I’m glad to hear that you were trained to view the people you were charged with controlling as human beings and fellow Americans. By contrast, Trump has publicly said that these migrants are animals and not human beings. That sets a very different tone — precisely the one that is necessary to do terribly things to children and others.

As we’ve seen in police forces and the military (think of Abu Ghraib) a few bad apples can turn the culture of a unit.

“On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will do the right thing no matter what is happening. Fifteen percent of officers will abuse their authority at every opportunity. The remaining 70 percent could go either way depending on whom they are working with. That’s a theory from my friend K.L. Williams, who has trained thousands of officers around the country in use of force.”

The only possible way to ever find solutions to any problem is by understanding what the problem actually is and by looking at all of its components squarely in the face. I don’t just talk about the dominance hierarchy every chance I get because I’m obsessed. Most people have no understanding of it because it’s the ocean we’ve all always swum in. Most people don’t understand that this is what patriarchy actually is. I don’t have all the answers about how to dismantle it, but helping other people to understand that this is the foundation of all of our social ills means that more people at least understand what the problem actually is. I think that’s a good start.