Nepotism

Nepotism is quite a heated issue of contention these days. Almost everyone is up in arms against it and rightfully so. Nepotism usually entails the blatant misuse of power and/or authority and it has enabled people of lesser abilities to reach positions that would have otherwise been inaccessible to them. It has over the years flooded our lives with incompetent leaders, unskilled professionals, and talentless actors so it is only right that we resent nepotism and its wiles.

What I fail to understand is the resentment against someone, who has the required abilities/skillsets, for the only reason that they hail from an influential family. Why does the nepotism tag have to pop up when a successful performer who happens to hail from an influential background but who also has proved their worth through their abilities get further opportunities? Why are we so eager to overlook a person’s achievements for the sole fact that she/he hails from an influential family? Why are we so quick to slap on the ‘nepotism’ label on someone even when their accolades are well deserved just because they have a famous surname?

I do agree that nepotism may open a couple of doors that may be shut for others, but then wouldn’t most of us make use of such opportunities if they were available to us? Then isn’t our self-righteous disparaging of nepotism an example of sour grapes?

What I find equally confusing is the blatant outright rejection of someone starting out in their field just because they hail from an influential background. Why do we tend to be so dismissive of a person’s capability just because they were born into an affluent household? It’s almost as if we’re prejudiced against and judge poorly those who happen to have famous relatives, even before we give them a chance to perform and impress us.

Like almost every other topic that I write about, for instance, faith, lies or even death, I am of the opinion that here too, we need to check our own assumptions and perceptions and try and understand why we do the things we do. It’ll help us obtain a better picture of who we are as individuals and I believe that self-awareness is how self-acceptance and subsequently self-improvement begins.

What’s your take on this? Feel free to comment below and let’s have a chat!