Forcing and detouring

Mandy Brown · 21 Oct 2026

Mandy Brown did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Career pressure in any context drives people to places we would rather they not go.

Their wordsYou get the idea: career pressure in any context drives people to places we would rather they not go.
Our reading
Pyramid-shaped hierarchical systems may need to be abolished if they produce a group of losers who may be recruited into doing harm out of desperation.

Their wordsBut I'll go a step further: if one of the outcomes of pyramid-shaped hierarchical systems is a group of losers who may, out of desperation, be recruited into doing harm in order to save face or provide for their family, then maybe that system has to go.
Our reading
Systems that routinely create winners and losers may not be truly equitable.

Their wordsBut is any system that routinely creates winners and losers really equitable?

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