🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <IfLiGe600WB98iAXsl@andrew.cmu.edu> lv08+@andrew.cmu.edu (Lili
Velez) writes:

>Is there something inherently _wrong_ about being a truck driver?  Must we
>be disappointed in someone who _wants_ to be a beautician, a cook, a
>mechanic?

I certainly hope not.  Doing something you enjoy well generally benefits
everyone, including the doer.

>Yes, I completely understand being distressed when someone believes that one
>career or another is the "only job they could ever be suited for, so
>why try...?".  Abandoned or misguided potential is a tremendous loss, to
>both the person and the society which has to trundle on without their
>contributions -- but it seems to me that we can brand careers ('vocations'?)
>as unworthy or `below us' just as easily as we can brand children.

Sure.  It's the self-justification of someone who has advanced degrees and
can't fix a radiator.  Why should s/he care about radiators and those who
can fix them?  If s/he can't do it, it's not worth doing.  The converse is
also true--why should the mechanic care about Hegel's philosophy?  Humans
are self-centered as a consequence  of being pretty good survivors.  However,
this means we tend to care the least about the things we personally do the
worst.  And stereotypes about intellect persist...we use "blue-collar" and
"white-collar" as endpoints of a range, as if the more you work with your
hands, the less well your brain functions.

Laurie Gelb
laurie@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu

Uncle Sam wants YOU...
to pay your taxes, obey his laws, and keep your mouth shut.