When you internalize the programming that white, able-bodied, straight, cisgender men are the default, identity becomes a proxy for merit. Any employee who doesn’t conform to that ideal requires an explanation, and if your model rules out merit by default, you’ve created a perpetual motion machine.
And when that programming is the default, it reinforces a mindset that is that much harder to break out of, especially for people who are unwilling to challenge their own assumptions. "This is way it's always been" is good enough for too many people
Truth.
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Just like perpetual motion machines are impossible because they violate the first and second laws of thermodynamics, this myth of meritocracy also requires constant external input to actually function. It must be constantly tended against the friction of reality. “You’ve got to be carefully taught.”