Tech bros appear to be especially susceptible to brain-rotting contrarianism. As I wrote in my newsletter, their financial success all too often convinces them that they’re uniquely brilliant, able to instantly master any subject, without any need to consult people who’ve actually worked hard to understand the issues. And in many cases they became wealthy by defying conventional wisdom, which predisposes them to believe that such defiance is justified across the board.
Krugman doesn't go there, but while they (the tech overlords and a certain group of reactionary centrist pundits) don't all own caliper sets, their belief in rigid hierarchies of "ability" and "merit" also makes them all, at a minimum, "race science"-curious. There is a natural order to things, and they are, of course, at the top of it.
A common observation is that Twitter broke the brains of these people, as they had never before been exposed to people pointing out what stupid assholes they are. It sounds a bit silly, but having observed those brains breaking in real time I think it's actually quite true and maybe quite important!So much of the "backlash" of the last decade doesn't come from former steel workers in Ohio diners, or whatever the hell stereotype of the WWC the New York Times is pushing. It comes from wealthy elite educated centrist dipshits (New York Times political reporters, for example) mad that people of color send them clown emojis on their favorite social media site. People who were at the center of the world enraged that their status is diminishing as they age.
The hippie girl rejected me in college, the trans woman told me to clean up after myself in the office kitchen, Jamelle Bouie got a New York Times column and I didn't, The Kids make fun of my balding head. RAGE RAGE RAGE.