The FYTW Chronicles
People in power do what they like because they can
This is not a sports article, but it starts with a sports story to make a bigger point. A federal district court in Lubbock, Texas, has ruled that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is eligible for the upcoming football season. The decision effectively overrules the NCAA, which previously ruled Sorsby permanently ineligible for violating the prime directive in all sports: thou shalt not bet on games, especially those involving your team.
I am sure it’s pure coincidence that the university is located in the same Lubbock as the court, though it speaks to today’s theme, which has nothing to do with judges or football or gambling. This is the type of ruling in which authority figures do things that defy logic and common sense, prompting the casual observer to ask, “Do they think we’re that stupid?”
Sadly – and this is probably not what you expected – the answer is no. They do not think you’re stupid. It’s far worse than that; they do not think about you at all. Your intelligence is irrelevant. People in power do stuff like this, just like they told you that Covid came from a wet market or that Tyler Robinson acted alone or that we can endlessly print money without repercussions, because they could. Because what are you going to do about it?
Human nature is very predictable in many ways. You will always, always, always get more of what you allow, encourage, subsidize, or tolerate, and you will always, always, always get less of what you penalize, punish, rebuke, or do not accept. This is true with children and it is just as true among adults, especially adults in positions of authority. When people pay no price for going against the will of their parents, their constituents, their customers, or their communities, they have no incentive to change.
The reason has a name – the FYTW Principle, and it stands as the definitive answer for whenever an inconvenient citizen dares to ask an impertinent why-based question. In case you have not yet puzzled out the letters, the sanitized version is “f you, that’s why.” It is a glib and condescending answer, but it makes up for that by also being patronizing and dismissive. Remember this whenever someone is trying to blow sunshine up places not accustomed to solar illumination.
I first saw this expression some years ago when ‘the consent of the governed’ was a far less empty phrase than it is today and when people still believed that they had a say in how they were governed. Once you are aware of FYTW, you will never become unaware of it. Its use will become evident time and again. For instance, when the CEO of BlackRock says the trillions needed to pay for data centers and a seriously expanded power grid will come from your pension funds and savings, that’s FYTW. And what Larry Fink says is backed up by new rules that change how IPOs are handled. When passive investors whose money is in index funds and similar investment vehicles ‘buy’ these initially overinflated stocks whether they want them or not, it’s FYTW2.
The phenomenon is not limited to govt and public policy, not by a long shot. The brands you trust and purchase routinely ignore your feedback; the sports teams you already support demand further subsidies to build new stadiums at your expense, resulting in higher ticket prices; and the entertainment industry spends more effort making social statements than producing quality fare that consumers are willing to buy. Name the institution and odds are that multiple FYTW examples can be found.
Occasionally, people on the receiving end clutch their collective pearls and claim they’ll never again buy from company X, or they will never watch another film with actor Y, or they’ll quit supporting team Z. And maybe some people walk their talk and follow through on their convictions. But the momentary outrage is usually just that, momentary. It seldom creates the level of sustained critical mass that is necessary to compel the wrong people to do the right things, and without any reason to, these ‘wrong people’ neither notice nor care about temporary heartburn.
Nothing changes if nothing changes. This is such an unshakable fact that it is very easy to overlook. A friend of mine used it as his campaign slogan in running for and winning a school board seat. People will change their behavior when it is economically, politically, and socially profitable to do so. Human nature intuitively understands rewards and punishments.
Most of us learned how to do certain things by first recognizing how not to do them. Mistakes are wonderful teachers, but only when committing them carries a cost. When there is no downside to making the wrong choice, that choice starts to look like the right one, and when protest is fleeting, it is ignored. It does not have to be this way, but that’s up to us.
Is it simple? No, nothing worthwhile is. Is the system rigged against ordinary people? It is increasingly difficult to make the case that it’s not, but that mostly confirms how meaningful change comes with discomfort. You can accept things as they are and live as a subject. Or you can recognize that you have far more in common with your neighbor than with any powerful person and live like a citizen, one who confronts the anointed on their terms with a different application of FYTW.