People are asked to perform like circus animals.

Motivation and incentive are difficult to define, but be sure they are very different.  

Webster defines motivation as the condition of being eager to act or work

An incentive is what you are given to perform a given task in a defined period of time.  Webster defines incentive as a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something.  

Some studies have shown when you pay someone for a task, such as solving a puzzle the amount of the incentive does not entice them to solve the puzzle better or faster.  In one study they observed people over three days and paid them for the first two days and the observers were surprised at the results. When the incentive pay was taken away on the third day, in most cases, they lost interest in solving the puzzles.  However, a second group was challenged to solve puzzles for no incentive pay, they observed over three days, the interest was maintained and in some cases increased by the third day.

Kenny Easley, a one-time football great and 5-time pro-bowl nominee, once said for $1.7 million I can play good football, but for $2.3 million he could play great football.  His career fizzled shortly after making this statement.

Imagine this, we no longer living in a society based merit or mer·i·toc·ra·cy

People selected on the basis of their ability. Not anymore.

Next time you get on an Air Plane, remember the pilot may not be the best pilot, he/she may have been just part of the DEI program. WASHINGTON (TND) — The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) "targeted disabilities" policy drew criticism from public figures Monday.

The guidelines, announced in March 2022, set an annual FAA hiring goal of 3% for severely impaired employees. The listed disabilities include psychiatric and intellectual impairments, complete and partial paralysis, blindness, deafness, missing extremities, epilepsy and dwarfism."

Bailey, a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety team representative, said the FAA has implemented policies to satisfy the left.  The FAA’s "Diversity and Inclusion" hiring plan says "diversity is integral to achieving FAA's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond." The FAA’s website shows the agency’s guidelines on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23, 2022.

The Department of Transportation (DOT), which oversees the FAA, pushed back on the notion that diversity and inclusion practices impact safety.

So what is DEI? Diversity, equity, and inclusion (usually abbreviated DEI) are organizational frameworks which seek to promote "the fair treatment and full participation of all people", particularly groups "who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination" on the basis of identity or disability.[1] These three notions (diversity, equity, and inclusion) together represent "three closely linked values" which organizations seek to institutionalize through DEI frameworks.[2] Some experts say diversity and inclusion should be decoupled in some cases.[3] Some frameworks, primarily in Britain, substitute the notion of "equity" with equality: equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI).[4][5][6] Other variations include diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB),[7][8][9] justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI or EDIJ),[10][11] or diversity, equity, inclusion and access (IDEA, DEIA or DEAI).[12][13][14]

Now let's take a look at our education system or the dumbing down of America.

Our children are not learning about achievement and the pride of accomplishment. One example is when they play baseball or soccer and everyone gets a trophy, the same trophy, I guess for participation.  So what motivated the top achievers of those teams?   Maybe it was the parents or maybe the desire to achieve.  Sometimes it is as simple as setting a goal, with a reward at the end.  In this case, is the reward winning or being your best?

What about passing grades, well hold on now we don't need grades. Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing, or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color. It sounds kind of racist to me. Remember when Joe Biden said ‘Poor Kids’ Are Just as Bright as ‘White Kids’

Let's take it a step further, some universities don't require a CPA. But there is more.... SAT, ACT testing requirements paused during the pandemic are now permanently optional at some colleges. Some of the oldest universities in the nation are axing SAT and ACT testing admissions requirements for incoming undergraduate students – permanently.

Look at the world today, you will see this in our everyday life, and the best example is the welfare and unemployment systems.  When people were required to follow certain guidelines and be accountable for their actions,  to ensure they continued to get paid, they followed them to the letter.  In the past, to get unemployment, you are required to show your efforts to find employment, attend classes and sit through several reviews, to get paid.  Miss one of these and your benefits are cut off.  Welfare once had similar requirements and the number of people receiving welfare, as a percentage of the population, stayed fairly constant.  Over the past four years, those requirements were eased or lifted completely.  So what happened when the accountability was removed; the number of people receiving assistance doubled? Some of this can be blamed on the economy, but most is because the accountability was removed. 

In reality, the government provides incentives not to work and blames it on corporate America accusing them of being greedy.  If you did not have the skills to make more than minimum wage why would you work, if you can lie on the couch and get paid the same, and never be held accountable?  Drive by homes of many on assistance and not working, and look at the condition of their property, their lawns are knee-high and trash all over.  Look inside the house and you will find more of the same.  They have the time, so what is the issue; lack of motivation or incentive?

Our Parks Department understands this very well.  What happens when you feed animals, they become dependent and the same happens to humans.   When you provide them with, food, clothes, education, and housing, and no way out, they become dependent. 

This leaves the remaining population to fund the government incentives while continuing to fight through the hard times, getting additional training, working more hours, changing careers, and refusing assistance.  This is because of motivation and not incentive.  Motivation comes from personal pride, pride in doing their part, doing better for their family, and not accepting their level on the ladder as the norm.  They do not define their destiny by what others say or do.  They do not complain about having to work while others lay on the couch or sail the world on a yacht.  Instead, the dream of being that person on that yacht, setting their sails toward their goals, never saying this is good enough.  Instead, they may complain about how much they have to give up because of those unwilling to get off the couch.

Then in comes the government and says it is not fair you have so much while others have so little.  You must give up some of your blood sweat and tears to help out those less fortunate.  Are they less fortunate or less motivated?  Some are less fortunate, but most are just lazy and unwilling to do it for themselves, why should they let the couch get cold if they can get it for free? 

When someone comes into your home, your wallet, your bank, and takes what you have sacrificed for only to give to others who will not even give up their place on the couch, how do you stay motivated?  Many don’t stay motivated, because the government incentive becomes too great to stay motivated.  Let me ask you; if you took years to build a home with the most beautiful view in the world, but the government comes in and says we need your land to build low-income housing, they tear down your dream, your hard work is gone, will you start over? How long before you would just give up?  I am not meaning to demean anyone who needs help, I have been there, and have needed the help. I know how difficult and challenging it is to climb out of that hole.

Humans are designed to be free and to be challenged.  When we are no longer free and are no longer challenged we give up or act out.  Zoo keepers spend years training animals to listen, and obey their every command, and to do so they use food as the incentive.  What happens when the incentive loses its significance?  How many times have you heard about lions, tigers, or elephants attacking the trainer after being so compliant and docile for years?  

What do you think happens to humans, the same thing; they give up, lash out, or go crazy. 

Be careful when you create a society that has everything handed to them and is asked to perform like circus animals.