Why is success defined by how much money you make?

[Darth_Kitten]

If you are a stay at home mother, are you "not" successful because technically you are not making a wage?

I'm a little sick of this Joe the Plumber crap. Guys who think they are the only ones who work hard, think their money is more precious than anyone else's, and that whiny petulance about "why should I be punished more because I make more and am therefore more successful?

Define successful, guys. Is that stay at home mother conservatives pretend to give a damn about NOT successful because she's not making a wage? How about those single parents working 2 jobs and struggling because their ex is an idiot who takes no responsibility for the children they brought into this world? How about all the low, shit-ass wages a lot of people make? Are these people not successful in life even though they may be the best citizens, volunteers, parents, etc, you would be likely to meet in life?

Get the fuck over yourself, Joe the Plumber. Maybe take a look around your country, around the world. Life doesn't revolve around you, bud.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. A flaw in the human genome...

makes it difficult to understand "success" without a scorecard, and money is the scorecard.

[raccoon]

2. I totally agree with what you're saying. I think it's because economic success

is easy to see (most of the time), someone has a highly paid job, expensive house, expensive car, etc.

[eilen]

3. it leads to fetishizing the rich

and the very tacky behavior of counting other people's money and judging their character by their possessions and thinking that rich people deserve what they have and worked hard for it (which I am sure many have but still, many haven't). It is social darwinism because if rich people deserve to be rich, conversly it suggests that poor people deserve to be poor and must have done something to put them in their dire situation, are flawed, and thus do not deserve any help.

I love the stories of the cleaning ladies who leave two million dollars to local colleges. I be their families are ticked off she didn't leave it to them but since they didn't think she had any money, they treated her like shit--otherwise they would have been kissing her ass and she had their number.

I actually know people who have totally bought into this belief system and am related to them by marriage. Whenever they go on and on about the big jumbo yachts in Fort Lauderdale and the rich mansions and Trump and claiming they saw Barbara Bush and recite the rich and famous people that live in Palm Beach etc (It's a 1980's flashback nightmare of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" delivered in a Yonkers accent). blah blah blah. I piss them off by saying things like "there's lots of successful drug dealers in Florida" or "I guess they just like to be close to their tax sheltered money in the Caymens and Bahamas." Thus now I am known to be prejudiced against rich people. Actually I just offended by their attitude.

Sorry about the rant, I am just recovering from a visit from the MIL.

[Darth_Kitten]

4. LOL..........people who brag about their possessions must not have much else going on in their lives

:)

[Selatius]

5. Because we live in a country that has lost its way.

It seems we live in a money-oriented society instead of a family-oriented one.

I remember when the American dream used to be about finding happiness. I knew that money did not necessarily equate to happiness. Often, it just brings more problems.

Now, this country appears to be so materialistic and decadent. This isn't the same country that came out of the Great Depression and World War 2. That country apparently died a long time ago.

[MonteLukast]

7. We do seem to forget things

... if we don't experience them firsthand.

Well, now we're experiencing the systematic destruction of our spirits through our very workplaces. Our employers are requiring us, in many cases, to act materialistic and venal if we wish to remain in their good graces. The work ethic itself, professionalism itself, even common courtesy and social interaction itself, all have been poisoned.

I can think of no greater emotional torture psy-ops, than turning our own values into tools of our own demoralization. Happiness itself is now a straitjacket.

And it is my hope that we NEVER forget what we're experiencing now. Never fail to show compassion for those less fortunate, because we are closer to being that homeless person than ever before. Never take anything for granted, or trust without verifying. Never forgetting to think.

[earth mom]

6. Because too many people in this country worship the dollar. Look no further than Wall Street.

Hell, look at the DUers that defended the Wall Street bailout! Those people were protecting their assets, their money, their egos, no doubt about it! :puke:

Michael Moore had it right when he said something to the effect that things will only change in this country once people realize they are NEVER EVER going to be rich.

However, until then we are screwed. :(

[redqueen]

8. Because too many people *love* money and things.

Money is necessary... and things are nice... but they don't define us.

[Irish Girl]

9. Because the system was fine tuned to ensure we'd crave "riches" ..

.. thus enabling a discreet but colossal indentured servitude for the pursuit of the Almighty Dollar. It's certainly no coincidence our success is measured by how much of these inherently worthless pieces of paper we accumulate - its all by design from the creators of the system.

[Irish Girl]

10. I should add, bare in mind what a wage slave inherently entails

A conventional slave needed to be housed and fed by his or her Master. This new system is brilliantly designed so that 'wage slaves' are responsible for feeding and sheltering themselves while still allowing the designers to reap the true benefits of the system.

[MonteLukast]

11. Things ARE important...

... inasmuch as they are symbols of something larger. Like a wedding ring.

Money CAN buy something very dear to my heart: life experiences and exciting activities. It takes a lot of disposable Benjamins to take up skiing, or travel to the Bahamas, or be able to take some time off to volunteer in New Orleans or join the Peace Corps. What money buys is freedom, and command of your time and energy.

And that's what makes me so despondent and infuriated. I went to the UK 10 years ago for one semester, and I loved it. I savor that experience with all my heart, for I may never see the outside of the USA again due to servicing my debts.

Money buys control of your own destiny, and the super-rich know it, as they peddle their Tony-Robbins-doppelganger useless adcice.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. Success Isn't Solely Defined That Way.

Success has several definitions. One of them relates to wealth and it's fine when used within that context. Success also has other definitions, which are not defined whatsoever by power or wealth. That's where your stay at home mother example would fall.

All depends on the context in which the word is being used.

[timtom]

13. Why is "education" defined

by having completed high school and college?

(Rhetorical question designed to bolster and broaden your query...)

[qwlauren35]

14. Some of the people you are describing are SURVIVING.

I don't think they'd call themselves successful when they are in the midst of the madness.

However, when they have raised their kids, seen them off to college, seen them get jobs, get married, and live productive lives, THEN they know they have been successful.

Success is an end state. No, it doesn't have to be defined in terms of money, but it is always defined in terms of SOME accomplishment. Whether it's raising children who become wonderful human beings, or creating a homeless shelter out of a vacant lot, or enabling Obama to become president...

Many of us will not know whether we are successful until late in life. Part of our success is in our perserverence.

[pitohui]

15. we live in a capitalist country, money is how you keep score

a stay at home mother who is stuck with the kids is not considered "successful" because, yah, she is not getting paid -- in fact, if the stay at home mother is a single mom, the conservative considers her to be a bum and a welfare cheat, they do not seriously consider raising a child to be something that takes a healthy intelligent woman's entire day and attention -- they just pretend to think so in order to control the ones who are too stupid to do anything except stay home and bake cookies anyway, who wants to admit that his wife will never earn anything but minimum wage? less embarrassing to pretend you can afford to keep her at home with the kids

personally in my humble view...

words have meaning and in our society if someone else has to provide for the very food on your plate and you're an adult, you may be a terrific human being, but no, you are not "successful"

it seems unfair because most of us have slim or no chance of being financially successful no matter how hard we do work, but to just stay at home and announce ourselves the winner just makes us look silly, if you've failed to have any decent paying career you ain't a success

that is very sad but a lot of things are very sad

it would be wonderful to be beautiful, rich, and successful, but if it is not to be, it doesn't make me look better to claim that i am beautiful, rich, and successful "in my own special way," it just makes me look envious of those who actually are those things

there will always be someone more "successful" than you are and, yah, if you don't work, there will be a LOT of those someones, i don't see how fibbing to ourselves about it changes anything

[obiwan]

16. Because some men believe that not all dicks are created equal.

The money thing is called "Compensation."