Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. We discuss what it really means to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps in America, “the land of the self-made.”
Humans are biologically wired to be interdependent. In fact, achievement is often accompanied with isolation and loneliness. Alissa reminds us that “People who are fighting for democracy shouldn't be leaning into their own self made myth, but instead they should be trying to dispel the myth entirely.” The counter narrative to the self-made myth is that being in community and mutual solidarity feels better than being an individualist.
Follow Alissa on X:
Follow Mila on X:
Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/
Sponsor:
Thanks to Shopify for supporting Future Hindsight! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.
Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!
http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard
Take the Democracy Group’s Listener Survey!
https://www.democracygroup.org/survey
Want to support the show and get it early?
https://patreon.com/futurehindsight
Check out the Future Hindsight website!
Read the transcript here:
https://www.futurehindsight.com/episodes/give-up-the-bootstrapping-myth-alissa-quart
Credits:
Host: Mila Atmos
Guests: Alissa Quart
Executive Producer: Mila Atmos
Producer: Zack Travis
1. Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
2. Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
3. Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.