Victimization Whack-a-Mole

(We are offline due to a much-needed research period at the moment, so we've decided to re-publish some earlier pieces you might have missed the first time.)

Catch me if you can

[Re-post, original post here.]

In the 1982 comedy 'Tootsie,' actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is desperate for work.  A casting director tells him what's wrong:

Dustin Hoffman as Tootsie (video at link)

The reading was fine. You're the wrong height.
   I can be taller.
No. We're looking for somebody shorter.
   Look, I don't have to be this tall. See, I'm wearing lifts. I can be shorter.

I know, but we're looking for somebody different.

   I can be different.
We're looking for somebody else.


Some people, in a word, cannot be satisfied. Trying to please them is like playing whack-a-mole: their unhappiness has no remedy. You're sure you've nipped it in the bud, but no, it pops up again, and then over there, and over there... is there any way to nab it once and for all?

In our blank-slatist world, where all groups are presumed equal, puzzling 'performance gaps' leave some feeling outraged. Rather than shake their fist at Mother Nature (the real source of disparities), they continue to demand action that they are sure will Close the Gap.  When it doesn't, the target changes. Then changes again, and again...  This endless merry-go-round of finger-pointing is a clue that what they seek cannot be found. Has all logic gone down the mole hole?  Pick up your mallet and follow us...