+1 It’s not even a narrative. It’s an eschatological asymptote like “and they lived happily ever after” past a blindspot they’re unable to see past, a common failure mode of people fully immersed in a Carsean finite game. When winning is the only thing you’ve ever known, continuing to play becomes unimaginable.

I’m reminded of the Kissinger line that the conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla army wins if it does not lose.

I will bet that longer term the people being tagged for “permanent underclass” status will outlast and out-thrive those doing the tagging if anything.