folk wisdom supported by facts :)
Yes, like all the times before, our world is leveled into different types of people - superior and inferior, the masters and the servants, the rich and the poor. We are proud to live in the 21st century - high-tech, internet, knowledge economy and stuff. However, as the social composition concerns, we are nothing different from any other century before. We still live in the times of contrasts, unprecedented discrepancy in people's incomes both within and among countries.
I remember once at my work I had to find a room for one VIP in a hotel not far from the airport from which that "VIP" was to depart early in the morning. I had bad luck - all the hotels were booked. Then I had no other choice than to report to my boss that since there are no free rooms, the VIP would have to spend a night in the airport. My boss rejected: that person cannot stay in the airport like others! Well, I attempted to pursuade him, that there was nothing scary in staying at the airport, moreover, he was not travelling to work, but to have rest, and as for me, I spent many nights at airports waiting for morning flights, was he anything special? Yes, special! - my chief objected, - don't you understand: he is a person of another quality, he is superior!.....There was nothing else to add. It was insulting, but damn it, he was right, I am one of those millions "inferiors" who do not have any social or economic security and who have to fight for their survival.
Some years ago I sincerely believed in omnipresence of the meritocracy system, that everyone is an architecture of his own fortune, that everyone can achieve much if not being lazy, and all that kind of "american dream" bullshit. Meritocracy is a myth. And in Russia it is more often the case than anywhere else. There is no vertical mobility in the society. It is rigidly stratificated and the stratas are 'frozen'. In other words, the system does not provide room for people to get away from their social environments, and if you are born poor, you will die poor.
I hate it when people accuse others in their poverty saying something like "so why d' you work as a miner, no one forced you to do it, change your work, become a businessman, everything is in your hands!" It's definitely stupid to say so. Firstly, can you imagine the world where everyone is a businessman? There must be someone who has to be a miner, a cleener, a driver, a farmer... Secondly, I am strongly convinced, and I will always assert, that poverty is not the people's fault confined to it, but the state's. Surely, one can give examples of successful careers, enrichment thanks to one's abilities and hard work. Maybe it is the case in several most developed countries. But definitely not in ours. And the tendency shows that things are getting even worse.
To bring concrete facts that substanciate my words: discrepancy in salaries at our institution reach the number 100, i.e. the person with highest salary earns 100 times more that the person with lowest salary. And these are the official data of only at one organization! But there are also "inofficial incomes" of the upper-level persons which in other words is called corruption. And I am even afraid to imagine the gap between the maximal and minimal salaries on the level of the whole Russia.
I every day witness staggerring contrasts: in the center of the city one can see amazing new houses, the price of which goes off-scale. At the same time, in 10 min from the center there are lots of houses with no water or gas in the house, with toilet outside in the yard, not saying about hot water - it is a luxury. Is it still 21st century?
Yes, people live in this house. I know several families who live there. Moreover, they pay monthly for utilities, which are in fact absent.
There are also homeless who live in such 'holes' underground:
And at the same time the houses of the "superiors":
Protected by the fence so that no 'inferior' would get inside. By the way, I knew one of the builders of this very house which was constructed several years ago. A young man, he had to work at several places, literally day and night, once he told me in dispair: "I have built so many beautiful houses, and still I have not 'diserved' to buy even the smallest flat for myself; with what I gain for my work I will never be able to buy any lodging..."
