it's annoying to be critical of institutions and leaders because they have power and power is sexy and justifies itself. we love power. we love anything that symbolizes status and power. 

unrelated thought but possibly related: this weekend I coached at a climbing competition and the first section was jam packed with people. it was entirely overwhelming, it was loud. it was smelly. everyone was packed in like sardines. and these kids, these young kids have to step out of the crowd and onto the mats in front of everyone and try these physically demanding climbs that are scary enough as is and at one point I look over and this girl is in tears and she thinks she's hurt her shoulder and instead of calming her down or taking her out of this pit of people he's in her face just like, telling her to calm down and explain what's wrong and it's like, "WHAT ARE WE DOING?!" it was insane. I felt so bad for her. Eventually she calmed down but with some of these bigger teams they don't even know their coaches so this girl was probably completely overwhelmed and this guy who is basically a stranger is not helping at all and her dad eventually got to her and was able to talk to her.

and then! this girl who won the comp was climbing really well, I think she did all of her climbs first try, she had a phone in her hand and had the results pulled up and I don't blame this girl for this because she was too young to do anything different but the look on her face when she read her name and when she turned the phone around to show her friends was like Gollum holding the ring. It scared me in a way I don't want to put words to.

My team's great though! Bunch of scrappy champions and they're so cool and it was an honor and a privilege to coach them. Could not be more proud. 

But there's a sickness at those comps, man. I saw it at the first one I ever went to and it's still there. Gross gross gross