Oliver Bateman Does the WorkVerified account

I don’t think this is good or bad, mind you. I don’t care. I’m a historian and I take the long view. The “boss” and “spoils” system didn’t turn on wars of ideas, merely on securing patronage jobs for followers. The populares and optimates were just competing banners.

The notion that any idea might “win” in the marketplace aside from one that would prevent would wholescale social rebellion is kind of silly. Medicare for all makes sense, maybe even dollars and cents if structured if properly, but impeaching Trump is high entertainment

Nobody knows what pass interference is, except for when it happens to our players (then everything is), and all soccer and basketball players flop except for the ones on our side, who don’t. Most would rather win by default than playing defense, forfeit than by playing for hours

Obviously I don’t want to “get canceled,” which is why I follow every rule of decorum including ones that haven’t even been invented yet, stay not just “in my lane” but in my home, and always keep my cell phone texts (used for work) and emails open for the review of all

Not only do keep private conversations “public-grade” but I run everything in my life through the same HR scrutiny I’d apply to my direct reports during the workday. Will this change? Probably. I think many private conversations are very different than we’d like to think they are

I also think people are more duplicitous, more cunning (but also less complex or interesting), and less easily categorized than any of us could imagine. “We’re idiots, babe,” to quote Dylan. “It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.”