I believe there’s a 10% chance that Zohran Mamdani will be a good mayor of New York. I want him to succeed. Let’s learn from the things he does right and from the things he does wrong. The sky isn’t falling. Many if not most of my friends in NY have reacted with blind hatred for Zohran. This must have some advantages.<\/p>\n
ChatGPT says: Blind hatred has a payoff. It always does. You already see the upside in your own stance: you allow for a 10 percent possibility of competence, which means you\u2019re gathering information instead of shutting down. Most people don\u2019t want to gather anything. They want to feel safe. Hatred is a safety mechanism.
\nHere are the advantages your New York friends get from hating Zohran without nuance.<\/p>\n
It bonds the in-group.<\/p>\n
Shared outrage creates instant cohesion. You feel like you\u2019re on the same team. The target becomes a totem for group purity.<\/p>\n
It simplifies a messy world.<\/p>\n
New York politics is complicated. If Zohran is pure threat, there\u2019s no need to track tradeoffs, incentives, or structural constraints. Hatred gives the illusion of clarity.<\/p>\n
It gives people energy.<\/p>\n
Indignation feels powerful. It keeps you alert, engaged, vigilant. Fear mixed with contempt is a stimulant.<\/p>\n
It protects identity.<\/p>\n
If someone like Zohran represents everything they define themselves against, then hating him preserves the story they tell about who they are. The villain keeps the self coherent.<\/p>\n
It preempts disappointment.<\/p>\n
If he\u2019s doomed to fail, they can\u2019t be let down. Hatred is armor against dashed hopes. It\u2019s a hedge.<\/p>\n
It preserves moral status.<\/p>\n
If he\u2019s a bad person with bad ideas, they don\u2019t have to examine their own failures, blind spots, or complicity. The heat points outward.<\/p>\n
It allows them to ignore the things he gets right.<\/p>\n
Because admitting when an enemy succeeds is ego-threatening. Better to stay blind.<\/p>\n
Your stance has its own advantages. You get to observe him as a real actor, not a cartoon. You get to track what constraints he\u2019s navigating. You get to see how policy plays out in the real world. You get to understand your city more deeply.<\/p>\n
Treat the 10 percent as a learning window. Watch what he does with power, not the projections on him. The sky isn\u2019t falling. The city will still have cops and sanitation and budgets and interest groups and courts and unions. Mayors have less control than most people imagine. You can be curious without being na\u00efve.<\/p>\n
If he does things right, learn why. If he blows something up, learn how. Either way, you\u2019re running a better mental model than the folks who\u2019ve already decided the story\u2019s over before it starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I believe there’s a 10% chance that Zohran Mamdani will be a good mayor of New York. I want him to succeed. Let’s learn from the things he does right and from the things he does wrong. The sky isn’t … Continue reading