Dave, a hierarchy that is based in ability is one thing, but one that is based in abusing others to keep them in their place in the social hierarchy that comes strictly from traditional power and that is not earned in any significant way is an entirely different thing and is not in the least defensible. I think that you believe in the rightness of the dominance hierarchy because you falsely believe that it has anything to do with merit. The US is demonstrably NOT a meritocracy and most other countries aren’t either. Good lord, isn’t that patently obvious? Here’s one of my favorite quotes. “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.”
In the past, you have stipulated to the fact that people with “black-sounding” names get called for interviews much less (about 50% less) than people with white-sounding names, even when their resumes are exactly the same. How is that the fault of the person with the “black-sounding” name? And why should they not continue to be upset about that when it impacts their life on an ongoing basis?
“We find little evidence that our results are driven by employers inferring something other than race, such as social class, from the names,” their paper states. “These results suggest that racial discrimination is still a prominent feature of the labor market.”
I could quote you dozens of other statistics that demonstrate significant institutional and structural racism, sexism, homophobia, abelism, etc, but you’ve already heard most of them before. You also clapped a lot for my story about what constitutes privilege. Why those don’t seem to count for anything here was something that I already spoke to in this OP.
The fact that you’ve had female bosses doesn’t negate the fact that there is demonstrably considerable sexism and misogyny afoot in the world. C’mon, you know better than that.
You are not solely responsible for everything that has happened to you and neither is anyone else because you are not an individual only, you are a member of a society and the dynamics of that society impact every person in it and what kinds of opportunities are available to them and what kinds of experiences they are likely to have. Of course, each person should work hard and try to make the most of what opportunities they have, but telling people who face discrimination or oppression on a daily basis that they should “just get over it and not carry it with them” is really insensitive and clueless about what the world is actually like. Honestly, it’s really just kind of mean. ☹️ You should perhaps try to get over something bad that has happened to you when it’s in the past. If it’s a daily occurrence, you should not “take it like a man.” You advocate for change — helloooo!
