I think this is the crux of the difference in viewpoint between you and who you're responding to:
> I have yet to see someone succeed in something they never start
It's reasonable to say that the will/drive/impetus/etc. to succeed is _necessary_ for success.
And because it is necessary, it's good to have heroes — makes sense to me.
But the other fellow is saying that while it may be necessary, it is not _sufficient_.
If you never play the lotto, you'll never win, it's true. But just because you do play doesn't mean you'll win either. Playing is necessary, but not sufficient.
How much you think it's valuable to parade around the winners and say "this could be you!" is, I think, proportional to how much you think an individual has control over the game they're playing.
For the lottery, it's easy to show that you have zero control, so parading around the winners (or "heroes") is a bit silly. For other types of success, it's less clear. But there is certainly a decent argument to be made that liklihood of overcoming structural and institutional biases is luck-heavy. If you think it's mostly luck, then hero-worship is not so valuable.
I think this is the crux of the difference in viewpoint between you and who you're responding to:
> I have yet to see someone succeed in something they never start
It's reasonable to say that the will/drive/impetus/etc. to succeed is _necessary_ for success.
And because it is necessary, it's good to have heroes — makes sense to me.
But the other fellow is saying that while it may be necessary, it is not _sufficient_.
If you never play the lotto, you'll never win, it's true. But just because you do play doesn't mean you'll win either. Playing is necessary, but not sufficient.
How much you think it's valuable to parade around the winners and say "this could be you!" is, I think, proportional to how much you think an individual has control over the game they're playing.
For the lottery, it's easy to show that you have zero control, so parading around the winners (or "heroes") is a bit silly. For other types of success, it's less clear. But there is certainly a decent argument to be made that liklihood of overcoming structural and institutional biases is luck-heavy. If you think it's mostly luck, then hero-worship is not so valuable.