[lbo-talk] Harry Potter, Metritocracy, and Reward

[B.]

John's observation reminds me of the arguments from
the 1990s about anti-depressants. AN argument against
anti-depressants went like this: Some folks, like
Edgar Allan Poe, NEED to be depressed -- or else they
won't give us great works of art!

Really perverse reasoning. It's like the excitement
over cataclysm and catastrophe that some leftists
share with Christian fundies: maybe it means "the
revolution," or "Armageddon," will finally happen.

In other words, "I am owed the misery of others."

-B.

John Thornton wrote:

"The other is the argument that the Netherlands was
now only producing mediocre art because the generous
Dutch subsidies are too democratic and by making it
too easy to become an artist somehow prevent great art
from emerging. Total horseshit."