Historically Marginalized Is Forever

New Discourses Bullets, Ep.8

Here’s a quick public service announcement for policymakers about a simple manipulation everyone keeps falling for: the concept of “historically marginalized” groups. Whether using the phrasing “historically marginalized” or “traditionally marginalized” groups, this little manipulation enables a grab of power and resources in a truly tricky way, and it’s “feel good” phrasing that appears in policy everywhere today. What’s the trick? Join James Lindsay for a few minutes in this episode of New Discourses Bullets to find out. Spoiler alert, if you’re in a hurry: It’s that no matter what happens after a policy bearing these terms is enacted, the group referenced as “historically marginalized” will always remain historically marginalized because history can’t be changed. Any benefits assigned to those groups will be a permanent reorganization of distribution of power and resources as a result.

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