For content related to politics
We Americans like to think (and boast) about our great experiment in Democracy: that we are a nation founded on the principle so famously expressed by Thomas Jefferson that all are created equal and endowed by God from birth with an unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As they say these days: not so much.
I have a question for white folks reading this: Have you or your family benefitted from affirmative action laws or policies? If your answer is ‘no’ I wonder if you will feel differently after reading this post.
This is Derek Sivers' version of a quote based on the opening of a David Foster Wallace address* to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College:
This is a brilliant article. It focuses on health inequity, but applies quite well to to a wide range of things, including education, justice, housing, voting, finance, and governance. Here's my distillation of the message:
"...we must build a deeper understanding of racism as a system of advantage — otherwise our ... efforts are bound to simply remain diversity and inclusion projects."
Rudiger Dorbusch, a German economist who spent much of his career at MIT, famously said:
“Things always take longer to happen than you expect – but once they happen, events unfold more quickly than you’d ever have imagined.”
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
(George Orwell)