Alot of young people are being influenced by stupid trends on reddit (like /r/antiwork) or this 'quiet quitting' nonsense. Alot of young people also believe that meritocracy doesn't exist in the modern workplace, which is dangerous, because we all know it 100% exists.
The whole trend is because people don't feel like it's there. You haven't actually respond to them, all you have done is dismiss their thoughts as "stupid" or "nonsense"
The whole trend is manufactured outrage from places like reddit, twitter, and the dull corporate "journalists" that for some reason act as a megaphone for these "ideas". Its anything but organic. Ending work, doing the bare minimum at your job until you get fired? Very strange to me. Its participants are chronically online, angry, and very jealous. Of course they're opposed to meritocracy.
If you really think that this world operates on meritocracy, talk to some dishwashers at your local fancy restaurant. See if you think they don't work as hard as someone that makes 30x their wages.
If you can't empathise with the exploited, perhaps is it because you are in the position to exploit?
So is all advancement based on nepotism/favoritism? No skill or talent? It 100% doesn't exist in the government/public sector, that's an absolute fact.
I don't consider skills of networking and promotion to count as 'merit', and that's at least as important as technical skill.
Also I was an employee of the federal government for several years, and at least at the general service level promotions were as close to merit-based as I've seen anywhere.
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