[FRIAM] May you live in interesting times

[Marcus Daniels]

I spent a few days at the UCSF hospital in San Francisco last week. Except for one nurse (likely a lesbian white woman), the team of about a dozen individuals was almost all Asian, and the surgeon was a black woman. These individuals all navigated the `system’ to get professional jobs at one of the best medical organizations in the United States. I think most of them were probably born in the United States because they had no accent, and their use of English was idiomatic. 

I posit that when a member of a minority group grows up in a sexist, racist culture, and their opportunities come mostly from merit-based organizations, then such a person must adapt to the requirements of those organizations. Members of non-minority groups have more opportunities because they experience less bias, and so there is less pressure to stay on track. They can engage in other speculative activities like starting companies. 

But now more women than men gain a higher education, and there are four-star generals that are African American (even though, historically, the U.S. military has been racially segregated). There was a black president and there were almost two female presidents. 

MAGA is about nothing more than pushing this back. Destroying the administrative state isn’t about making business in the United States more dynamic. The United States already has a very dynamic economy. They want people to “get used to” violence and chaos, because in a chaotic world they might be a person that doesn’t have to confront their limitations. Easier to deport or maul the people that put your significance in a bad light. MAGA is about jealously and contempt for people that exercised their only (unfair) options and did well for themselves anyway. 







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