This is such a condescending and arrogant way to look at another human being. "My waitress isn't good at math, hence she's dumb and deserves little pay." No. This is not the world anyone wants to live in, including you, even if you don't know it yet. This is how you get highly segregated societies where everyone points fingers at one another as the whole thing slowly collapses on them. A somewhat spicy take, but see the United Kingdom as an example.
While I see your point and how OPs comment could be interpreted that way I don't think that is how he meant it. I read it more along the lines of your sibling comment, I.E. "I can't believe I am getting paid a ton for little work while others are slaving themselves away" in a shameful sense, not a bragging sense.
Is the extent of judgement around who makes the most money a recent phenomenon? It seems more common these days for people to look down on others that make less than them. Maybe there are more visible status symbols now.
The older I get, the more I realize how little I need in day to day life. But I have profound gratitude for the opportunities I have been given.
I have deep respect for those that help to repair my plumbing, deliver my mail, and cook a breakfast sandwich at 6am.
Part of me suspects that politically the US is experiencing class struggles right now, particularly around how we treat each other. A little bit of seeing the human being in the people around us and treating them with empathy can go a long way IMHO.
Within the last generation, we have seen a large increase in wealth disparity. Technological progress and the multiplier effect that “internet scale“ enables seems to have amplified the effect.
I think the emphasis was on simple affinity for certain skills and their how society prices this.
Someone who does not have the luck (genetic, cultural or institutional or otherwise external) to develop so a skill so fundamental (and for her current job critical) and as evidenced by this story will face a long list of adversities at virtually no fault of theirs.
Social rewards are very non-linear. (And mostly because it is the naturally optimal heuristic. Help those close to you, distrust strangers, and watch out for freeloaders. All this aggregated over society is so powerful, and feels so natural that it usually takes a concerted effort of the majority of the people to try to even get it recognized.)
