ttbn,

Are you talking about Trump?

Paul1405 appears to be one of those people who'd castrate themselves because other people have too many children !

Firstly both Foxy and the ABC have got the wrong interpretation of "merit".

Merit is not sheer IQ or being rich and wealthy, it is being "deserving" and admirable. Being smart is no guarantee of success but smart people are generally far more successful.

Electing people based on merit is essentially what everyone tries to do with the difference being in what each voter decides is admirable.

shadyminister,

Can you read?

She's talking about 'meritocracy' not 'merit'.

This is a concept coined by British sociologist Michael Young in 'The Rise of Meritocracy' published in the 1950s.

Discussing sociology is something that is well above your paid grade.

I suggest you stop pretending you are educated and stick to being just an engineer.

At least you have afforded an opportunity for everyone to see that you are definitely no Arts graduate.

But don't let it get you down. Maybe your fellow engineer Sq. Leader West (aka Hasbeen) will take you for a spin in one of his imaginary fighter jets.

Swamp donkey,

I realise that as an environmental sociologist (a wank title if ever I heard one) literacy is not as essential as the ability to flip burgers, but Meritocracy being defined as:

"government or the holding of power by people selected according to merit."

The definition of merit is key to the whole concept. Foxy incorrectly defines it as being smart and the ABC incorrectly defines it as being a member of the "elite" to push some ill-defined agenda.

I would suggest buying a dictionary

shadyminister,

Sounds like the sort of definition that your crowd of MBAs come up with trying to make themselves look smart by borrowing from fields like sociology and anthropology and giving borrowed terms their own particular meaning that suits what you vocationally trained people do.

You might be able to fool people in the vocational fields like engineering, accountancy, business, etc. but when it comes to the Arts areas the concepts are well above your pay grade.

Stick to being just an engineer and we will all be happy.

I could suggest you read Young's monograph but you wouldn't get past the first paragraph.