Availabilitybiasworld
Things are always so much worse today, aren’t they, compared to the glorious past? Look, for instance, at nepotism, as Glenn Greenwald did recently:
They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it’s really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment. They can interview Lisa Murkowski, Evan Bayh, Jeb Bush, Bob Casey, Mark Pryor, Jay Rockefeller, Dan Lipinksi, and Harold Ford, Jr. about personal responsibility and the virtues of self-sufficiency. Bill Kristol, Tucker Carlson and John Podhoretz can provide moving commentary on how America is so special because all that matters is merit, not who you know or where you come from.
But has nepotism actually gotten worse?
While I’ve never seen any data on the press — and it might be pretty hard to come by — Tom Schaller publishes this chart about nepotism in the Senate:
Yep. Nepotism, at least in the Senate, is at historic lows — which makes sense, given the general direction of American history, toward more populism and more social mobility.
I know I bang on and on about the availability bias, but that’s what’s at work here. You can think of the Kennedys. You can remember two recent Bush presidencies. You can think of the various “Jrs.” above. That makes nepotism seem stronger than ever.
But how many senators from the 7th or 8th Congress can you name? Unless you’re an historian who studies the era, chances are: not many.
If your brain had all the data and weighted it properly, you’d see nepotism has vanished in historical terms. But it doesn’t and you don’t. Just something to keep in mind next time you think one thing or another is “worse than ever.” It’s probably not.
HT: The Daily Dish
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You make a great point. The only thing i really think that is worse than ever is Humanity itself. And my brain does have data to form this opinion.
There has never, according to conventional science, been such a rapid decline in Earth’s biodiversity (save for ELE asteroids and volcanic activity, but if you follow that link you will see that Humanity itself is being recognized as the next ELE)
There has never been a garbage flotilla in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000,000 km^2
There have never been as many humans on this planet, in it’s history, than there are right now
I’m gonna stop now i’m getting depressed…
OK let’s all hold hands and sing Kum Bah Yah
Er…I’m not disputing that availability bias exists, but the example you’ve provided here is a bad one and hardly supports your contention. Where in Glenn Greenwald’s post did he claim that nepotism is *relatively worse* than it used to be? All his post is saying is that there currently exists some nepotism, and what nepotism there is is bad – and often hypocritical to boot given that many of those who benefit from nepotism also champion pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps.
Just because the United States’ Gini coefficient decreased from .70 to .30 over 200 years doesn’t necessarily negate the claim “inequality in the US in 2009 is currently harmful.” You’ve got a valid point, but you demolished a strawman in order to make it.
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