do it in silence.

Because if you wanted it enough, you'd be Rich, or a Genius, or an Athlete.






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