
Japanese 'Prince' Switched at Birth Was Raised a Pauper - vezycash
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/11/29/247807768/japanese-prince-switched-at-birth-was-raised-a-pauper
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sudosteph
It's a lousy hand to be dealt, but I don't see how he deserves to take 317k
from a charitable organization over it. Everyone else who is born poor just
has to live with it. But he gets free money because he has the genetics of
rich people who never met him nor even knew of his existence.

The one case I could legitimately see being made for harm to the child caused
by being switched at birth is if there is some sort of genetic disease that
they could have had diagnosed or treated sooner if they knew their birth
parents. Not going to a fancy private school isn't harm though, it's just lack
of privilege.

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jbob2000
I am tempted to agree with you, but put yourself in his shoes. Being poor is a
trap that you cannot get out of by yourself, it is incredibly frustrating.
Along comes his ticket out of shitsville and you expect him to just pass?

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sudosteph
Oh, I don't blame him for trying for it. Anyone would. I just don't know if he
should have been awarded money based on not attending private schools that
most people wouldn't have been able to attend anyhow.

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jbob2000
I think that's just what he hung the case on because it had quantifiable
value. How else do you quantify a life of missed opportunities?

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hwoolery
Uh, this is just a PR stunt for the movie at the bottom, right? The court
report link is broken...

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berberous
I searched asahi.com for the article and still can't find it. I did find the
below, which suggests it may be real, but given how little is available on the
English web I'm now skeptical like you. Perhaps it's better sourced on
Japanese language websites though.

[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/28/national/media-...](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/28/national/media-
national/theres-a-cloud-above-our-silver-generation/)

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frgtpsswrdlame
He ends up a 60 year old truck driver and the person he was switched with is
the president of a real estate company - and meanwhile we pretend western
society is mostly meritocratic.

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cdoxsey
This story doesn't undermine the idea of meritocracy.

A rich child may end up a rich adult and a poor child a poor adult purely
because of nepotism, with the two individuals being roughly the same in terms
of skills and abilities.

But another explanation is that the rich child ends up a rich adult because
his rich parents actually instill more merit in the child and he ends up with
more skills and abilities.

In the latter case the standard could still be meritocratic.

I think there's truth on both sides - things like growing up in an intact
family, or learning the value of thrift, are going to inevitably lead to
better outcomes for the child - but I think there's also a whole lot of
unmeritocratic signaling (who you know, where you went to school, etc) and on
the reverse side, measures to prevent people from getting ahead (regressive
taxation, poor schools, etc)

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lawlessone
>But another explanation is that the rich child ends up a rich adult because
his rich parents actually instill more merit in the child and he ends up with
more skills and abilities.

How is that in itself not a form of privilege? is it different to attending an
elite school?

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neaden
It can be both privilege and meritocracy. Think of the movie Gattaca. The
people with enhanced genes were privileged from the wealth of their parents,
but also genuinely better in some areas because of that. The same thing if
parents are able to afford tutors, or to spend time helping their child out in
homework they will get better grades and do better. The key to remember is
that a meritocracy is not fair.

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lawlessone
> The key to remember is that a meritocracy is not fair.

I think you've just completely upended the meaning of meritocracy to suite
your argument.

Next you'll be arguing lootboxes make games more fair.

>Think of the movie Gattaca

Was literally a movie about unfair privilege. people in it were granted
privileges and opportunities based on their genes whether they had
accomplished something or not.

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neaden
Can you explain what you mean? This definition for meritocracy: "government or
the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability." says
nothing about fairness. If people are able to gain increased ability based on
privilege than you have an unfair meritocracy. Since it is pretty clear that
you can indeed do this, through parental involvement, tutoring, nutrition,
better medical care, etc. than it follows that meritocracy is not fair.

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frgtpsswrdlame
There's lots of definitions, I think this one is probably closer to what we
think of when discussing meritocracy:

 _an elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent
rather than on class privilege or wealth_

[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/meritocracy](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/meritocracy)

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neaden
There is still no conflict though, so long as class privilege and wealth can
be transformed into ability and talent.

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frgtpsswrdlame
Well no because the definition is 'rather than class privilege or wealth.'
Transforming wealth into ability and talent _is_ class privilege.

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khedoros1
If ability comes from wealth, it's still ability. I'd read "rather than class
privilege or wealth" to mean that those things aren't considered merits in and
of themselves, except to the degree that they _can_ help someone achieve their
full potential.

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knolax
Not an actual prince but merely from a rich (birth) family.

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RickJWag
Amazing. This is an interesting read.

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partycoder
He shouldn't have settled for $317,000.

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JonnyNova
On what grounds could he get more from the hospital? IANAL and am not familiar
with Japanese statutes, but the law almost certainly doesn't guarantee any
entitlement to wealth from being born into a wealthy family. He probably has a
very good chance of making a claim on the family's estate though.

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lostlogin
> On what grounds could he get more

I’d say he could get more if the other half of the switch paid back the amount
he presumably benefitted by. Should the two values equal out though?

