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Reading Mediocre

Reading Mediocre out of curiosity. The notion that you already won because you are male and white is not that far removed from what I have seen growing up in India where white is not a factor. Being a male is already being ahead all other factors being equal. Given a smattering of money, power or intelligence, this idea of being ahead can go into over-drive mode. 

This study about white males in the work place will likely map exactly to the males of the majority demographic in any country. Depending on what that majority looks like the minority groups will be displaced and victimized in different ways but the key tenets hold - its based on numbers and not color. Mediocrity is also about numbers - the vast majority of any population anywhere in the world is mediocre by definition. If the people with talent and intelligence to make a real difference don't care enough to engage, mediocre folks will naturally feel self-assured despite their limitations and fill the leadership gap.

Expecting a high degree of self-awareness from someone who has been classed mediocre is not smart. Authors like Ijeoma Oluo disappoint by taking a very parochial view of a large, universal problem. For every so-called mediocre man that is being raised to be such, there is at least one woman involved (the mother) maybe more. What about teaching women to do a better job raising children so there is qualitative improvement in society overall. I am sure in this day and age, that would be the most regressive view to hold.

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