Self-reflection: Guatemala.

I ran into this girl I know from the Obama campaign at a co-op part last weekend.

She had done some Chinese school in China after the campaign - she worked for them for a month - and is now thinking of getting her MBA, since she realized that people with consciences need those skills.

After she said that, I told her a horrific story about this Lithuanian guy I know who was in private equity in New York, and when we had coffee he would come out and say shit like if it benefitted him or his family, it was ethical, and that they would be protected from global warming, and that he would love to live in West Africa (he had been there for work), since you can get a big mansion for cheap and labor is cheap, so you have people to take care of the place and serve you.

At that, she told me about this guy in her Chinese school who had grown up in New York and was an investment banker, and he had told her about a trip of his once to Guatemala to visit an uncle there who had married into one of the ruling regimes there...

When they were there, there were all these military checkpoints when you were driving, and their chauffeur kept getting pulled over and everyone wanted bribes, but as soon as they told them which family they were from, the soldiers got deferential and let them through without any hassle.

"You know," he was like, "People talk all the time about oppressive regimes, but they can be very nice for some people!"

(She said that he said this in the tone of wide-eyed amazement, as someone who had never thought of something before at all...)