Mike Lorrey writes
> I find that people will prefer to be treated different if that different
> treatment is an improvement over how everybody else is treated. Seniors
> will emphasize how old they are if there is a discount offered, while at
> any other time they don't want to talk about how old they are. Women
> don't want their sex or appearance to be a factor unless they happen to
> know that it will give them an edge (government set-aside contracts, for
> instance, or emphasizing one's cleavage to a male boss). Even elites are
> not above this. A certain rock n' roll star I know always tells people
> he does business with that 'he just wants to be treated like a regular
> guy', except of course on those few occasions when he is trying to work
> a deal to his advantage, he whips out the old star treatment for whoever
> it is.
Yes, but sometimes people will identify with a group for reasons
having nothing to do with personal advantage. Sometimes people
feel very much a need to be part of something larger and stronger
than themselves, and having a "people" will do. This is another
way of describing what I have against diversity, namely, it
encourages this identification with the group.
Lee
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