Glenn Loury & John McWhorter just covered this in one of their talks, about DEI initiatives and whether they work. They spoke of black kids being able to get into, say, Georgetown Law School only being in the 70th percentile while white & Asians kids had to score in the 90th percentile. They didn't use the phrase 'bigotry of low expectations' but that's kind of what it is. They said what if black kids *were* held to the same high standard as others? Maybe it would mean not a lot of black kids get into Georgetown U for awhile but they'll have to work harder. My Nigerian friend used to complain about American blacks giving him crap for being a nerd, educated, 'well spoken' (he was from Nigeria, he didn't know how to 'talk black' and once he did, he didn't think he needed to). He also complained about blacks eschewing success and good grades as 'acting white' (something some American blacks like to claim isn't true).

These arguments resonate with me as corporate & academic America debate how to get more women into STEM studies and jobs. And I think, yeah, it would be a good thing to get more women into that but I'm not sure it will ever reach parity, nor should it if it's not natural. Some women just aren't good at that and I hope no one's being pushed to be an engineer when what she wants to be is a financial analyst. And really, when you're part of a DEI initiative people will always say you got in because of your biological X, not because you could compete on a system of merit (however faulty that may be).

It's definitely not fashionable on the left to note that disadvantaged groups often hold themselves back with the same low expectations of those around them. I see it in the female/feminist mindset all the time. It's too easy for them to blame 'patriarchy' and 'misogyny' when I see 'fear of empowerment' and 'fear of assertiveness'.

There is for sure systemic racism and sexism, but corporate America is doing a genuine job of trying to rectify that as I watch it morph over websites, where i spend a lot of time on with my job (sales) and have for 25 years. I'm seeing more black, brown, female, and combinations of those things on boards, leadership pages representations on business sites. More large people. More female people. More mixed female people on beauty & vanity sites with the white women centred less than before. I'm even seeing more men represented there too.

So yeah, change is happening but not everyone is willing to admit it. The victimhood narrative serves them too nicely and abrogates their need to look within and ask them what are *they* doing to hold themselves back.

A question I've been struggling with *my entire life*.