Robert Reich: The Myth of the Rugged Individual

It is time to expose and retire this myth as much as possible. I often hear it used as a hammer on the heads of people who are in poverty or unfortunate. Being in that kind of situation, it really is nice to know that the bootstrap phrase had a different, original meaning and dispelling the wrong usage is valuable.

So, when somebody says, "they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps" the response could incorporate this information. So, it means that they should do something that is both stupid and impossible.

Of course, the myth of the "rugged individual" myth is another bag of nonsense as we know and it is more like a narcissistic denial or some form of egoistic compensation than factual. It leaves a whole lot out. In fact, most of the picture of a what goes into a person's success and wealth in business, etc. is obscured by that kind of story telling.