We have to be careful throwing around words like "luck" too much. Success is a combination of good choice and luck. Those good choices are very important to emphasize because that's what we have control over.
Given the success, it's also important to try improve others' odds. But good choices should also be respected.
Note that hard work may or may not be a good choice; and if it is, it's one good choice among many.
yes, it's important to choose the right country to be born in, the right affluent and wealthy parents, the right ethniticity and of course the right gender.
There are tactical choices you can make in life beyond that. Stuff like choosing the right extracurricular activities, choosing "good" majors, hanging out with the "right" people.
Of course the factors you mentioned make a lot of this easier. And perhaps more importantly those factors mean that you're more likely to be forgiven for not doing the "right" thing. While those from less fortunate categories will be berated for ever having spent a single second not hustling
To be clear: I 100% agree with the sentiment here.
There are things "in your control", but the prerequisites to having any control is based around the factors you've mentioned.
In theory even if your parents are super successful and the stars have aligned, you can still mess your life up. But at least you're given the opportunity to mess it up, instead of just being handed a shitty life from the outset.
You have little control over your parent's financial position, but you do have control over the major you choose within the schools available to you. Even within that limited pool, some choices are likelier to lead to success than others. Yes, the capital letters "Right People" might not be around in Minnesota, but there's still probably going to be different social groups to choose from.
Sure. But also remember that many successful people came from humble backgrounds and achieved what they did mostly by working their fucking asses off to make the most of their abilities.
Effort is something that is readily apparent in professional sports. Many talented players wash out in the NFL because of lack of effort. Compare that with Jerry Rice, considered to be the greatest wide receiver of all time:
Rice is also remembered for his work ethic and dedication to the game. In his 20 NFL seasons, Rice missed only 17 regular season games, 14 of them in the 1997 season, and the other 3 in the strike-shortened season of 1987. His 303 games are by far the most ever played by an NFL wide receiver. In addition to staying on the field, his work ethic showed in his dedication to conditioning and running precise routes, with coach Dennis Green calling him "the best route runner I've ever seen." One of the best known examples of his dedication and ethic may be "The Hill", a long and steep hill in Edgewood County Park & Natural Preserve, that is "two and a half miles up". Rice would sprint across the hill literally every day to improve his abilities.
I think we agree that there is everyday value to recognizing and rewarding good choices on an individual level. But if we're talking about how society is structured, and you think that people who make poor choices deserve a systemically-accepted low quality of life, then we disagree.
If someone makes poor choices, they aren't employable, etc. I'm fine with that. But if the reason they make those choices comes down to lack of education, poor parenting, or just a crappy draw from the genetic lottery, I don't think a society that blames people for that is a healthy society in the long term.
It's an individual vs. societal perspective, or maybe daily vs. long term issue. It might feel like cognitive dissonance, but your behavior to individuals can be different from the policies for which you advocate.
Given the success, it's also important to try improve others' odds. But good choices should also be respected.
Note that hard work may or may not be a good choice; and if it is, it's one good choice among many.