The misrepresentation of squalor made by the most privileged.
From the time we were children, most of us dreamed of being something greater than the little pea-sized humans we were. For many, a vivid caricature of what we aspire to be was found in fiction, through fables that depicted heroes as the antithesis to evil and all that was wrong in the world. Heroes, however, are rarely free from imperfections; they have backstories that highlight the adversity that they dealt with to eventually become this larger-than-life figure. As we grew up, we discarded the capes and weapons for more realistic depictions of success, be it fictional (the “down, but not quite out” unlikely hero), or real (people that have built their fortune from scraps). There’s just something so morally right about rooting for the underdog; the person who should’ve given up, but didn’t; the speck of hope in a sea of despair. As such, we follow their tales closely, watching with bated breath, ready to see what hurdle they’ll vault over next. What if that’s all a lie?
One of the more egregious examples of a misrepresentation in terms of history, clearly done to elicit some kind of sympathy, is Donald Trump’s “small loan of a million dollars.” I doubt many of us would call a million dollars small, but it goes to show that even those people who have had very privileged upbringings still attempt to promote themselves to be worthy of the level of moral sympathy that most people carry for underdogs. Admittedly, the political realm isn’t exactly filled with people who have come from nothing, nor do its constituents attempt to market themselves as such. Let’s then look at more commonplace examples: the music industry and the sports world. So many artists create an entire brand identity off of coming from nothing. If even Drake, a man who grew up in an affluent suburb, can sell some people on the idea that he started from the bottom, then so too can other artists coming up and establishing themselves. The world of sports is no different, albeit often coming off as more authentic. Stars like LeBron James came from humble beginnings and their stories are looked at with a gleam of inspiration for future generations of athletes and laypeople alike. It is then no wonder why other avenues have attempted to replicate that down-to-earth persona that many inspirational figures have.
To me, the most comical example of such is within the business world. How often have we heard the idea that Albert Einstein was an unassuming student who didn’t receive the best grades? This template has then been applied to anyone and everyone who is someone at the top of the business world. Bill Gates? Did poorly on his exams, probably. Steve Jobs? Dropped out of college after a semester, I think. Mark Zuckerberg? Didn’t care about his education, or something. The fact that these connections are constantly being applied to top business people is telling of the notion that everyone loves an underdog. Rearrange the backstories for the three people I just mentioned and you’ll have the exact same reaction; an individual’s story is not in of itself as important as its ability to mold into the one we want to see. We want to be able to look at real people, pinpoint their struggles, and draw inspiration from them when we get a C+ on our final exams. There’s a proverbial safety net to catch us when we fall because these greatly successful people have failed, and now look at them.
Being able to carefully craft a sad story, bit by bit, interview by interview, is something business people know all too well. If you need proof of that, take a look at all the autobiographies and memoirs written by them. Even ordinary workers try to get a piece of action, just have a glance over at your LinkedIn feed sometime and count the amount of stories of overcoming X to get Y. But why, why is this something that people take part in? I think the best way to understand this is simply to look at the overarching ideology being taught in a business school: Sell yourself. This is the key to getting jobs, this is the key to getting opportunities, and it is the key to cultivating a network of like minded people around you. Or so they say. We all deal with struggles, and we all deal with adversity—this is an undeniable fact. That is our human connection. To be a successful business person at the top innately means you have, by most reasonable accounts, overcome that adversity and are now cruising along the top. This is simply unacceptable because it severs that human connection. As such, you see business people retcon their pasts to make it more digestible to the masses. At the end of the day, we all want to be liked and understood, even if it means parting away with the truth.
A final message I would like to impart: You should not believe everything you read on the Internet, nor should you believe everything that people with more wealth than they can count tell you about themselves. It is fine and good to draw inspiration from those who bring you motivation, but do not get lost in their journeys and consequently neglect your own. Success is not a one-way road; success is not simply monetary, nor does it have to be career-based. There is always a give and a take for people at the top that we often do not see or think about. For example, Albert Einstein, despite his wonderful and revolutionary achievements in the fields of science, had a marriage contract for his first wife that effectively told her to serve as his maid. Lastly, be truthful to yourself and do not think that you have to have a Batman-esque backstory for people to respect you. Also, do not start a multi-billion dollar corporation that runs on under-paid and overworked factory workers and then go to space; no amount of backstory will help people see through that.