In today's summary of a particularly specious dictum, I hereby introduce the reader to the "Peter Principle".
To be brief, this theory holds that a person will be promoted in their job until the workload surpasses their competence, at which point they will rise no further.
In other words: this world is perfectly meritocratic, and everyone gets what they deserve.
Before I begin, I would like to state the obvious: that it takes a special breed of spoiled and cloistered mind to conceive of the "Peter Principle". It's the sort of thing a toddler would believe, before their youthful idealism has been shattered by the trials of adulthood.
A cursory exploration reveals the flaws of such a belief. To begin with, one research study after another debunks it. Prejudice, and the discrimination it breeds, both of which not only exist but are also quantifiable, have been meticulously measured throughout all sectors of every society on Earth. In lieu of sharing the mounds of data, I would recommend anyone who is interested in the subject to simply take their own brief glance using their favorite Internet search engine.
But beyond that, there is an unending amount of contrary anecdotal evidence as well, any one piece of which is sufficient to disprove the aforementioned principle. Human history is replete with stories of incompetent fools who were elevated to the highest positions of power, and were given control over entire nations, only to lead their people into the abyss. Hitler, Napoleon, and Pol Pot are just a few of the most recent examples, but there are thousands more who predate them.
And there are just as many such historical lessons in our own society as well. CEOs who drove their companies to bankruptcy, and not only were given severance packages generous enough to be wryly called "golden parachutes", but were a decade or two later re-elevated to the very same upper echelons of power, as if they had done no wrong. Richard Fuld is just one such person.
Finally, there are those who history has long since crowned as paragons of intellect and virtue, who during their days were completely rejected by society. Socrates, Siddhārtha Gotama, and Jesus of Nazareth are just three such examples, but there are hundreds if not thousands more scattered throughout history. Such people in totality not only disprove the "Peter Principle", but also demonstrate its exact opposite: that pure meritocracy is a fictitious concept.
So there you have it: the folly of the "Peter Principle", and why it belongs in the garbage bin of history's ideologies. As familiar as I am with Humanity, I have no doubt that it will stubbornly persist in the minds of those who know no better, but it is my hope that anyone who reads these words can be swayed, even if ever so slightly, by the truth.
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