{"id":130,"date":"2003-07-07T18:03:34","date_gmt":"2003-07-07T18:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:08:15","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:08:15","slug":"bellow_redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"Bellow Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do I see in today’s LA Times<\/a> (intrusive registration required, use ‘laexaminer’\/’laexaminer’), but an oped from Adam Bellow, pushing his book (which I criticize less harshly than it deserves below<\/a>) and extolling nepotism. He suggests that the answer to the increasing concentration of power that he recognizes and lauds is – ‘trust us’.<\/p>\n

Some observers warn that the return of dynastic families is a dangerous trend, but such critics underestimate the degree to which the values of meritocracy have been absorbed in American culture. Today’s successors generally hold themselves to higher standards than anyone else would ever set for them. Far from having a big ego, what they have is an inflated super-ego. This is our best protection against the darker side of nepotism and makes the return of dynastic families something to celebrate rather than fear.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It just keeps getting better<\/u> and better<\/u>. Some other folks have looked askance at Bellow’s article…I particularly like Kenneth Cavness’<\/a> Tom Paine quote, which is so good that I’ll reproduce it here:<\/p>\n

But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kieran Healey<\/a> suggests another application for Bellow’s ‘Three Laws of Nepotism’; they apply perfectly well to affirmative action, as well. Go read the whole thing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An oped from Adam Bellow, pushing his book and extolling nepotism, suggests that the answer to the increasing concentration of power that he recognizes and lauds is – ‘trust us’. Tom Paine had some wise words about this… and Kieran Healy notes that Bellows ‘3 Laws of Nepostism’ apply perfectly to Affirmative Action. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}