I have to address the striver question because I kept mentioning it throughout the episode. “Everyone likes the guy who works hard, why are you so anti striver ?” Let me elaborate:
You are right: America was built by charismatic, industrious types that worked hard and knew what they wanted. However, that’s not what strivers do
Strivers are parasites ( in Saltburn Oliver often calls himself a vampire because his goal is to suck the essence out of the things) They hate and love people whose skin they want to wear (charismatic people with generational wealth ). Everyone
likes industrious charismatic people who want to make it with actual talent and don’t give a shit about what others think about them, that’s not what striver do. They are obsessed with status signifiers and fetishize markings of wealth without actually making anything of value just like our PmC class
Industrious people rise above the norm and conventions of their time ( Musk buying twitter and going against everything people in his class are supposed to hold dear), whereas strivers thrive in a highly controlled environment, they all buy into elite liberal ideology
Rhett Butler is an industrious type who simply doesn’t give a shit, Tom Ripley is a striver who desperately wants to fit in
Think of Hillary types, who went to all the right schools and made money by being in proximity and having access to wealthy people without ever producing anything of value themselves, grade grubber, teacher’s pet type, people who are mostly responsible for decadence and stagnation of society
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This exchange is a perfect example of what I am talking about
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