Reich’s career proves the bias is BS. Reich shaped economic policy, taught generations of students, built public discourse around inequality. The height preference is just evolutionary residue, a genetic trigger for “defer to big protector” that has zero relevance to who can analyze systems, communicate ideas, or build institutions.
What matters isn’t the arbitrary characteristics you didn’t choose—-height, family wealth, genetics, zip code. What matters is what you actually contribute with whatever hand you were dealt.
The bias exists, it’s real, it’s measurable. It’s also completely disconnected from the things that actually matter.
We keep selecting for the wrong variables and calling it merit.
Haha, yes and very nice. For some reason I always felt like it mattered more in America than other places—-lining you up in school, in gym class, I always remember they’d say to line up from tallest to shortest. It’s just another useless metric that creates tribal tendencies.
And then of course traveling and living abroad—-I wear a Medium/Large in Japan and even Italy but mostly a small to medium in the USA. It’s all relative but doesn’t actually matter.
My son and his wife lived in Japan 4 years. She is 5'1" and he is 6'. He worked retail and was taller than his customers. He loved living in Tokyo. Being outside the norm didn't matter. Being so judgemental or biased does seem to be more American.
You remind me of photographs of a neighbor of mine years ago when he was in Japan in the 1920's and he was head and shoulders taller than the Japanese around him. Stood out like a soar thumb. lol. He was the kindest and most generous person I've ever met but succumbed to Parkinson's Disease in his early 70's. It's not the height, short or tall that really matters, but the CHARACTER of the person !
8h, you are right, but human beings over time have been "trained" to see difference as problematic, even though it is differences that make a community. Everyone can't do the same things, have the same skills or abilities. It is true that a current basketball team needs really tall folks, but some of the short players have been amazing, even superstars because they could get in and around the other players' patterns. Trump is taller than Kamala Harris, but certainly not even close to matching her intelligence, awareness of the world, legal talent, or anything else that actually matters.
In my prime I was 5'4". Due to osteoporosis and breaking 5 vertebrae last time I checked I was 5'1".
The 'bias' I find is in grocery and retail stores. My height makes shopping so difficult. Almost always something I need (want) is beyond my reach. I usually climb up to get it but often have to wait for a kind and approachable person to come down the aisl and get it for me. I was never conscious of height in any significant way until I shrunk. Boy do I miss those 3 inches at times!
Mary, my sister is maybe an inch shorter than you are and has come to ask folks for help reaching things and has had fun asking. It took her a while to get to that poing.
Yes it is fun! I love to talk to people and have had many enjoyable conversations with those who help me. I only really started to need help in the last few months so I think I've probably shrunk another inch or so.
Also, it's fun wearing petite sizes, although the blue jeans and other pants are usually too long.....
Some of the most formidable men in history were short in stature. Napoleon is the most famous example. From my personal experience in life, I've found that the last kind of person anyone should trifle with is an aggressive short man - especially a hostile-aggressive short man. They're usually quite capable of laying low or at least giving anyone who fails to take them seriously cause to regret.
Maybe height does matter. At least in this country. Male CEOs and billionaires are taller than the rest of us.* I’m tired of “height makes right” domination. The world will be a better place when we little guys are valued more highly than tall oppressors with fake smiles.
“Male billionaires and CEOs are generally taller than the average population, with many studies indicating an average height of around 6 feet, significantly higher than the 5'9" U.S. male average. Data suggests 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs are over 6 feet tall, and nearly one-third are 6'2" or taller…In studies of Fortune 500 CEOs, the average height is slightly under six feet, while in studies of Swedish men, leaders averaged 6 feet. While only 14.5% of US men are 6 feet or taller, 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs meet this criteria. Research indicates that every inch of height can correspond to a salary increase of approximately $789.” (Google AI). https://www.forbes.com/sites/dahvishira/2024/08/29/inside-the-polarizing-world-of-dental-veneers/
This is true. The prejudice seems to be world wide. However, I know two women, both over six feet, who married men roughly a foot shorter. Maybe the era is ending?
A stand up comedian I know of is Brad Williams. On YouTube and/or FaceBook. He was born with 'dwarfism' but has made a career out of his 'shortness' and married a woman 2x his height of Chinese descent. He describes her as 1/2 Chinese, and him as 1/2 ~ ~ ~ His comedy can get a bit raunchy but is very Hi-larious !
Sometimes we need to take a step back from our current position and reevaluate what we actually see. Let's look back for a second and reappraise the efforts of a band of savages bent upon attacking the US cavalry, back on June 25th, 1876. A disorganized, uneducated bunch of Indians, Custer's appraisal, led by a chief known as Sitting Bull, standing against the might of the United States military--how absurd. The Indians of the Northern plains, the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Apache, saw a clear and present danger in the ever encroaching presence of the white man, and they did something about it. Iran isn't an American problem. The terrorist state of Iran is everyone's problem, and it should be addressed as a community effort not seen as something Gort should handle. I don't agree with anything Trump does, except this--Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. This end should be the goal of every country in Europe, not just the aim of the United States. A cavity is easy to fill, a rotten tooth poses a far more difficult endeavor to remove. Nip the problem in the bud before a catastrophe presents itself and death on a scale unheard of brings the stench of rotting flesh to the air above the glass covered sands of the Middle East.
The United States is more a "terrorist state" than Iran. No other nation on this planet since WWII has conducted more military interventions, regime changes, assassinations, election tampering of sovereign nations. Our CIA and deep state are adept at crafting narratives and propaganda to feed the American public through our media towards shaping opinion just as what you're writing.
Benjamin Netanyahu, president of another terrorist state, has been proclaiming Iran has been months, weeks away from a nuclear weapon for DECADES. You can find clips of him spouting this crap going back that long. There had been a monitoring program set up before Trumps first administration that confirmed they were not building nuclear weapons. Then Trump abolished the program. Then the accusations returned.
Israel, Europe all vassals of the US all want regime change in Iran like what the US did in 1953. Installing a brutal dictator, the Shah of Iran from a freely elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh who nationalized their oil industry. Iran reclaimed their country in the 70's with the Iranian revolution. And our country has been fixated since then to try repressing them since.
It's all because Iran is an oil producer and does not abide by the Petro dollar scheme that the US has enforced in the gulf region. That Israel, our attack dog military proxy wants Iran returned to a vassal because Iran has supported groups and nations that oppose Israel's, particularly now, genocide treatment of Palestine.
The problem worldwide isn't Iran, or Russia or China. Its the United States of America. And our deep-state neocon lunatics that believe world primacy of the US is more important by whatever means. Hook or by crook devious covert or overt force as a means to an end. That you support with your ignorance.
Rick--I can see how you could develop your position. But turn the coin over--what would the world have been like with out our intervention--good or bad?
Well uhh Donald. I'd say it's BAD! The US uses a double headed coin. It's bad on both sides. All of our wars since post WWII have stemmed from an ideology of maintaining world hegemony.
Here Donald. As a gesture of empathy. As I think that you like so too many Americans have been conditioned to tolerate the shenanigans that our government perpetrates in the world over the years. That goes towards developing yours and others position supporting this dysfunctional and unproductive practice our government does.
You might if you have some amount of open mind and time by trying to go over what this video shows on Iran from a journalist having spent some time there.
I just think if more people developed a disdain for how our government conducts itself worldwide. And the reasons for doing so. Instead of trying to develop our society to function at a more equitable level. We'll have more determination to try and change this warped minded thinking that does not produce any positive outcomes. And is frankly, dangerous to our own national security.
Rick--If the US hadn't played "Gort," and we had allowed the dysfunctional kingpins around the world to have their way, in and around their country's , we all would be speaking a different language. What this country did, we were compelled to do out of our understanding of what was right as compared to what was wrong. I stand with everything the United States has done previously, good or bad. You condemn our efforts, I applaud them.
Personally, I extremely dislike the word "normal." We are all on a spectrum in many regards. To equate height with superiority is to note only one single physical attribute and nothing else about a person. There are far more important things
I can relate. Previously an able-bodied clinical social worker, a catastrophic injury in 2016 left me permanently disabled, unable to work, drive, or read anything longer than a paragraph. Since then, I’ve been denied equal access by more than 50 organizations spanning virtually every domain (healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion). I’ve lost many abilities but I can still think, talk, and type, so I spend my productive hours advocating for disability access. The outcome is always the same: false hope and empty promises. They don’t care. They don’t have to. For now. My actions won’t result in 47 being impeached but they are drops in the collective ocean of corrective social change. The Little Prince models how we can have an individual impact. Through that lens, our respective planets have problematic volcanoes that need constant attention. My personal volcano is disability access. My unsolicited advice to any US citizen who wants to restore democracy is find your volcano. And don’t forget that roses are always among us. We will prevail.
Yes. If physical height determined value and potential success, then all babies would be discarded at birth. The human race has survived by suppressing stupid thinking and discrimination. Let's hope the human race will suppress a stupid, lawless, fascist autoncracy that discriminates against most Americans including women.
The bias extends to women as well. Tall women earn more than shorter women. Bias also certainly applies to weight. I’m tempted to say that we should all just “grow up,” but there’s the trap again. Sigh.
I just read an article in the NYTimes about the new height surgery and it was gruesome even to me, an RN. The most telling part of the article was a man who had had the bone lengthening surgery and was now looking forward to having his bow legs repaired in the hopes that it would add an inch or 2. I lived through the breast augmentation, breast reduction era - is everybody body dysmorphic ? - and I am only wondering why you occasionally write about your being short. Despite all your disclaimers it really must have bothered you despite it making no difference in your long distinguished life.
5 years ago I underwent knee replacement (both on same day) surgery but suffered a 'cascade of mini strokes & coma. Now, I'm about 1 " shorter than before, at least my trousers brush the ground more than they did before ~ gak ~ I survive and don't care about anybody's height. Not long ago I saw 2 people leaving my local Fred Meyer store, 1 was 2 +X the height of the other and then realized the short - man - was NOT a child, but a dwarf. Brothers ? they otherwise looked alike ~
Amen, amen, amen to that! I've already said, in another comment long ago in some faraway column, that God gave you a MASSIVE BRAIN, Dr. Reich! Who cares how tall you are? You ARE SO LUCKY to have more talents than SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE PUT TOGETHER ON THIS PLANET! Everyone knows who you are, you don't sleep apparently, you just work, work, work, and everyone who comes in contact with you, in person or through your work and writings, are the lucky, blessed benefactors!
In my opinion, character is the most important quality. Professor Reich, your character stands head and shoulders above the Republican Don, president Trump. You have so much more heart and soul and that what matters more than anything in this life we all share.
A stellar example of the degree to which disability is a social construction. Sure, your condition has health consequences, but having to put up with all the horseshit and the statistically demonstrated systemic bias are social constructions.
As we raise the children of this world, whether in our families or in larger landscapes, we could and should habituate them to knowing many different sorts of people and to respecting the personhood of each one of them.
REALLY? I have been using a cane since 8/22. I don't use it in my house, but always when I'm out and about. My walking is slow and my balance is sometimes iffy. I've had 7 spinal fusions, so I don't need a fall to complicate my life. Even using a cane adds a layer of disability, as, for example, you can't carry a cup of coffee, a lunch plate of food, and the cane at once. At one of the clinics I go to, the handicapped parking spots are farther from the door than the normal parking spots. Use a cane for 2 days and see IF the places you usually go to are handicapped friendly.
I also use a CANE, my best en-ABLE-er), to get around. I do drive but stay within a 5 mile round trip of home, live alone, but have friends who visit often + my neighbors check up on me now and again. I volunteer at my local food bank, now on 3 days (4 hour shifts) as 'Dishwasher' within a small room where I don't have to deal with the chaos in the warehouse or foot traffic of the other volunteers and have made good friends. I guess I'm a 'fun gi' because way much of life is a joke to/for me ~
Yes, disability is a functional thing. But there is a social construction aspect. For instance, if you are/were treated as mentally incapable because of your mobility restrictions, that would be socially constructed.
Feeling with and for you, as a cane user with arthritic knees.
I was very short in my early teens. In fact the shortest in my class. Even the girls. I lived the prejudice every day. I eventually had human growth hormone at 17 and grew to my height of 5’9”. Kids were cruel and even some adults. I lived through it and came away with a rejection of bullies. It also gave me empathy I hope. Thank you Robert, you’re a giant in your field and I congratulate you on a life well lived. Keep on writing and teaching us all to be better.
I never felt picked on. My claim to fame was the shortest in a school of 200. However I was an art editor, wrote articles, ran committees and maybe its because I am a short pushy person.
You have a towering intellect, huge personality, you come over as a warm, extremely kind, attractive person and anyone would want the honour of your friendship. You have done and are still doing a great deal for humanity and we are lucky to have you out there fighting our corner. Compare that to the poor, sad specimen who is in the White House, for all his extra bone growth….mostly between his ears and where his heart should be.
I don’t understand the bullying of « short » people nor of big girls by the way. I was bullied for being one head taller than my classmates… till about 15, when I got just like the others.
Besides, most of the famous state politicians and researchers or scientists tend to be on the short side (Napoleon, Mitterand or Hollande for the French). Marie Curie was short too. My teacher Inis Claude at UVa was also just 5 feet; Churchill was massive but not tall !!! Not everyone can be an NBA star. 😜
I’m from a short family. All four of my grandparents were under 5‘5”. At 5‘3“, I am the tallest of the six girls in my family. But then I married into a tall family, and my son is 6‘5“. There will always be people who make fun of one characteristic or another about most of us. My son is tall, but he is high functioning autistic. So his height never helped him in that way. But I always told him to be exactly who he is, quirky personality and all. It’s the only way to be happy. Accept yourself, and if other people don’t accept you, well, you don’t need them in your life.
Yes, your discs do compress from all those years of carrying the weight of your body. My mom was 5’2”, but by the time she reached her 90s, she was 4’11”. She used to joke that now it was easier to pick up things that she dropped because she had less distance to reach.
Thank you Donna. I have also noticed that people who bully have a big chip on their shoulder ! See POTUS 47. They must attack because they know that they lack the wherewithal other « short » ones might have…
By the way, one of the most popular actresses in France is Mimi Mathy who is 4.5 feet….
You are absolutely correct. People who are not confident about themselves seem to enjoy bringing others down a peg or two. They are the people who make others stand in a ditch rather than putting them on a pedestal.
Actually, I think the only person he puts on a pedestal is Melania. But she has him right where she wants him. And he knows that if she ever left, he would be the one who looked bad because he would no longer have a trophy wife. My bet is that she has an agreement with him to appear in public now and then. But he has to pay for it.
Being female, I’m sure being 5 feet and later 4-11 was easier for me. But what a revelation it was to travel. In Central America, the Middle East and Asia my height is normal. Blending in and being able to look people in the eye was a new experience. Heightism is based on an assumption of North European superiority. They are not the only tall people, but they are the tall colonizers.
Rather than short of stature, let's go with deep in stature because prominence in intellect, compassion, and integrity matter more than a line further up on the door jam…
Unfortunately many look at physical attributes instead of moral and ethics. I have always looked at what they say compared to what they do. Height, weight, sex, sexual orientation, heritage, ethnicity should mean nothing. It is how you treat others, especially the underprivileged.
How could I not comment on this essay! My mother's name was Minnie! I am short! All of my life. Currently, 87 years old, and about 4'8". I say "about" because at my doctor's office, when they start lowering the measuring stick, I refuse to be measured. My height was determined by my short parents. I wrote an essay where God was offering me inches, but I'd have to give something in exchange. Others were waiting for them. Perhaps my brain? My many friends? My relationship with my children? Of course, like Prof.Reich, I was emphasizing that I possessed so many benefits, I should shut up and enjoy the miraculous life I have. And of course, my two deceased spouses, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, are all taller than I. Prof. Reich, the bargain was worth it.
John Kenneth Galbraith was right when he said that favoring height was “one of the most blatant and forgiven prejudices in our society.” I'm reminded of Martin Luther King's vision for a world where the content of a person's character is valued over superficial things.
It's not the height of the man that counts --it's the size of the shadow he casts that holds his meaning.
Yep!
Reich’s career proves the bias is BS. Reich shaped economic policy, taught generations of students, built public discourse around inequality. The height preference is just evolutionary residue, a genetic trigger for “defer to big protector” that has zero relevance to who can analyze systems, communicate ideas, or build institutions.
What matters isn’t the arbitrary characteristics you didn’t choose—-height, family wealth, genetics, zip code. What matters is what you actually contribute with whatever hand you were dealt.
The bias exists, it’s real, it’s measurable. It’s also completely disconnected from the things that actually matter.
We keep selecting for the wrong variables and calling it merit.
Reich contributed more than the rest of them.
He still is contributing... Thanks, Robert. Thanks Johan. Donna 5'1.5"
Haha, yes and very nice. For some reason I always felt like it mattered more in America than other places—-lining you up in school, in gym class, I always remember they’d say to line up from tallest to shortest. It’s just another useless metric that creates tribal tendencies.
And then of course traveling and living abroad—-I wear a Medium/Large in Japan and even Italy but mostly a small to medium in the USA. It’s all relative but doesn’t actually matter.
My son and his wife lived in Japan 4 years. She is 5'1" and he is 6'. He worked retail and was taller than his customers. He loved living in Tokyo. Being outside the norm didn't matter. Being so judgemental or biased does seem to be more American.
You remind me of photographs of a neighbor of mine years ago when he was in Japan in the 1920's and he was head and shoulders taller than the Japanese around him. Stood out like a soar thumb. lol. He was the kindest and most generous person I've ever met but succumbed to Parkinson's Disease in his early 70's. It's not the height, short or tall that really matters, but the CHARACTER of the person !
Absolutely 💯
Johan
8h, you are right, but human beings over time have been "trained" to see difference as problematic, even though it is differences that make a community. Everyone can't do the same things, have the same skills or abilities. It is true that a current basketball team needs really tall folks, but some of the short players have been amazing, even superstars because they could get in and around the other players' patterns. Trump is taller than Kamala Harris, but certainly not even close to matching her intelligence, awareness of the world, legal talent, or anything else that actually matters.
In my prime I was 5'4". Due to osteoporosis and breaking 5 vertebrae last time I checked I was 5'1".
The 'bias' I find is in grocery and retail stores. My height makes shopping so difficult. Almost always something I need (want) is beyond my reach. I usually climb up to get it but often have to wait for a kind and approachable person to come down the aisl and get it for me. I was never conscious of height in any significant way until I shrunk. Boy do I miss those 3 inches at times!
Mary, my sister is maybe an inch shorter than you are and has come to ask folks for help reaching things and has had fun asking. It took her a while to get to that poing.
Yes it is fun! I love to talk to people and have had many enjoyable conversations with those who help me. I only really started to need help in the last few months so I think I've probably shrunk another inch or so.
Also, it's fun wearing petite sizes, although the blue jeans and other pants are usually too long.....
Take care!
Hear hear❣️
Some of the most formidable men in history were short in stature. Napoleon is the most famous example. From my personal experience in life, I've found that the last kind of person anyone should trifle with is an aggressive short man - especially a hostile-aggressive short man. They're usually quite capable of laying low or at least giving anyone who fails to take them seriously cause to regret.
The same can be said about shorter small dogs~ as I own one. He is a formidable protector 😊
I am always amazed at how fierce dachshunds are. They sound and act much bigger than they are which makes them excellent guard dogs.
Short legs, huge heart full of love and the mother of all attitudes!
Even the miniature versions can pull really hard on a leash.
“William Howard Taft 5'5" 27th U.S. President”
That one reminds me of the Billy Bunter stories. Bunter was always claiming to be tall, and his classmates would say “only sideways!”
Um, De Gaulle was over 6 ft tall.
Thank you. My bad. I didn't exercise due diligence in a quick AI search. I'll correct that err right away!
Not a problem...
And I wasn't trying to be "that guy".
Seriously, I wasn't.
On the other hand, it just goes to show the truth of something I said here yesterday. AI is only as dangerous as the moron using it! 🤪
Not a problem. When I thought about it a moment, I realized you were right. I just got sloppy and I know it.
I've done that before.
I grew up listening to Robert Reich's commentaries on NPR and never knew his height.
All I heard was the sober, compassionate and thoughtful opinions of someone who really cares about his fellow man.
That made him a giant in my book.
6'6",as I recall-and Peter the great,6'8-9,toured Europe incognito-what a joke that must have been(possibly apochryphal,but a great tale nonetheless)
Maybe height does matter. At least in this country. Male CEOs and billionaires are taller than the rest of us.* I’m tired of “height makes right” domination. The world will be a better place when we little guys are valued more highly than tall oppressors with fake smiles.
“Male billionaires and CEOs are generally taller than the average population, with many studies indicating an average height of around 6 feet, significantly higher than the 5'9" U.S. male average. Data suggests 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs are over 6 feet tall, and nearly one-third are 6'2" or taller…In studies of Fortune 500 CEOs, the average height is slightly under six feet, while in studies of Swedish men, leaders averaged 6 feet. While only 14.5% of US men are 6 feet or taller, 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs meet this criteria. Research indicates that every inch of height can correspond to a salary increase of approximately $789.” (Google AI). https://www.forbes.com/sites/dahvishira/2024/08/29/inside-the-polarizing-world-of-dental-veneers/
Let's hope that most parents won't encourage their sons to have their legs painfully lengthened in hopes of one day becoming a CEO.
This is true. The prejudice seems to be world wide. However, I know two women, both over six feet, who married men roughly a foot shorter. Maybe the era is ending?
Love it!
A stand up comedian I know of is Brad Williams. On YouTube and/or FaceBook. He was born with 'dwarfism' but has made a career out of his 'shortness' and married a woman 2x his height of Chinese descent. He describes her as 1/2 Chinese, and him as 1/2 ~ ~ ~ His comedy can get a bit raunchy but is very Hi-larious !
I knew a married 6-foot woman. when someone said, " Oh, your husband must be really tall", she'd smile and say "Yes, he' 5'6"!"
Individual exceptions do not prove a trend, unfortunately.
Nice data
The battle of the Greasy Grass---
Sometimes we need to take a step back from our current position and reevaluate what we actually see. Let's look back for a second and reappraise the efforts of a band of savages bent upon attacking the US cavalry, back on June 25th, 1876. A disorganized, uneducated bunch of Indians, Custer's appraisal, led by a chief known as Sitting Bull, standing against the might of the United States military--how absurd. The Indians of the Northern plains, the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Apache, saw a clear and present danger in the ever encroaching presence of the white man, and they did something about it. Iran isn't an American problem. The terrorist state of Iran is everyone's problem, and it should be addressed as a community effort not seen as something Gort should handle. I don't agree with anything Trump does, except this--Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. This end should be the goal of every country in Europe, not just the aim of the United States. A cavity is easy to fill, a rotten tooth poses a far more difficult endeavor to remove. Nip the problem in the bud before a catastrophe presents itself and death on a scale unheard of brings the stench of rotting flesh to the air above the glass covered sands of the Middle East.
The United States is more a "terrorist state" than Iran. No other nation on this planet since WWII has conducted more military interventions, regime changes, assassinations, election tampering of sovereign nations. Our CIA and deep state are adept at crafting narratives and propaganda to feed the American public through our media towards shaping opinion just as what you're writing.
Benjamin Netanyahu, president of another terrorist state, has been proclaiming Iran has been months, weeks away from a nuclear weapon for DECADES. You can find clips of him spouting this crap going back that long. There had been a monitoring program set up before Trumps first administration that confirmed they were not building nuclear weapons. Then Trump abolished the program. Then the accusations returned.
Israel, Europe all vassals of the US all want regime change in Iran like what the US did in 1953. Installing a brutal dictator, the Shah of Iran from a freely elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh who nationalized their oil industry. Iran reclaimed their country in the 70's with the Iranian revolution. And our country has been fixated since then to try repressing them since.
It's all because Iran is an oil producer and does not abide by the Petro dollar scheme that the US has enforced in the gulf region. That Israel, our attack dog military proxy wants Iran returned to a vassal because Iran has supported groups and nations that oppose Israel's, particularly now, genocide treatment of Palestine.
The problem worldwide isn't Iran, or Russia or China. Its the United States of America. And our deep-state neocon lunatics that believe world primacy of the US is more important by whatever means. Hook or by crook devious covert or overt force as a means to an end. That you support with your ignorance.
Rick--I can see how you could develop your position. But turn the coin over--what would the world have been like with out our intervention--good or bad?
Well uhh Donald. I'd say it's BAD! The US uses a double headed coin. It's bad on both sides. All of our wars since post WWII have stemmed from an ideology of maintaining world hegemony.
Rick--Okay--but how many did we help--how many did we save from starvation. What other country endeavored to aid so many.
That deserves a face palm.
https://www.ibon.org/global-victims-of-us-military-aggression/
Here Donald. As a gesture of empathy. As I think that you like so too many Americans have been conditioned to tolerate the shenanigans that our government perpetrates in the world over the years. That goes towards developing yours and others position supporting this dysfunctional and unproductive practice our government does.
You might if you have some amount of open mind and time by trying to go over what this video shows on Iran from a journalist having spent some time there.
https://www.presstv.ir/doc/Detail/2026/02/18/764305/Golden-Corridor-
I just think if more people developed a disdain for how our government conducts itself worldwide. And the reasons for doing so. Instead of trying to develop our society to function at a more equitable level. We'll have more determination to try and change this warped minded thinking that does not produce any positive outcomes. And is frankly, dangerous to our own national security.
Rick--If the US hadn't played "Gort," and we had allowed the dysfunctional kingpins around the world to have their way, in and around their country's , we all would be speaking a different language. What this country did, we were compelled to do out of our understanding of what was right as compared to what was wrong. I stand with everything the United States has done previously, good or bad. You condemn our efforts, I applaud them.
History - think Vietnam.
Gort???
You mean the head of the BEF in France in 1940?????
Robert--Klaatu Barada Nikto...
Personally, I extremely dislike the word "normal." We are all on a spectrum in many regards. To equate height with superiority is to note only one single physical attribute and nothing else about a person. There are far more important things
- Karen Cooper
Timothy--In most cases the word "normal" points to the average of what it is you're referring to. It is nothing more than a reference point.
I thought of that, but average is a more precise word than "normal." I donʻt think of them as interchangeable at all
-Karen Cooper
I once asked a very experienced counselor, "What IS normal?"
His reply: "Anyone you don't know well."
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Mark Twain
I can relate. Previously an able-bodied clinical social worker, a catastrophic injury in 2016 left me permanently disabled, unable to work, drive, or read anything longer than a paragraph. Since then, I’ve been denied equal access by more than 50 organizations spanning virtually every domain (healthcare, academia, insurance, banking, nonprofit safety nets, federal-level services, state-level services, media, publishing, entertainment, retail, and organized religion). I’ve lost many abilities but I can still think, talk, and type, so I spend my productive hours advocating for disability access. The outcome is always the same: false hope and empty promises. They don’t care. They don’t have to. For now. My actions won’t result in 47 being impeached but they are drops in the collective ocean of corrective social change. The Little Prince models how we can have an individual impact. Through that lens, our respective planets have problematic volcanoes that need constant attention. My personal volcano is disability access. My unsolicited advice to any US citizen who wants to restore democracy is find your volcano. And don’t forget that roses are always among us. We will prevail.
Mike
Yes. If physical height determined value and potential success, then all babies would be discarded at birth. The human race has survived by suppressing stupid thinking and discrimination. Let's hope the human race will suppress a stupid, lawless, fascist autoncracy that discriminates against most Americans including women.
The bias extends to women as well. Tall women earn more than shorter women. Bias also certainly applies to weight. I’m tempted to say that we should all just “grow up,” but there’s the trap again. Sigh.
I just read an article in the NYTimes about the new height surgery and it was gruesome even to me, an RN. The most telling part of the article was a man who had had the bone lengthening surgery and was now looking forward to having his bow legs repaired in the hopes that it would add an inch or 2. I lived through the breast augmentation, breast reduction era - is everybody body dysmorphic ? - and I am only wondering why you occasionally write about your being short. Despite all your disclaimers it really must have bothered you despite it making no difference in your long distinguished life.
5 years ago I underwent knee replacement (both on same day) surgery but suffered a 'cascade of mini strokes & coma. Now, I'm about 1 " shorter than before, at least my trousers brush the ground more than they did before ~ gak ~ I survive and don't care about anybody's height. Not long ago I saw 2 people leaving my local Fred Meyer store, 1 was 2 +X the height of the other and then realized the short - man - was NOT a child, but a dwarf. Brothers ? they otherwise looked alike ~
Physical height is one thing, but to me you are gigantic because of who you are, how you keep us informed so frequently, and how you educate us all.
Suzanne, I admire your ability to say in one sentence, what it takes me a long paragraph to express.
Catherine, Thank you!
Beautifully expressed Suzanne. I so agree with you and could not have expressed your feedback to Professor Reich better! Thank you.
Thank you, Lilla.
Robert, we don't see height, we see a massively intelligent, compassionate, creative even, mensch of a man. Who gives a crap how tall you are?
Amen, amen, amen to that! I've already said, in another comment long ago in some faraway column, that God gave you a MASSIVE BRAIN, Dr. Reich! Who cares how tall you are? You ARE SO LUCKY to have more talents than SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE PUT TOGETHER ON THIS PLANET! Everyone knows who you are, you don't sleep apparently, you just work, work, work, and everyone who comes in contact with you, in person or through your work and writings, are the lucky, blessed benefactors!
In my opinion, character is the most important quality. Professor Reich, your character stands head and shoulders above the Republican Don, president Trump. You have so much more heart and soul and that what matters more than anything in this life we all share.
A stellar example of the degree to which disability is a social construction. Sure, your condition has health consequences, but having to put up with all the horseshit and the statistically demonstrated systemic bias are social constructions.
As we raise the children of this world, whether in our families or in larger landscapes, we could and should habituate them to knowing many different sorts of people and to respecting the personhood of each one of them.
💯. Disability is indeed a social construction, just like race.
REALLY? I have been using a cane since 8/22. I don't use it in my house, but always when I'm out and about. My walking is slow and my balance is sometimes iffy. I've had 7 spinal fusions, so I don't need a fall to complicate my life. Even using a cane adds a layer of disability, as, for example, you can't carry a cup of coffee, a lunch plate of food, and the cane at once. At one of the clinics I go to, the handicapped parking spots are farther from the door than the normal parking spots. Use a cane for 2 days and see IF the places you usually go to are handicapped friendly.
I also use a CANE, my best en-ABLE-er), to get around. I do drive but stay within a 5 mile round trip of home, live alone, but have friends who visit often + my neighbors check up on me now and again. I volunteer at my local food bank, now on 3 days (4 hour shifts) as 'Dishwasher' within a small room where I don't have to deal with the chaos in the warehouse or foot traffic of the other volunteers and have made good friends. I guess I'm a 'fun gi' because way much of life is a joke to/for me ~
Yes, disability is a functional thing. But there is a social construction aspect. For instance, if you are/were treated as mentally incapable because of your mobility restrictions, that would be socially constructed.
Feeling with and for you, as a cane user with arthritic knees.
I was very short in my early teens. In fact the shortest in my class. Even the girls. I lived the prejudice every day. I eventually had human growth hormone at 17 and grew to my height of 5’9”. Kids were cruel and even some adults. I lived through it and came away with a rejection of bullies. It also gave me empathy I hope. Thank you Robert, you’re a giant in your field and I congratulate you on a life well lived. Keep on writing and teaching us all to be better.
Great, wonderfully insightful comment!
I never felt picked on. My claim to fame was the shortest in a school of 200. However I was an art editor, wrote articles, ran committees and maybe its because I am a short pushy person.
Thank goodness a person’s worth is not measured by their height !
You have a towering intellect, huge personality, you come over as a warm, extremely kind, attractive person and anyone would want the honour of your friendship. You have done and are still doing a great deal for humanity and we are lucky to have you out there fighting our corner. Compare that to the poor, sad specimen who is in the White House, for all his extra bone growth….mostly between his ears and where his heart should be.
Not forgetting his heels…..
I don’t understand the bullying of « short » people nor of big girls by the way. I was bullied for being one head taller than my classmates… till about 15, when I got just like the others.
Besides, most of the famous state politicians and researchers or scientists tend to be on the short side (Napoleon, Mitterand or Hollande for the French). Marie Curie was short too. My teacher Inis Claude at UVa was also just 5 feet; Churchill was massive but not tall !!! Not everyone can be an NBA star. 😜
I’m from a short family. All four of my grandparents were under 5‘5”. At 5‘3“, I am the tallest of the six girls in my family. But then I married into a tall family, and my son is 6‘5“. There will always be people who make fun of one characteristic or another about most of us. My son is tall, but he is high functioning autistic. So his height never helped him in that way. But I always told him to be exactly who he is, quirky personality and all. It’s the only way to be happy. Accept yourself, and if other people don’t accept you, well, you don’t need them in your life.
Some of us who are short also have the family curse: we "schrink" when we age. Bravo on your last sentence, btw.
We all shrink somewhat. The spinal spaces compression. Sorry I forgot the actual word.
Yes, your discs do compress from all those years of carrying the weight of your body. My mom was 5’2”, but by the time she reached her 90s, she was 4’11”. She used to joke that now it was easier to pick up things that she dropped because she had less distance to reach.
I need to be placed on one of those medieval stretch tables.
I've often thought of hanging upside down by my ankles...
Thank you Donna. I have also noticed that people who bully have a big chip on their shoulder ! See POTUS 47. They must attack because they know that they lack the wherewithal other « short » ones might have…
By the way, one of the most popular actresses in France is Mimi Mathy who is 4.5 feet….
You are absolutely correct. People who are not confident about themselves seem to enjoy bringing others down a peg or two. They are the people who make others stand in a ditch rather than putting them on a pedestal.
Actually, I think the only person he puts on a pedestal is Melania. But she has him right where she wants him. And he knows that if she ever left, he would be the one who looked bad because he would no longer have a trophy wife. My bet is that she has an agreement with him to appear in public now and then. But he has to pay for it.
Being female, I’m sure being 5 feet and later 4-11 was easier for me. But what a revelation it was to travel. In Central America, the Middle East and Asia my height is normal. Blending in and being able to look people in the eye was a new experience. Heightism is based on an assumption of North European superiority. They are not the only tall people, but they are the tall colonizers.
Rather than short of stature, let's go with deep in stature because prominence in intellect, compassion, and integrity matter more than a line further up on the door jam…
What you lacked in inches you more than made up for in commitment and inspiration.
The height of a person matters to some ,but for me it’s the size of a persons moral stature that matters most and you are a giant in that category.
Unfortunately many look at physical attributes instead of moral and ethics. I have always looked at what they say compared to what they do. Height, weight, sex, sexual orientation, heritage, ethnicity should mean nothing. It is how you treat others, especially the underprivileged.
How could I not comment on this essay! My mother's name was Minnie! I am short! All of my life. Currently, 87 years old, and about 4'8". I say "about" because at my doctor's office, when they start lowering the measuring stick, I refuse to be measured. My height was determined by my short parents. I wrote an essay where God was offering me inches, but I'd have to give something in exchange. Others were waiting for them. Perhaps my brain? My many friends? My relationship with my children? Of course, like Prof.Reich, I was emphasizing that I possessed so many benefits, I should shut up and enjoy the miraculous life I have. And of course, my two deceased spouses, my children, my grandchildren, my friends, are all taller than I. Prof. Reich, the bargain was worth it.
John Kenneth Galbraith was right when he said that favoring height was “one of the most blatant and forgiven prejudices in our society.” I'm reminded of Martin Luther King's vision for a world where the content of a person's character is valued over superficial things.