On position:

Americans hate authority but worship status and don’t know the difference. This is exactly the other way around from how Americans were in 1776 and Southerners in 1861, who respected authority but disdained status and knew the difference between authority and status. This used to be the defining difference between Americans and Europeans, who spent their lives trying to earn titles and status to strut around with.

Or should I say “position?” Is there a difference that matters between status and position?

Although he would deny it loudly, Bob is an authority. He might say he has been fighting authority his whole life, but he hasn’t, he has been fighting words and people with status they don’t merit. Bob may have little formal position right now, but he does have power derived from his authority.

BUGs regulars may be interested to know that, according to an article I read recently on the trade in bodily organs, the most valuable body parts on the world market are the eggs of a “northern European woman”.

I assume that doesn’t mean the daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Denmark.