The qualifying times were arbitrary, made-up times to support the race’s “exclusivity.” The idea that only certain people who “worked hard” deserved to be there is a harmful line of thinking emblematic in our society of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” myth of the American Dream. You can work hard in construction, in the service sector, or as a teacher, and you can work hard in upper management, as a CEO, or a stockbroker; but one group’s hard work is rewarded more, both monetarily and in cultural currency, creating a country of haves and have-nots. Those who have, so this line of
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