On Nepotism

 

       Lets face it, no one likes trying to get a job only to find out that five other people applied and not only that, they know him personally, and have for many years. Hell, they could be married into his family. You didn't get the job because you're a nobody who exists outside their social circle. Its a big club and you're not in it. Ever notice how many celebrities get into their parents' positions simply for being part of "old money"? Why every business partnership is bogged down by family connections and the fact they only hire their own kind (I bet you know where I'm taking this). In society one may claim that we are all "social" animals. Unfortunately that's a gross blanket statement that doesn't apply to all. Jean-Jacques Rousseau observed that society often corrupts people and gives them unearned prestige or makes them into corrupt individuals serving an even more corrupt elite. I don't agree for one second that ALL men are social animals, and the whole act of only accepting those who are deeply involved in your family affairs or business affairs is why people who have great gifts to bring to a society in need of them but lack "social graces" are often turned away because they might display certain mannerisms incongruent to the group dynamic or simply have a hard time networking with others. Certainly, one would try to seek and fix this problem however society seems to operate on a strictly Darwinian "survival of the fittest" mentality. Thats not to say that we should accept any old person outside of our culture into our society (I made a remark about this in my essay on The Protestant Work Ethic). But society seems to think if you have difficulties making connections to other individuals in a given society you should not be able to integrate, which leads many people to take on low level undertakings, such as being a janitor or working in fast food or some other dreck. There should be a law against nepotism in a given society, aside from barring people who may not fit ethnic or religious requirements. Those are kind of necessary for a collective to function. I speak purely on behavioral traits which may or may not "fit in" with the behavior of individuals in "normal society". We must be more accepting of these eccentricities to make sure all men are employed, stable and able to provide for themselves or their families. Nowadays its almost the law of the land in order to get employed or work in a community you must be connected on a 1) familial level, 2) as a business partner or 3) be friends with someone already employed by the institution in order to function in the division of labor provided. Thats why there should laws against business owners who accept or reject people based on these three premises, possibly by punitive taxation, freezing of company funds, or abolition of property on terms they will reconsider. Hopefully these kinds of measures taken will slowly, but surely, change the means by which employment is acquired, if not, by force. And hopefully force is not used, as business owners should know what their employees are worth and if they value their business, they will employ those whose skills may be useful to them, without emphasizing the need to belong to special "clubs" or be part of their "family". In-group bias cripples production, and while I am opposed to outsourcing to foreign labor, which is something, again in my one essay I mentioned previously, reaching outside your family within your community without requiring them to "know people" is also important, otherwise its a waste of good talent and resources. 

                                                                                                                            J./Adolf Stalin