"Face it, You'll Never Be Rich" The Horatio Alger myth.

The Horatio Alger Myth is generally used as a synonym of the 'rags to riches story'; Horatio Alger being a popular novelist in 19th century who was famous for his (admittedly formulaic) stories of young boys (such as Ragged Dick in Ragged Dick) who though hard work and virtue 'make it big'. However there is a discrepancy between the myth (indeed 'The Horatio Alger Myth' is indeed true in that it's a myth) and what was written by Horatio Alger. In Ragged Dick the character does not rise to a position of fabulous wealth but rather a respectable middle-class position of office clerk. Furthermore, Alger writes that it's better to be middle-class and honest in your income acquisition rather than be a 'robber baron'. So in reality the Horatio Alger Myth is flawed in it's very inception. Ultimately however Horatio Alger weather intentionally or not gave off the impression though his writing that one could rise up to wealth from petty poverty. Michael Moore is known for both his blowharding whistle-blowing and girth, and in this article from 2003 he regards the Horatio Alger myth as a destructive drug which placates the general population as so: "The other drug is nicer. It is first prescribed to us as children in the form of a fairy tale - but a fairy tale that can actually come true! It is the Horatio Alger myth... because we're still addicted to the Horatio Alger fantasy drug. Despite all the damage and all the evidence to the contrary, the average American still wants to hang on to this belief that maybe, just maybe, he or she (mostly he) just might make it big after all." Suffice to say he is scornful of the ideas given out by Horatio Alger (which as discussed were not really his intended ideas)that people can rise up the social ladder and become millionaires. The reason for this (he says) is that it makes the people sympathetic to the rich, that they have worked hard for their money and increasing taxes against him is bad "So don't attack the rich man, because one day that rich man may be me!". In conclusion Michael Moore has fallen into the heffalump trap of believing that Horatio Alger's characters rose from rags to riches when in text they merely rose from rags to respectability.