Alabasata
11mo ago
"Malicious compliance" is an old political procedure. If you're told to reduce the library department because of budget cuts, you don't start looking at the programs people don't attend. You cut the hours of the desk clerks, closing the library early. You let the Karens complain to city council - who probably reverse the decision - and you force some other poor sap to make cuts instead.
This is a textbook application, and it's no surprise it's making the news cycle.
Alabasata
11mo ago
Who says it has to be unilateral? It's very unlikely you're the only one who wants better conditions. You may just not know your probable allies yet.
Alabasata
11mo ago
There are more. It's the first thing I thought of.
It's also a self-inflicted isolation from one's neighborhood, and that carries knock-on effects where it becomes harder to put down roots. Less chance to see the talents of your neighbors, less chance to share your talents with their families, less Slack in your systems to absorb actual shocks.
Maybe you don't value that as much as I do. That's okay.
Alabasata
11mo ago
For a certain income level & standard of living, yes. I know where the "good school districts" are in my state, and we don't earn enough to afford housing in them. Cheaper states are a net decrease in quality of life for commute time, job prospects, and quality of community. It's a local maximum with a lot of activation energy to find a new maximum.
I'm aware this is not your problem to solve. The incentives are greatest for me to make lemonade where I'm at, and uncover opportunities where I'm at.
Alabasata
11mo ago
The downside of school choice is more car traffic and less buses.
As a travelling technician, my quality of life is much lower during the school year. Urban planners trying to minimize car traffic hate this trampling of the commons. And a certain striver mentality is going to look down on parents taking shortcuts to go where the good schools are instead of applying "the grass is greenest where you water it" and actually getting involved.
It's all tradeoffs in the end. On the whole, I'm no fan of your solution.
The life a neighbor 15 miles away probably isn't even worth saving. That's not the point.
However, the money I have represents enough power to affect an African. It is not enough power to affect a fellow American. When I donate to VLCOL-based charities I am buying an effigy of influence.
Feeling powerful feels good. That is enough.
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