HedyBee: Hope & History Rhyme
Robert Reich“It’s a cruel jest to say to a bootless man he ought to lift himself up.”
—Dr. King, 1967
mmalcSee also: “The Sam Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness”
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … “
Full quote and context:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
Micah@rbreich also the whole meaning of her phrase has been lost to time. The physical act of lifting yourself by your own bootstraps is impossible. That’s the point of the phrase.
Kat Earthren Liu@rbreich
I have never seen this before. Thank you so much for sharing it.
I have never seen this before. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Driguez@rbreich
Much of the right-wing rhetoric that has been used for decades is meaningless tripe.
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is perhaps the best example of this: a completely meaningless phrase descriding an impossible action.
Much of the right-wing rhetoric that has been used for decades is meaningless tripe.
Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is perhaps the best example of this: a completely meaningless phrase descriding an impossible action.
Jami@rbreich he answers this question with such grace and patience-a question that seems so foolish to me that I think it must be willful ignorance, but not, Dr. king just patiently explains. You can see how he changed the world.
Gael E Evans@rbreich How in the hell are we supposed to pick ourselves up by our boot straps when society does not give us the skills we need to do that in the first place?
Ricky Fisher 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🖖🏻