I love this story so much. It totally brings to life the important of narrative storytelling as a restorative force. Thank you for your excellent journalism.
Sorry. I have about as much empathy for Trump’s revenge campaign and its defenders as I have for Mao’s cultural revolution. My lack of empathy for them is exceeded only by their lack of empathy for the half of the country that didn’t vote for Trump. But, yeah, enjoy the Revenge and pop a cold one.
Of course I have! I am a fan of FIRE and very much value the work of Glenn Loury and John McWhorter in this space. And when they behave themselves, I’ve valued the Free Press, too. Having had a number of real jobs in my life, I’ve seen a few DEI hires, some of which didn’t work out and should have been shit-canned far earlier than they were. But most rose to the occasion of the new job, some spectacularly so. If you bought a company with your own money, knowing that there’s dead wood to be escorted out the door, would your first thought be: “let’s fire all the non-white, non-males without review”?
Anyway, I thought conversations about DOGE were supposed to be about efficiency, but it’s funny how even its defenders go straight to cultural topics—because the goal is not efficiency, but a purge of the non-MAGA.
At least the two guys I had to fire, one white dude with a drug problem and another with an anger management problem—oh, wait there was that other white guy who left his browser open to a very steamy page where tech support could see it when they came around to do an install—I can honestly say I had no idea what their political views were.
Bought a company? I started and operated a company for four decades. Contracting is not for sissies, but I managed it all well enough. The one impossible obstacle was qualified, reliable employees. I didn't just not care about the race or gender of an employee; I couldn't afford to care. If they had the right qualifications (a rare thing), they were hired.
It's nice that you had some qualified DEI hires. But you also had grossly unqualified DEI hires. Why? Why were they let thru? You DIDN'T hire qualified employees, for the sake of unqualified DEI hires.
In this day and age, a person who isn't getting ahead is a person who isn't trying or who just doesn't care enough. It's a free country. Everyone is free to not try and not care. But no one has a right to get put in front of more qualified employees for the sake of another bureaucratic boondoggle. DEI is racist, pure and simple.
If you’ve had a business and hired people, then you know how often your stand-out candidate has already taken another job and you have 2-3 candidates with little to distinguish them (admittedly, I lived in a tech town before retirement, with lots of talent available). Did some on the hiring panel go for the equity feels and some for the crony feels? Almost certainly! Blind prejudice at work, at times, in either direction. If you feel certain the last 30 was a world where equity hires and their enablers added up to vast material damage, then tolerance for the Retribution makes sense. Personally, I can’t wait until the part where we invade Canada because Trudeau had Boris Johnson and Macron were caught sniggering at Trump when they thought the mike was cold.
More than DEI, I blame schools. But of course, there's ample overlap between DEI and schools. I was a teacher, and I was an employer. It wasn't until I became an employer that I realized how terribly schools prepare students to become employees.
Surely this august site has discussed Nazi collaborators before? I don’t mean to go 0 to 60 like that, but I don’t have time to create a finely-tuned analogy, and it’s close enough.
The dialogue between the 24 and 20 year-old bros (Peterson leaped to my mind as well) made me think of the protective advice Nation Of Islam men give to each other: We’ll help you look out for yourself, because no one else will. And they’re more right than at any other time in my half-century on this Earth.
I feel like there’s a word for the sort of people who even after Hitler's openly anti democratic abuses of power continued to entertain Nazi policy as legitimate or well intentioned....
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."
Almost laughed out loud at this, good one.
Great story about being human, Damir.
Engaging, very human, and articulating grand insights all along the route. Good stuff.
Great anecdote Damir, thank you for sharing it.
I love this story so much. It totally brings to life the important of narrative storytelling as a restorative force. Thank you for your excellent journalism.
What Santiago said. Strangers are magic...put your phones away.
Sorry. I have about as much empathy for Trump’s revenge campaign and its defenders as I have for Mao’s cultural revolution. My lack of empathy for them is exceeded only by their lack of empathy for the half of the country that didn’t vote for Trump. But, yeah, enjoy the Revenge and pop a cold one.
Revenge is a reaction. Have you contemplated the ten years of persecution that has brought about the reaction?
Of course I have! I am a fan of FIRE and very much value the work of Glenn Loury and John McWhorter in this space. And when they behave themselves, I’ve valued the Free Press, too. Having had a number of real jobs in my life, I’ve seen a few DEI hires, some of which didn’t work out and should have been shit-canned far earlier than they were. But most rose to the occasion of the new job, some spectacularly so. If you bought a company with your own money, knowing that there’s dead wood to be escorted out the door, would your first thought be: “let’s fire all the non-white, non-males without review”?
Anyway, I thought conversations about DOGE were supposed to be about efficiency, but it’s funny how even its defenders go straight to cultural topics—because the goal is not efficiency, but a purge of the non-MAGA.
At least the two guys I had to fire, one white dude with a drug problem and another with an anger management problem—oh, wait there was that other white guy who left his browser open to a very steamy page where tech support could see it when they came around to do an install—I can honestly say I had no idea what their political views were.
Bought a company? I started and operated a company for four decades. Contracting is not for sissies, but I managed it all well enough. The one impossible obstacle was qualified, reliable employees. I didn't just not care about the race or gender of an employee; I couldn't afford to care. If they had the right qualifications (a rare thing), they were hired.
It's nice that you had some qualified DEI hires. But you also had grossly unqualified DEI hires. Why? Why were they let thru? You DIDN'T hire qualified employees, for the sake of unqualified DEI hires.
In this day and age, a person who isn't getting ahead is a person who isn't trying or who just doesn't care enough. It's a free country. Everyone is free to not try and not care. But no one has a right to get put in front of more qualified employees for the sake of another bureaucratic boondoggle. DEI is racist, pure and simple.
If you’ve had a business and hired people, then you know how often your stand-out candidate has already taken another job and you have 2-3 candidates with little to distinguish them (admittedly, I lived in a tech town before retirement, with lots of talent available). Did some on the hiring panel go for the equity feels and some for the crony feels? Almost certainly! Blind prejudice at work, at times, in either direction. If you feel certain the last 30 was a world where equity hires and their enablers added up to vast material damage, then tolerance for the Retribution makes sense. Personally, I can’t wait until the part where we invade Canada because Trudeau had Boris Johnson and Macron were caught sniggering at Trump when they thought the mike was cold.
More than DEI, I blame schools. But of course, there's ample overlap between DEI and schools. I was a teacher, and I was an employer. It wasn't until I became an employer that I realized how terribly schools prepare students to become employees.
Surely this august site has discussed Nazi collaborators before? I don’t mean to go 0 to 60 like that, but I don’t have time to create a finely-tuned analogy, and it’s close enough.
The dialogue between the 24 and 20 year-old bros (Peterson leaped to my mind as well) made me think of the protective advice Nation Of Islam men give to each other: We’ll help you look out for yourself, because no one else will. And they’re more right than at any other time in my half-century on this Earth.
I feel like there’s a word for the sort of people who even after Hitler's openly anti democratic abuses of power continued to entertain Nazi policy as legitimate or well intentioned....
Bizarre take from the author on DOGE
✂️💰Cut the funding, 🦇🐍Drain the SWAMP, build the wall. 🏁⛽ Accelerate and Sustain......