Who's on top?

At times you will see it said about various groups that they are not a monolith ; of course that is true. They are made up of individuals and those individuals have differences.

Some groups do seem to be more united than others. 

One factor in this can be the resistance faced for dissent. Sometimes the price for speaking out is high enough that it discourages people from complaining, even people who are very discouraged. That can be a reason for holding some optimism that some groups may not be as bad as they seem, but it may just signal a problem with cowardice and inertia.

It is also possible that people outside the group don't care about the distinctions. That may be convenience; if you want to believe that the other side is wrong and bad, noticing details about individuals will probably only get in the way. Latching onto the most reprehensible aspect of the fringe and deciding that's how they all are can work pretty well.

That factionalism is one aspect of dominator culture, but there is something else that is relevant, which is a tendency to take shortcuts along previously existing vectors of prejudice. This works because they are already embedded into a structure where some positions are viewed as inferior and superior and the structure tends to be accepted subconsciously. 

There is usually more than one system in play and the interactions can sometimes skew things. Add in different people with different levels of connection and -- while things aren't exact -- patterns emerge.

Consider the earlier posts this week.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2026/06/this-will-seem-like-diversion-but.html 

I suspected that part of Dan's annoyance with me was because I wasn't even an attractive girl. 

There are people who doubt the existence of "pretty privilege"; I believe in it, but know it has its limits. 

If a gorgeous girl knew more songs than him, I think he still would have been annoyed. Misogyny (which sometimes might be more helpfully called male supremacy) would probably still be stronger. However, a pretty girl doing well (but not quite as well as him) or agreeing with him would be more impressive.

I acknowledge this is somewhat speculative, but I have seen some things.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2026/06/dominator-culture-all-around.html  

This was so unnecessary. If you must talk, talk about the match or your opponent or so many other options. If that moment is about demonstrating that the white men are back in charge and there is nothing you can do about it, I guess insulting a Black woman makes sense.

(Of course, then acknowledging that makes someone being transgender an insult, which I don't want to do, but it was clearly intended as an insult and is also not true, which is why I refer to it that way. Terrible people lead to a lot of frustration.)

Anyway, it becomes quite normal under these circumstances that you might see people promoting incompetent, almost demented white men, even when there would be a lot of good reasons for them not to. 

It doesn't mean they only do that or that they all do it in the same way -- not a monolith -- but there are patterns they are following, consciously or not.