5 ms·
I don't think I disagree with you, but the term set up to fail suggests to me that someone who set up the city did so with the intention that it fail. One dang
by monkeyspaw 13y ago
I don't think I disagree with you, but the term set up to fail suggests to me that someone who set up the city did so with the intention that it fail.
One danger is the categorization of Detroit as an exception, that it couldn't happen elsewhere. I am not saying it will, but I try to avoid that label unless there is strong evidence to prove (rather than an explanation after the fact) a situation is unique.
- specialist 13y agoThanks for your reply. Had to chew on it. You're right about "set up to fail" being a loaded phrase. I didn't anticipate how it'd be interpreted. I have a Jared Diamond view of this. In Guns, Germs, and Steel he talks about the deforestation of Easter Island. What was the person thinking as they cut down the last tree? How could all these smart people do such stupid things? Over decades. Was it structures? The processes? Larger societal forces (white flight, depopulation, drugs, jobs disappearing)? Is there a fundamental flaw in the human psyche? All the above? I just don't know.