Re: [Leica] DUCK, INCOMING....was Lower Classes.....

["Steve LeHuray" <icommag@toad.net>]

> B. D. writes:
> 
>> Yes, people who work cleaning toilets and who
>> out of desperation steal the property of others
>> tend to be poor ...
>
> That's not what I said.  People who clean toilets do not steal out of
> desperation; in fact, they often do not steal at all.  And nobody steals
Leicas
> out of desperation, period.  And desperation isn't necessarily a defense
against
> theft--being desperate to own a Rolls Royce does not justify stealing one.
>
> You are correct only insofar as people who clean toilets tend to be relatively
> poor.
>
>> ... but to suggest that they are dim-witted because
>> they are poor or clean toilets is a truly repulsive,
>> vile, classist thing to say that tells us a great
>> deal about you.
>
> People who are brilliant and have their choice of occupations in the world do
> not choose to clean toilets.  In fact, almost anyone with the brains to do
> something less distasteful and more lucrative in life will choose not to clean
> toilets.  This means that about the only people left to clean toilets are
those
> without the intelligence or other competence necessary to find more
interesting
> and profitable employment.  That may be repulsive to you, but your reaction to
> it does not make it any less true.
>
> And, unfortunately, there is a correlation between intelligence and the
> willingness or ability to understand or adopt the viewpoints of others, and
this
> in turn affects one's willingness to steal and commit other antisocial acts.
> Thus, persons who are not very bright are more likely to commit crimes, and
many
> people who commit crimes are of below-average intelligence.
>
>> There are plenty of people on this list who at one
>> time or another worked at jobs that were the equivalent
>> of cleaning toilets, or had parents or grandparents
>> who did.
>
> Are there?  How many people on this list _chose_ to clean toilets, even when
> better work was available, and maintained that choice for a working lifetime?
> Similarly, how many people on this list have cleaned toilets throughout their
> lives because they've had no other options?
>
>> Just who the hell do you think you are, Anthony, to
>> make this kind of statement.
>
> Someone who has studied these questions extensively.  (Note that I am able to
> explain the basis for my viewpoint, whereas those who disagree with me are
not,
> and tend to simply attack me personally instead.)  The conventional "wisdom"
> with which most of us are indoctrinated is not necessarily congruent with
> reality.
>
>> Boy, was Kyle on the mark when he pointed out that
>> there are people who think that they are somehow
>> "special" because they own Leicas.
>
> That is certainly true, but there are some Leica owners, including myself, who
> are not in this category.
>