https://digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/privileged-kids-on-a-plate-pencilsword-toby-morris/
This comic strip begs many questions, yet it also uncovers revealing truths about the way those on the far left view success and poverty in America. As if preaching to a preschool audience, this comic illustrates the overt truth that not all humans have the same income, family structure, neighborhoods and circumstances, as if this was somehow a foreign concept to the people reading this comic. Articles only have value, if they are either informative, or if they provoke action. Since it is clear this comic informs no person out of infancy of anything, we must then seek value in a message or call to action. The world is unequal, point conceded, but what are we to do about it?
We must start with the infantile assumptions and distorted plot of the comic. The most glaring of which is the absence of an explanation for the affluence of Richard’s family. There is no mention of how his family achieved their standard of living. As the great economist Thomas Sowell notes: “poverty is not a mystery.” That is to say, since humans started in poverty, there does not need to be explanations for how someone fell into poverty. Rather there needs to be explanations for how people escaped such poverty. To put this into context, Richard’s family, at some time, maybe decades or centuries ago, was in the current state of Paula’s family. It would be a far more beneficial comic to understand how Richard’s family propelled themselves out of poverty. Sadly, this explanation in the comic is not given. In our class “Contemporary Justice Issues,” we talk an awful lot about privilege as something neither worked for, nor wished for. I am afraid that the creation of wealth, the realization of opportunities, the improvement of circumstances for you and your family, etc. are all wished for and all were achieved through work.
Besides the deus ex machinas, which serves the purpose of keeping Paula in increasingly worse situations, and stereotypes about the expectations set by people of certain socioeconomic classes, the most disingenuous illustration propagated by this literary fecal matter is the omission of two key details. The first being Richard’s father, Roger. He is never mentioned to have worked in the comic, when we know he must have or currently is. In fact, to reach the type of affluence that Roger has achieved for his family, would require him, or a recent ancestor of his, to have worked incredibly hard. This fact is ignored in favor of the emotional picture of Paula on a couch alone without a parent at home. The second is that, whether it wanted to or not, the comic illustrated the advantages of capitalism. Richard seems by the end of the comic to have improved his circumstances in life. It may have been from the upper middle class to the “one percent,” but nevertheless, still ascension on the economic ladder. Surprisingly, the same for Paula, both her parents working two jobs so she could attain a college degree, getting into the job market, and earning money. These are all improvements that must have been met given Paula’s circumstances at the beginning and end of the story. The only things that held her back were literary devices required by the author to keep her in poverty.
It starts with the demonization of hard work and the omission of logic, and truth, but it ends with a grizzly call to action. The comic seeks to give the illusion that those who have social capital do not deserve it, and that those who do not have social capital do not deserve its vacancy. This comic no doubt realizes that no one with such social capital, is going to envy a lesser life, nor are they likely to give away their capital willingly. It also realizes that most people in America want such a lifestyle for themselves. The final question it begs is: who then is going to change this cycle? If those who have won’t give it away, and those without it cannot have it, what are we to do? The answer unfortunately lies in the most failed and fatal ideology of our time: Socialism. The only logical answer that can be yielded from a reading of this comic strip is for the enlightened, those who have read the comic, to dismantle the wealth and achievement of those with the capital. It starts by demonizing success, dehumanizing hard working men and women, and creating an unattractive view of monetary success. First tear down their reputations, then literally strip them from their high castles and cast them out on the streets.
At first, this comic seems informative and somewhat cute, but it is really just another virus crawling its way closer and closer to the heart of the American Dream
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