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Comment by dauertewigkeit | Hacker News Reader

I don't think that's abnormal. That's the norm for political leaders in western countries. There are very, very, few people that rise to leadership positions from a purely working class background. Even Jeremy Corbyn grew up middle class. It's almost tautological that leaders are going to be above average in some respect and this talent will be recognized early and the way it works in western countries, the elite institutions try to recruit all the talented folk from non-elite backgrounds into their ranks.

I think it's overall a good thing that not all people from elite backgrounds with above average IQ/skills end up being purely upper class aligned.

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The inverse of elite isn’t working class background.

It approximately is, imho. Wealth follows a power law distribution. People put the dividing line at different points, but it doesn't matter so much. The elite are a tiny fraction. The middle class are also a relatively small faction of the population and for the most part, the middle class tend to be lumped in with the elite, because they tend to be in complementary political factions.

Now I know that in the US, people group everyone with a job in the middle class, but that's just semantics.

The middle class in western Europe and the USA does run into the millions according to most definitions.

However, class is also about your origins not just your wallet and YV is in no way a horny-handed son of toil.

What they mean is that there are plenty of people with organizational skills that come from a working class background, and essentially all of the smartest people in science come from working class, even immigrant backgrounds. Why? Simple: it takes a lot of long, concerted effort, with few results, and people are not very likely to do that if they have it too easy in childhood.

It's birth, not brains or organizational skills that make "leaders" in Europe. Hell, the highest European politician gets criticized for exactly that a great many times. Very lucky to be born where she was born, not much at all in terms of accomplishments, and zero spectacular achievements.

Yanis Varoufakis is a rich kid as is his wife, and their relatives. That's my point. He is part of the very thing he claims to be fighting.

You say he is talented. I say he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has been promoted by some powerful institutions such as mainstream media and elite universities. He did not get up there on his own. He isn't some street kid from Athens who clawed his way up by his own intellect.

By the way, I don't have a big problem with Corbyn as an individual. I think he is personally honest. I do have concerns that a decent man like him (or Bernie Sanders) may be used by individuals who are less honest. That has happened in the British Labour Party many times.

I'm not disputing the facts. I'm just pointing out that it's the norm.

I'm not sure what you're implying though. I don't think he is being platformed by current mainstream institutions if that's what you're saying.

He is being platformed by them. He was never off the BBC at one point and he writes for broadsheet papers on a frequent basis.

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