Pulling Up the Ladder

I've been watching two different arguments raging on the internet for the past week, on the issues of safe spaces in schools and the minimum wage. The arguments I've seen have been on two different places, Twitter and Facebook. They have involved two very different groups of people, academics and journalists on the one hand, and the assorted people I actually know on the other. And yet somehow the arguments wind up sounding eerily similar.

Both issues have been brewing for years but have been brought to greater public attention recently. Two universities in the US, Yale and the University of Missouri, have have protests concerning racism on campus. In Missouri the protesters were able to oust the university president. The protests have gotten a lot of blowback, though, from people who think students these days are being coddled too much. Students never used to need protection from racism, they say. Kids need to face that challenge to learn how to deal with the real world.

The minimum wage issue has become heated due to nationwide strikes of food service workers, who are trying to get the minimum wage increased to $15. They've had some local success, in Seattle, and have gotten Bernie Sanders to sign on. And on Facebook I've seen dozens of paramedics post this, which just gets more infuriating every time I see it:

Now, there's a basic factual misunderstanding here, because American paramedics make about half as much money as Canadians. We aren't in any danger of bumping into the minimum wage here. Confounding the issue, although the normal minimum wage is similar when you correct for the exchange rate, the US has a much lower minimum wage for tipped workers, which includes many food service workers are tipped. They only get about a quarter of the Canadian minimum wage.

But beyond the number issue, when I read these posts I get a real sense of anger from them, the same as in the school racism situation: “I never had it that easy, why should they?”

It all reminds me of this joke:

There's a phenomenon where people who benefit from something try to deny that opportunity to others. It's easiest to see when politicians try to cut the social safety net and it is inevitably found that they themselves only got to their position because of that help. This is called "pulling up the ladder behind you". These safe space and minimum wage fights could be related... not trying to make things worse for others, but trying to keep them from getting better.

Part of making the world a better place is that the people who come after you will inevitably have it easier than you did. And conversely, if they don't have it easier, than the world now is no better than it was decades ago.

That's what you should really be angry about.