Not so sure. Walk around New York City, a city that proudly claims to be progressive, and observe how segregated the schools[1] and neighborhoods are, and the c

Not so sure. Walk around New York City, a city that proudly claims to be progressive, and observe how segregated the schools[1] and neighborhoods are, and the color of people being served versus those doing the serving. Those doing well in this social order, per the article, post-facto rationalize this with an essentialist argument: It's a meritocracy, I've earned my nice brownstone (and those I gentrified out didn't), my ability to eat at fancy restaurants (worked in the back by cheap labor of a different color), my cheap pedicures (by Korean immigrants who have no choice but to accept the toxic chemicals[2]), and the cheap nannies for my children (invariably black, hispanic or Filipino women scraping by, spending less time with their own children than the ones of their rich employers, some even moving abroad away from their own kids to give them a "better" life[3]). Normally the reader comments under New York Times articles side with progressive politics, expressing anger at conservatives and Republicans for their self-serving disregard for the poor, for minorities, for women. But if a story points the finger at them[4], these liberal-banner-flying, I'm-with-Her touting New Yorkers, suddenly they start singing the same tune as the conservatives they disdain, justifying their ability to put their kids in the best schools at the expense of the disadvantaged kids, and blaming the families rather than the system that is rigged in their favor from the get-go. Sort by most votes and you have to get to the 15th comment or so for someone to side with the article. One reader had the gall to say: > The good schools all have students that Show up every day Do their homework every night Never miss a test, an assignment or a project Ask for help when they need it Students create study groups on their own to do the work > A woman who did my nails each week told me that her daycare in queens was open 24 hours to support worker schedules and that there were tons of after school tutoring and enrichment programs to fill the gaps for working parents. She worked 7 days a week as did her husband, and she paid for all of these programs...she did it because that is the norm in her community, and most understood that this is the proven path to the middle class. She did all of this while sending money home to her parents in Korea. I am sure her children will be prepared for college. > There is no substitute for working hard everyday and delaying gratification. This is good? That the woman who is doing her nails (see [1] if you haven't already) has to "work 7 days a week as did her husband", no doubt having less time to spend with her own kids, while this woman gets to be pampered in comfort of a pedicurist chair once a week and send her kids to exclusive schools with little effort? The article is spot on about how we so easily switch sides, whatever it takes to maintain our cognitively dissonant views. --- [1] https://www.vox.com/2016/2/16/10980856/new-york-city-schools-segregation https://www.vox.com/2016/2/16/10980856/new-york-city-schools... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-i... [3] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/the-sacrifices-of-an-immigrant-caregiver http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/the-sacrifices-... [4] https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/school-segregation-nyc.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/school-segrega...