one of the biggest sea changes amongst republicans in the last 5-10 years or so has been their aggressive refusal to let business owners run their businesses, and that really *is* a huge sea change
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I think Tim Walz had the right idea on this: Today’s GOP are weirdos who want to tell you how to run your business, and also want to hang around bathrooms checking out other peoples’ genitals. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, YOU WEIRDOS!
“government should stay the hell out of my business” was about a rock solid a principle and law amongst republicans as you could find for as long as i can remember, this is legitimately really new
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:51 PM
===
mostly, but you could find extremely racist republicans through the 80s, 90s and 00s who still believed that minorities had the right to own and run their businesses, that was a big part of their argument against any kind of social welfare
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) July 23, 2025 at 12:53 PM
===
It’s honestly one of the most bizarre things about this admin, and the thing that makes me think that there’s truly not anyone steering the boat who’s not a crank to the nth degree.
— Adam Weird (@needlephilic.bsky.social) July 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
—
ETA:
I spent some years working on corporate DEI efforts and I can tell you that the administration is not just waging war on diversity, they're waging war on uniqueness and individuality. One reason businesses value diversity is that people of diverse backgrounds bring diverse skills and experiences.
— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
===
It's the same reason that a lot of companies have moved away from rigid hierarchies based solely on age and seniority. You have to have new voices and perspectives to thrive. And that's not ageism, it's a rational business practice that values everyone.
— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
===
The same is true with DEI efforts. It's not "discrimination" against white people or men. It's a simple matter of broadening the pool of qualified candidates to ensure you get the benefit of a wide variety of experiences and skills.
— Dave von Ebers (@dave-von-ebers.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Baud
And a stomp. Feels like we’re back to normal.
mrmoshpotato
They’re also racist, sexist cult members.
Nukular Biskits
So why ain’t more so-called “limited government conservatives” raising a stink?
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
See comment # 2.
The Audacity of Krope
Because limited government “conservatives” only want to limit other people’s priorities. The only problem I have with the OP is that this is not new at all.
Peale
I remember some time 30 years ago I was supposed to be boycotting Cracker Barrel because of anti-LBTQIA employment policies.
Yeah, they are trying to make so that companies “have to discriminate” because congress never got around to passing workplace protections. But I think the trigger here is really that the right felt that the Lost Cracker Barrel a few years ago when the company announced that they were adding Incredible Burgers and other vegetarian options to their menu. Then it became a place that the conservatives couldn’t stomach any longer. Because overt bigotry in places where they eat adds extra savoriness to the dishes.
lowtechcyclist
I go away for awhile, and it looks like things are all better now.
Thanks, WG, for whatever magic and machinations of yours have got things working again!
Matt McIrvin
Government should stay the hell of of your business, IF you’re a bigot. I think they formulated the idea in an age when they could safely assume *most* business owners were white bigots, and now they’re adjusting to the idea that they might not be– or might have adapted successfully to a civil-rights regime.
But I think the bigotry was always primary, the libertarianism was just the means to an end.
Steve LaBonne
@Nukular Biskits: Because they only want limitations on what government can tell THEM what to do. They love government ordering around anyone they don’t like.
lowtechcyclist
@Peale:
Oh no, they’re offering menu options aimed at people Different From Us! How horrible! How can they do this to us? We thought Cracker Barrel was On Our Side! Betrayal, I tell you!!!!!
p.a.
Wilhoit.
PaulB
One thing that I find depressing is that our political media consistently fails to point out that there is nothing inherently illegal about DEI initiatives, nor is there anything actually wrong with them. Far too many of them blindly accept the Republican framing on this, despite it having no basis in reality.
MattF
Somewhat amusing that MAGA is now forcing Dems to swear fealty to old-fashioned Republican virtues.
Steve LaBonne
@PaulB: I’m so old that I remember when a government giving lawless orders to private institutions was called “tyranny” and was generally thought to be a bad thing.
Old Man Shadow
They’ve always wanted segregation. That’s the constant. When the government was forcing them to serve and hire minorities, that’s “government overreach into mah business!”
When the government is pushing for segregationist policies, it’s small government conservatism.
Baud
@Old Man Shadow:
The states rights Confederacy had a constitution that barred states from ending slavery.
Peale
@lowtechcyclist: Next thing you know, we’ll have to eat with Indian families who are on a road trip!
Steve LaBonne
@lowtechcyclist: “Free to be, just like me.”
Chetan Murthy
@The Audacity of Krope: Or as they say, Wilhoit’s Law. The hypocrisy is part of the point: it’s how they signal to their Base that those laws, those rules? They’re for those people, not for us.
Or (IIRC) as a certain Latin American general once put it; “For my friend, everything; for my enemies, the law”.
Harrison Wesley
@Matt McIrvin: For that matter, Tim Walz himself is a beaver libertarian, with that “Mind your own dam business” stuff.
Baud
@Harrison Wesley:
Free the Beaver!
JoyceH
I can’t get over how Hegseth just went through and fired all the blacks and women in positions of authority in the Defense Department, called it an anti-DEI initiative and got away with it.
Baud
@JoyceH:
How would he not get away with it? American voters elected a racist sexist president in order to do racism and sexism.
Peale
@JoyceH: Hey! I thought the point of Anti-DEI was just to protect women by ridding the workplace of those trans and non-binary people and that once we had overthrown the evils of gender ideology that was sapping our military readiness it would be over. I had no idea that protecting women also included firing them from positions where they might have decision making authority and men might have to listen to them. What’s next? They going to fire all the “normal gay men?”
Princess
I think “government needs to stop being weird and intrusive” is a great shorthand policy phrase and the bonus is that it’s a way to wholeheartedly support trans people and reproductive freedom and other things we care about without getting buried in the weeds.
Chief Oshkosh
@JoyceH: What part of it is unbelievable? Not being snarky; genuinely wondering.
catclub
Don’t they still have ‘Chic-fil-a’ ?
gvg
@Steve LaBonne: And this is why they are fools who don’t understand separation of church and state was enacted to protect Christians from other Christians!
A lot of our earliest immigrants, especially the founders families and neighbors, immigrated because of events like the 30 years war (germanies) and the English Civil War, as well as the Hueganot persecutions in France and the inquisition in Spain and Portugal. We know sort of why the Pilgrams came. The Netherlands was fighting for independance from Spain because of Religion and Scotland and Ireland were fighting England because of different versions of Christianity. All these wars were about Christians and they killed each other over it. Also took each others property over it, and reported neighbors over it. It’s a dangerous precident to unleash and the founders knew it. We have lived safely for enough generations to have produced some soft headed fools who won’t understand that they are fooling with dynamite, and building a machine that will eat them too.
Chetan Murthy
OK, so I gotta say: I dated a woman who basically only ate at Cracker Barrel, b/c she couldn’t stand -any- spice at all. She’d eat unflavored tuna out of the can, and say it was too spicy. The only thing I could eat was the blackened catfish, b/c everything else was ….. too damn bland.
Shorter: they need all the extra savoriness they can get!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@The Audacity of Krope:
Just another day ending in ‘y’.
Bill Arnold
@JoyceH:
Anti-DEI means one is Racist, Prejudiced, and a Segregationist.
Belafon
Biding their time until they could go back to the earlier tenant of blacks could own businesses as long as they weren’t competing with white ones or making blacks too wealthy.
Harrison Wesley
@gvg: We may be headed for Apocalypse – anti-DEI vs. Opus DEI. ???
Belafon
@Chetan Murthy: Braum’s breakfast burritos are that way. So bland they suck the spiciness out of my favorite salsa (definitely don’t use theirs).
Steve LaBonne
@Belafon: And we know what happened whenever they did get “too” successful.
Peale
@catclub: I will NOT eat at Chick fil-a. If I were on a deserted island and the only thing to eat was a Chick Fil-a franchise that floated ashore, I’d just starve.
But there was a scuttlebutt a few years back when CFA tweeted something in support of Pride Month or something like that and you’d think they had served their guests a plate of maggots. Ted Cruz if I recall was like “I’m never eating there again.”
Again, I think most of their guests know that this is bland stuff and interchangeable with any other chicken joint, but the ability to participate in the jailing of Gays in Africa is just to scrumtious for them to pass up. “Gays Aren’t Welcome Here” just makes everything so tasty.
Steve LaBonne
@Peale: I ate at one once years ago, before I knew what they were. It was like eating a cardboard sandwich between slices of cardboard.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Peale: My attitude towards them is just slightly different; I simply refuse to help them earn any money which will then go towards hurting people I call friends. If a crate of Chick-Fil-A chicken washed up on a desert island, well, hey, legitimate salvage. But I’m not giving them one thin dime.
Belafon
@Steve LaBonne: I like their nuggets, for the seasoning, and their soup. The sandwiches are mostly generic.
Martin
This is not a new change – it started after the financial crisis but Obama was president for the 8 years after, so you first see it materialize with Trump. The change in the electorate is really clear to see in the polling – GOP voters don’t support big businesses, they do support culture war, and if big business is a victim of the culture war, then so be it. Mitt Romney is not welcome in the GOP any longer – he left – though there are still plenty of those elected officials rattling around like Mitch.
Problem is Democrats have been acting like nothing has changed, when a lot has changed. This is a part of the generational friction on the left – younger voters better see today’s electorate where the folks in office are still running like it’s 2008. The idea of regulating and taxing big business is opposed only by a fraction of the GOP – mostly older voters. The lower and middle class voters that the GOP has picked up aren’t on board with that, nor are young voters.
I think Dems should become the party of small business and entrepreneurship and rather than wage a culture war against big business, Dems should promise to go after big business to clear space for local businesses to flourish – create the conditions for a local retailer to compete in a world with Amazon, break up the consolidated ag distributors so farmers have more pricing power, break up the big grocery stores so there’s more room for price and product competition, and so on. I think Harris had it exactly right at the start of her campaign about an ‘opportunity economy’ to empower people who are self-employed, operate small businesses and startups, etc. You see some of that in how Marie Gluesenkamp Perez campaigns – she is by no means a lefty. You saw that in Mamdanis campaign of eliminating the need to bribe people in order to get a cart license in the city. It was presented as ‘lowering the cost of a halal plate’, but every one of those guys was self employed and looking for relief and that’s where his focus was.
The big donors are gonna hate that campaign, which is why I think it steadily disappeared from view when Harris was running, and the unions probably won’t like it either, but it’s very American Dream, land of opportunity, made in America shit without being jingoistic or corporate centered.
But the idea that this is some violation of GOP orthodoxy to culture war Cracker Barrel, like, sure in 2005, but not now. Look at the voters. Look at how they poll. They’re perfectly happy to knock Cracker Barrel Inc. down a peg or two. That seems most dissociative is that Trump would be the vehicle through which it happens, but it’s not his policy, it’s Millers. Trump doesn’t give a shit until he gets an earful from the CEO on the golf course.
lowtechcyclist
@JoyceH:
Well if Blacks and women had high positions in the DoD, it could only have been due to DEI, amirite? They couldn’t have possibly earned and deserved those jobs by being the most qualified candidates, because the most mediocre white male candidate is obviously superior to the most qualified woman or minority candidate, after all.
/s
Downpuppy
@Peale: Cracker Barrel is now too woke for them?! There’s nobody in the entire party left who can say “Wait a second! This is Cracker Barrel, FFS!”
lamh47
Open Thread…yay!
Just had to quickly drop by to say I’m an auntie AGAIN!!
My youngest baby sister in Texas had baby #5 Tuesday morning in DFW!!
Welcome to the world baby boy Ezra Caleb!!
We already have a nickname for him…we calling him “FIVE” in the group text…LOL.
5 babies is the most children any of my family have in at least 2 generations (my grand had 10, my mom had 5, and now my sister has 5)!
I went from 1 nephew for 19 years and then 7 more nieces and nephews in the last 7 years!!!
Baud
@lamh47:
Congratulations!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: Those women and POC couldn’t be more qualified than, say, Pete Hegseth. He’s obviously been hired because of his experience and wisdom. His gender and race had nothing to do with it. White Male is neutral and invisible.
lowtechcyclist
@Chetan Murthy:
There’s no Cracker Barrel here in Calvert County, so if she lived here she’d have to settle for Bob Evans. I’ve never eaten at Bob Evans, but I’ve been told that it’s the sort of place you eat at if the food at Denny’s is a bit racy for you.
WTFGhost
I just had a sick thought over at Digby’s when I realized *when* Trump said he promised to date no one younger than Ivanka, and the field was narrowing.
She was 17. Now, I’ve heard it said Age of Consent is 17 in NY. Still: even then, the field wasn’t yet *narrowing*. I’m not wrong about this, am I folks?
Trump is likely guilty as sin.
gene108
Anything that’s been done to give non-white men a shot at jobs and promotions has been labeled as “discrimination” against white men for 60 years.
They won’t stop until all the non-white male workers’ progress have made over the last 125 years is done away with.
Baud
@gene108:
100% correct.
That has always been Trump’s secret sauce. He’s persuaded enough voters that he can achieve that goal.
prostratedragon
With The Tonight Show Orchestra, Chuck Mangione:
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Martin:
Booman and many writers at The Washington Monthly have been pounding this for close to 25 years now:
washingtonmonthly.com/2016/10/04/hillary-clinton-finally-takes-on-corporate-monopolists/
Alas, any time there’s even a hint of *meaningfully* doing what they have talked about or you’re talking about, it somehow never happens in any appreciable way that people see and experience.
lowtechcyclist
@lamh47:
Congrats, and welcome to the world, Ezra Caleb!
gene108
@PaulB:
The media never questions Republican framing. Republicans have been successfully conflating asylum seekers with illegal immigrants for the last 10 years, so that the terms are interchangeable for most people, I think, despite seeking asylum here being a legal way to immigrate.
gene108
@lamh47:
Congratulations!
The Audacity of Krope
I like that quote.
Scout211
NBC
zhena gogolia
@lamh47: Congratulations!
Sister Golden Bear
@JoyceH: And fired all the trans military personnel.
David Collier-Brown
@PaulB: Countries (like Canada) and companies who adopt DEI have a lovely unfair advantage over the DEI-haters. Folks can hire the best candidate, not just the best white candidate.
Ramona
@Scout211: Finally, a narrow breath of good news!
JML
@lamh47: mazel tov!
David Collier-Brown
@lamh47: Hmmn, does that mean Seven of Nine has nine siblings?
Mr. Bemused Senior
@David Collier-Brown: eight perhaps
The Audacity of Krope
Eight, actually. Nine total and she is one.
gene108
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
The problem is anti-trust lawsuits take time to make it through the courts. The Clinton DOJ lawsuit against Microsoft, started in 1998, and ended because Bush, Jr. became president, and dropped the lawsuit.
The time involved to go after big business in the courts makes fulfilling fiery rhetoric nearly impossible. Even if laws are changed, businesses will sue and some judge will put a stay on the law going into effect.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@The Audacity of Krope: off by 1 is a very common error. [Ask me how I know 😁]
Citizen Alan
@Nukular Biskits: Because none of those people ever cared about “limited government” except when they could use the concept to hamper social progress and basic fairness.
The dirty little secret of the States Rights Movement is the fact that the biggest attack on states rights ever was the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scot decision what arose from it. A federal law and a SCOTUS opinion both premised explicitly on the idea that some states had the absolute right to force their social views on the citizens and governments of other states that disagree with them on the most important political question of the day.
Trollhattan
Take note: Kaiser Healthcare is not Catholic.
On it goes.
Trollhattan
@The Audacity of Krope:
Also known as “house I wish I’d grown up next door to.”
Citizen Alan
@Steve LaBonne:
What Ronald Reagan said:
What Ronald Reagan actually meant and what his supporters actually understood and agreed with:
The Audacity of Krope
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Ah, the old “we should have counted the zero-numbered instance” woopsie?
The Audacity of Krope
I know they were like family, but that domicile was pretty isolated.
catclub
Business people may not be fully on board with it in the US, but the academic papers that show Company boards with more diversity do better, have had their impact. Also on making investment decisions.
When it is a matter of money convincing is easier.
me
@Scout211: So much for Gorsuch defending native rights.
Citizen Alan
@Peale: A lot of women are in the process of finding out that nearly every TERF argument they make can be turned around in a different context and used to support discrimination against cis-women.
Baud
Citizen Alan
@Chief Oshkosh: I think s he’s using “it’s unbelievable” in the “it’s completely outrageous” sense rather than “I don’t factually believe it.”
Baud
rikyrah
The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) posted at 1:26 PM on Thu, Jul 24, 2025:
The artist who painted the viral 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama has withdrawn her upcoming show at the Smithsonian, citing political censorship.
t.co/oizt1s2BVy
(https://x.com/thedailybeast/status/1948449685250691416?t=BRPPIl89RsIR89EN3DfF8Q&s=03)
rikyrah
@JoyceH:
Absolutely outrageous
VFX Lurker
Thank you for sharing this most happy news. Wishing “Five” and the rest of your family health, joy and prosperity.
Citizen Alan
An attitude that led to one of the most awful people to have lived in my lifetime that isn’t KNOWN to have a body count beating two of the most accomplished female politicians in the history of this nation for the most important office in the country.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: 100% tariff on French wine in 3,2,1…
Chief Oshkosh
@Citizen Alan: Ah, got it. Thanks.
Matt McIrvin
@Downpuppy: That’s the point of going after them. Cracker Barrel used to be *theirs*. It’s punishing apostasy.
Chick-Fil-A will probably be next, for sometimes hiring black people.
rikyrah
Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) posted at 1:09 PM on Thu, Jul 24, 2025:
Trump’s cratering in polls continues. Crushing new Gallup numbers:
Overall approval: 37%
On immigration: 38%
On economy: 37%
On trade: 36:
Federal budget: 29%
Overall approval among independents: 29%
t.co/cWlLO54E0t
(x.com/GregTSargent/status/1948445330753945701?s=03)
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) (@froomkin) posted at 1:26 PM on Thu, Jul 24, 2025:
Why aren’t there constant stories about his staggering unpopularity?
(https://x.com/froomkin/status/1948449794747408731?t=DbTxL_5YsgetMVT39YGOWg&s=03)
rikyrah
@lamh47:
Congratulations!
Welcome, Ezra (that’s an old-fashioned name)
Baud
@rikyrah:
Same reason there aren’t constant stories about high prices.
Shakti
The people in charge right now absolutely want to leverage the power of the state to say “I am the norm you are not you dangerous freaks” to punish and persecute people.
Pushback against the idea that they are the norm is essential. And I wonder at the party telling him to back away from that.
I think we need politicians saying “you are normal and these MAGAS and MAGA enablers are not normal” because being the brunt of these policies is profoundly isolating. Isolated people don’t end up in coalitions that do good things.
Not fighting for people, not protecting people who are the targets of these isolation means they won’t show up for you later, because they often can’t.
Eunicecycle
I just saw in our local news that our Cracker Barrel was closed due to a fire. No cause yet, but now I’m wondering if it was arson.
Dan B
@rikyrah: Right wing whites want to make every minority disappear. The next steps are scary.
hells littlest angel
You will never ever get a monster like Steven Miller to come close to understanding this. Hatred runs through him like blood runs through a normal human being.
rikyrah
Ralph Lauren has a new collection out that pays homage to the Black community in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard
youtu.be/UOT8CUBpERE?si=v14QCIF1LfgtPpyS
Shakti
@lowtechcyclist: There’s a certain type of person who assumes they must be the default most valuable customer of any business they walk into, regardless of whether they are one or would ever be one.
They get very angry if they don’t get preferential treatment which often includes mistreating other people.
Jackie
@Matt McIrvin:
They’ll always have Waffle House.
Martin
@Baud: Boy, talk about throwing a grenade in the punchbowl from a UN security council permanent member (and therefore with veto power).
rikyrah
Robbie Harvey
@therobbieharvey
A New York Police Chief has been placed on leave after his girlfriend assaulted a minor and gets knocked out for it.
Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski’s girlfriend, Susan Rice, is heard calling the teens “Section 8” and saying, “We are the police!” before the physical portion of the confrontation.
After getting knocked out, Chief Zikuski is seen trying to pick-up his girlfriend.
x.com/therobbieharvey/status/1948015448131285023
Martin
@rikyrah: I wonder if this is the fastest polling drop after election in history. It’s pretty remarkable.
Harrison Wesley
@rikyrah: How charming.
Martin
@rikyrah: Credit to the chief here, he didn’t escalate the situation – he just removed his dumbass girlfriend. Don’t quite understand why he was put on leave based on the video.
Shifting this from ACAB to dumb cracker behavior for now.
Protip: don’t start a fight if you don’t know how to fight.
WTFGhost
When I worked for Amazon Web Services, one of the reasons they gave for their DEI efforts is, “billions of people in the Asia Pacific region are going to use our applications and tools, and we want to know how to entice them, and satisfy them.”
They even said the same thing regarding employees with disabilities, though I believe that was a sop to say “we’re trying to listen to people on the spectrum”, though, of course, it also helps when trying to accommodate screen readers and visible notifications, to help those who can’t see or hear.
So it’s there, at least in idea, and I hope it’s an interesting counterpoint to Trump’s “
DEIBigotry War”prostratedragon
@lamh47: Congratulations, and welcome to Ezra. I have Ezras in my family too.
French Onion Soup
@Steve LaBonne:
Freedom fries are back on the menu!
gene108
@hells littlest angel:
When the hardcore white anti-Jewish white supremacists notice he’s Jewish, he might get a clue…or might not.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: I had to double-check to make sure that *wasn’t* an actual headline.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@gene108: Wwhich is why this country needs to reform the legal system
sab
I think we went to Cracker Barrell once in Ohio to buy stuff. It was okay. I kind of liked it. My husband was skeptical, but we didn’t eat there.
My stepdaughter fled us late in her adolences and moved to Charlotte NC where she got a job at Cracker Barrel. She loved it until they had to fire her (she got scammed by a customer switching out wine bottles in a case. She rang it up as a case when there were pricier bottles in the box.) She left with fond feelings.
I grew up in Florida. I kind of like Cracker Barrell. Bland but so is much of Southern cooking. This DEI tangle might get my husband there. He only eats bland unless it’s cajun (cajun sister in law in Louisiana). He has been asking about Cracker Barrell so we may get there.
Everyone was sad to see her fired.
Up here in Ohio, how in heck is a southern themed restaurant supposed to survive if they run off Black people?
ETA I went to Target yesterday and it was a snow white ghost town.
Steve Paradis
@Peale:
My mother enjoyed it for several reasons. One of which was the fact that most days there were as many Black people eating there as White–and Sunday after Church? Bring a book while you wait for a seat.
sab
@sab: My husband corrected my spelling of adolecense. He yelled so I got flustered and I think we both got it wrong. GO ENGLISH!
Martin
@WTFGhost: Oh, DEI came out of the b-school academics. There are LOADS of case studies.
Related to what you’re saying, one I know of was Apple when the iPhone was first launched needed a go-to-market strategy for the product to get a foothold since they were entering a really entrenched, competitive market. Two engineers, who had disabilities, pointed out that assistive devices are REALLY expensive and the iPhone’s touchscreen and computing power meant it could do a lot of those functions in software, and being an off-the-shelf device would be much cheaper. The disability community wasn’t massive, but since their initial goal was single digit millions of sales, that community could deliver a big part of that. So Apple turned those guys loose and the original iPhone had really good accessibility features for a first generation device and sure enough that community came though with glowing reviews of the product, and early on it was a core market for them. The company would never have seen that opportunity if they didn’t have those engineers already on staff.
I don’t think the iPhone would have failed if not for that, but it certainly helped a lot in the early days.
Beats was another. Audiophiles panned the headphones because they had too much bass but the market was fashion conscious urban teens who are trying to listen to hip hop while a bus drives by. You need the bass to overcome the ambient sounds of a city – some black 14 year old isn’t listening to opera in their conservatory. And Beats took control of the headphone market because guys like Dre understood the needs and potential of the target audience.
This stuff was all over b-schools in the 90s and 00s.
Ramona
@PaulB: That bugs the heck out of me too! DEI is moral! It’s opposite is immoral. Also, academic bloggers writing as though “woke” is a truly horrible and widespread phenomenon when the current US administration is actually fascist!
Ramona
@Trollhattan: Are gender-affirming surgeries ever performed on individuals who are under eighteen years of age?
I was under the impression that minors with gender dysphoria were administered puberty delaying drugs which allowed for surgery to be postponed until they attained the age of majority.
Martin
@Ramona: Yes. But it’s complicated. First thing to note, gender affirming surgery on minors is rarely performed on people who are transgender and more likely for individuals who are intersex or have some other condition.
I think the most illustrative category are people with androgen insensitivity syndrome. This is a genetic defect in 46,XY individuals that causes them to be unable to absorb testosterone. They are chromosomal male, but in the most severe cases (CAIS) will develop as female. The testosterone will metabolize to estrogen which they will absorb and they will never develop male characteristics. They have testes instead of ovaries but they are internal, they will have a labia and develop female looking breasts, bone structure, the whole lot. Prior to widespread genetic testing at birth, this condition often wasn’t detected until puberty, so they were routinely AFAB, and then when your daughter didn’t get her period, you’d go to the doctor and well, it’s a boy.
So, what do you do for these individuals? They are in a practical sense born trans – genetically male, but outwardly female with limited ability to transition to male appearance. These individuals are usually raised female and have a female gender identity. Because they cannot process testosterone transitioning them to an outward male appearance is relatively difficult outside surgery. The testes have a high propensity to develop tumors and as they are sterile, those are usually removed (this could be considered gender affirming) and they would need hormone therapy following this.
In less severe cases of AIS, they may have partially distended male reproductive organs that require surgery to correct. This would also be gender affirming.
You have all manner of other conditions which cause various combinations of mixed sexual characteristics that are helpful to a young person to make consistent. Sometimes it’s medically necessary to do so. And this is more common than people realize.
Paul M Gottlieb
The whole point is to drive every woman and every African American out of any position of power or prestige in every company, university, and government department. It’s just that simple