Merit is the Measure
Despite being in office more than a century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt has been credited with a famous saying that is prophetically applicable to today’s culture: “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
My generation and those even younger are plagued by comparison due to the enormous prevalence of social media and reality television. Yet, the idea of “merit” and “competence” as a measure for social or economic advancement is rejected by much of our population.
This is because our culture has bought a lie: we are often told that opposition to a meritocracy is based in equity. In reality, it’s based in envy.
Most readers are probably familiar with research that shows a strong association with social media use and adolescent depression. However, numerous studies point to at least a “positive correlation” between social comparison, envy, and corresponding depression or lowered self-esteem in relation to social media use for adults. Furthermore, the impact appears to be compounding on users: an analysis published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior showed that the utilization of large numbers of social media platforms greatly increased the risk of depression and anxiety when compared to those who used fewer platforms.
While measuring up to peers is a natural inclination, previous generations seemed to divide up the world for their own personal comparisons. They could certainly envy the rich and famous, but they left true comparison of their social and economic status to those around them. If a Hollywood star got a new car it was one thing; if their neighbor pulled one into the driveway next door, it was another.
Yet today, the boundaries of our neighborhood, our community, and even our work environments have largely been diminished with the rise of social media. Through digital platforms, you can follow an upper-class family in France as easily as you can follow your next-door neighbor. Plus, you can be exposed to their so-called “lives” at all hours of the day, every single day of the year. That is unnatural.
Furthermore, we do have more exposure to people, but we are not actually guaranteed authenticity. While reality television and social media appear to emphasize “real life” on the surface, its true effect has been much more of a distortion of reality that makes platforms an impractical measure for true social comparison. Influencers not only fail to disclose limits to their transparency, but they often fake their status altogether. For example, news outlets broke the story a few years ago that famous influencers were renting fake private jet studio sets to take pictures and make content for just $64 an hour.
While we think that we are getting a genuine glimpse at the lives of those we follow on platforms, it is simply often not the case that we are given a true picture of their “reality.” Frankly, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
There is something naturally human about social boundaries. A great example of this phenomenon is marriage. I believe that a healthy marriage is based on honesty – you cannot become “one” while harboring secrets and lies. However, for those who are married, imagine meeting your future spouse for the first time and going on your first date. Did you tell them everything about your life over that first dinner? Did you reveal every bit your personal hygiene habits or intimate details about your family drama? I highly doubt it. There likely wouldn’t have been a second date. All those things came in time, as the priorities of your relationship grew together.
Boundaries are good. Few people should be let inside your inner walls. After all, if God wanted our insides spilled out to the world, he wouldn’t have given us skin. Social media doesn’t distort our need for these boundaries, it just distorts our perception of them within our society.
Yet, we can forget that measurement is a necessary component of a thriving society. Unless you prefer the failed socialist ideals or the ancient system of nobility, where the social hierarchy was primarily based on family lineage, then upward mobility by the measurement of merit is necessary.
Sadly, this truth is rejected by many institutions in America today. Read any mainstream outlet today and you will find attack after attack on the idea of a merit-based society. Furthermore, as President Trump’s first few weeks of his second term have revealed, even reforms to public institutions, where taxpayer dollars have been used to promote progressive woke ideology over the interests of the public, have come under intense fire.
President Trump won handily on the campaign trail talking about these very issues. For example, our military has been stifled by leftist initiatives aimed at restructuring the ranks of our armed forces to reflect a progressive worldview. The average American couldn’t care less about the social wokeness of our military – they just want them to be able to defend our nation. I even doubt liberals would care what “pronouns” are being used by our officers if we are ever attacked at home: they will just wish a few had been trained and equipped to protect them and their family.
The truth is – measurement is not the problem. Merit and competence used as a basis for progression in our society and our economy does not cause generations to faulter – it raises the bar for them to succeed. Yet, comparison without the application of merit as the equitable standard of measurement simply breeds envy.
The Bible instructs us in Exodus to not “covet your neighbor's house… your neighbor's wife… servant[s]… ox… donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” We forget that the problem is not the desire for those things in themselves – it is the desire to possess what someone else has been given. This idea, in itself, explains the politics of envy that underlines the modern Left’s ideology.
Measurement motivates. Envy enrages.
Humans will always engage in comparison in one way or another. However, our potential for prosperity is largely determined by our presence in a culture that empowers us to strive beyond our current status or one that burdens us with the ceiling of equal outcomes. The latter leaves us only to the worst of our humanity – a culture and politic based on greed, envy, and class warfare.