A social phenomenon in which individuals or groups who have successfully advanced in status, wealth, or opportunity then act to block others from accessing the same path upward.
Key Features:
Motivated by fear of competition, scarcity mindset, or desire to protect hard-won status.
Can manifest in politics (e.g., immigrants opposing immigration), economics (e.g., professionals gatekeeping their fields), or class mobility (e.g., elites dismantling welfare or education programs they once benefited from).
Example (fictional): Raymond Leon in the movie "In Time" rises out of poverty to become a Timekeeper but enforces the very system that traps others where he once was.
Example (real): An immigrant who gained citizenship but campaigns to restrict immigration for others.
Key Features:
Motivated by fear of competition, scarcity mindset, or desire to protect hard-won status.
Can manifest in politics (e.g., immigrants opposing immigration), economics (e.g., professionals gatekeeping their fields), or class mobility (e.g., elites dismantling welfare or education programs they once benefited from).
Example (fictional): Raymond Leon in the movie "In Time" rises out of poverty to become a Timekeeper but enforces the very system that traps others where he once was.
Example (real): An immigrant who gained citizenship but campaigns to restrict immigration for others.
1. After becoming wealthy through public education, the politician now opposes funding for schools, effectively pulling up the ladder behind him.
2. Some immigrants, once they gain citizenship, support restrictive immigration policies — a classic case of pulling up the ladder.
2. Some immigrants, once they gain citizenship, support restrictive immigration policies — a classic case of pulling up the ladder.
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Charlatan "If I can make up a 'if this then that' statement then what I'm saying is true! It's embedded in the structure of the universe!"
Hym "Yes. Of course. You're clearly not a petty charlatan and a tyrant and you're clearly not using fascist collusion and gaslighting to enrich yourself and subvert the government. And it's NOT opposite world. All of these things are clearly not the case and no one is going to die as a direct result of you doing that."
Hym "Yes. Of course. You're clearly not a petty charlatan and a tyrant and you're clearly not using fascist collusion and gaslighting to enrich yourself and subvert the government. And it's NOT opposite world. All of these things are clearly not the case and no one is going to die as a direct result of you doing that."
by Hym Iam January 21, 2025
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