Sheri

its worth fighting for 🌷

Writer of word both truth and tale. Video producer, editor, artist, still human. Hire me?

Check #writeup for The Good Posts.

Slowly making a visual novel called We Will Not See Heaven, demo is free. Sometimes I stream, or post adult things. Boys' love novel enthusiast. Take care, yeah?

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A few days ago, The Trevor Project laid off 12% of its staff, allegedly in the middle of union negotiations. In researching this story, I realized it's simply too complex to tell in a single post. So enjoy Part 1 of this ongoing series about The Trevor Project and nonprofits under capitalism.

Discussions around LGBTQ+ youth depression, addiction, and anxiety follow. I did my best to write it kindly.


in mid 2019, the FCC correctly pointed out remembering a full phone number on a cliff's edge is a dangerous ask, and recommended designating 988 as the national suicide prevention hotline. this was done in collaboration with representatives of several suicide prevention centers

this included a rep for The Trevor Project, a nonprofit founded to give counsel to LGBTQ youth in crisis, and several reps for Vibrant Emotional Health, a nonprofit founded by the US government to address substance abuse and mental health crisis calls

these are lofty motives, admirable ones!

...anyways, the CEO of Trevor Project from 2017 to 2022 was Amit Paley. he worked for the McKinsey consultancy firm to protect the brand image of Purdue during the opioid crisis

i would be remiss to leave the specifics implied- he basically put together a list of articles and studies for examples of how companies with dangerous, even lethal products, rebrand after bad PR

A screengrab from the email Amit sent to McKinsey. The text reads: "Hi Becca- Would really appreciate your quick help! We have received a proposal from a manufacturer of opioids, which, as you know, are important medical treatments for pain but are also the subject of huge abuse. Our client is looking for examples of ways that patients who need the drug will continue to receive it while preventing abuse and addressing risks. So we are looking for case studies of responses from pharma and other industries of companies who could be good examples of responses. Ideally, we would highlight products/services that are positive but either carry risks or can be abused. I've put together a starter list below- could you offer any suggestions or examples? Thank you so much! Also pasting the RFP below if useful (it is only two pages so quite high level.) Amit." Afterwards begins a bullet pointed list labeled 'Pharma and OTC'. "Abuse of Sudafed to make meth and restrictions in over the counter pharmacies. ADHD category abuse: Ritalin/Adderall and Shire's Vyvanse abuse-deterrent formulation. Anti-depressants can also increase suicide risk (Prozac/Paxil/SSRIs). Suicide risk from smoking cessation medications (Pfizer's Chantix formulation). Hip implant recall (JNJ). Tylenol recall? Maybe not great- that is more of a crisis."

"more of a crisis" than what, amit? than the opioid epidemic??

he also cites Twitter as an example of a 'hotbed of hatred', but the only doctor we've seen overprescribe Twitter is Trump's.

More bullet points from the email. "Apple manufacturing in China (Foxconn- labor abuses and suicides). Pesticides. They are a positive force needed to help food production but can be negative. Some companies have overhauled how they 'thing' about it." Presumably the typo of 'thing' was meant to read 'think'. An article from TakePart about pesticides is linked. Finally, one last bullet point. "Inhalant abuse." No further information is included. His signature follows as Amit R. Paley, McKinsey & Company.

"inhalant abuse,
"

i hope i don't have to explain why this is terrible. but, since it was so many years ago, maybe he's changed? how could he have known how bad the opioid crisis would get?

“Seven years ago, when I was a consultant at McKinsey,
I was assigned to a project for Purdue...” “...If I knew then
what I know now, I would not have agreed to do any consulting
for that company, and I regret that I did.”
          -Amit Paley to HuffPost, 2022

wait. i'm not very good at math, but let's pull out the formulae, shall we?

(2022 - 7) = 2016

ᵈᶦᵈ ᴵ ᵘˢᵉ ᵖᵉᵐᵈᵃˢ ᶜᵒʳʳᵉᶜᵗˡʸˀ

so. this motherfucker threw together that list of crimes in June 2016.

A The Guardian article from March 2016 by Susan Zalkind. It's titled "CDC issues guidelines against opioid prescriptions to treat chronic pain." The byline continues over a picture of OxyContin taken by Toby Talbot from AP, "Escalating deaths and addiction rates force agency – which typically leaves drug regulation to the FDA – to make rare decision to step in."

see, linear time is a funny thing. saying "seven years ago" really feels like a poor attempt at couching, considering this is still a problem today. 'if i had known the leopards were eating faces, i would never have sent that list of panther maulings to Leopards: Rebranded'

how little do you have to care for the world to agree to work in defense of an opioid manufacturer in 2016? how can you be trusted to run a crisis prevention center if you helped Purdue during the opioid crisis?

Another internal data sheet from Purdue. "Our core team will combine deep knowledge of both Purdue and Big Data & Analytics. Our core team will combine the McKinsey you know and the McKinsey you don't." Several names are listed as having deep knowledge of Purdue or Big Data, including: "Amit Paley. Purdue knowledge & Big Data/digital expertise.

as someone who once made use of The Trevor Project's services, in part because of opioids, i have no problem telling Amit Paley to go fuck himself.

Lockheed-Martin-Gay ass behavior.

Amit Paley Learned Some Lessons At McKinsey

Blog post on McKinsey's website entitled 'Managing partner Dominic Barton honored by The Trevor Project, circa 2018.
after the mckinsey rep took another mckinsey rep with him to be his chief of staff, he awarded mckinsey for their Great Work with, uh,

Article from Consulting US titled 'McKinsey chief awarded Trevor Project honor for LGTB efforts' from 2018. The byline reads: "Dominic Barton, global managing director at McKinsey & Company, was awarded the Trevor Project’s 20/20 Visionary Award on behalf of the Big Three strategy consultancy. McKinsey’s efforts to support LGBT staff and young people in local communities helped it secure the prestigious award."

'Let's Get Trans, Baby!' rights, or whatever 'LGTB' stands for.

Amit Paley, executive director of the Trevor Project said
that McKinsey “has done a huge amount for LGBTQ people
in general, for youth specifically, and for The Trevor Project
in particular...”

if i was staring into the camera any harder, another streaming-only show would be destroyed to make room for The Office again

“They have had early on for their employees who are part
of same-sex relationships, an LGBTQ employee group,
and cover gender-affirmation surgery for trans employees.
Barton, in particular, has been integral in pushing for policies
and creating a culture at McKinsey that supports the LGBTQ
community."

amit. amit look at me. let me hold your hand as i take you through this.

Article from Yahoo in 2020 by Jeff Schmitt titled "How McKinsey Changed Consulting Forever". A picture of McKinsey reps, dubbed 'McKinseyites', holding a GLAM banner is shown.

“McKinsey had perfected personnel development. It hired
the young and inexperienced for a pittance, then made its
clients pay for their further education,” McDonald writes.

mckinsey's entire business strategy was, explicitly, to hire young people and prey on their fear of failure.

And experts say the ideal McKinsey candidate is one who
often is seen as an “insecure overachiever.”

“The people at these schools are driven by the desire for status
and fear of failure. … When you graduate, you reach that terrifying
point in your life when the next thing you do is not obvious, when
there are a lot more choices than before. McKinsey makes it very
easy for people whose primary goal is to keep their options open,”
James Kwak, a former consultant, reveals in McDonald’s book.

either amit is the kind of person who sees a diversity quota designed to capitalize on queer youth's anxiety and reward it as progress, or he doesn't actually care.

health care is great! it should be a right. i'd rather not have to sell my soul to get it.

"We were the first employer to actively recruit LGBTQ+ MBA students nearly 20 years ago, and one of the first employers in the world to offer benefits for domestic partners."

'oh, we just love the queers! they're like unicorns, for us to headhunt!'

if you think this is terrible, amit, then congrats. it is! and you were a victim of it. if you think this is clever, then that is exactly why you shouldn't have been running The Trevor Project in the first goddamn place.

An article in Advocate by Daniel Reynolds in November 2019. "PwC Invests $6 Million in Trevor Project to End LGBTQ Youth Suicide."

6 million dollars could save a lot of lives! imagine! you could start hiring counselors with experience in different areas, or invest in training a new generation-

And this grant will be used to expand Trevor's
lifesaving services through technology.

The expansions include the creation of a
management system to recruit, train, and retain
its network of thousands of volunteers, as well as
the implementation of artificial intelligence to
increase the efficiency of Trevor's services.

-of ill-equipped therapists, taught by machines rushed to market.

gee, i wonder where you might've gotten that idea-

An article from Mckinsey by James Manuika and Jacques Bughin titled The coming of AI Spring. October 2019. The byline reads "Artificial intelligence can generate tremendous value for us all, if policymakers and businesses act swiftly and smartly to capture its full benefits and mitigate the inevitable risks, write James Manyika and Jacques Bughin in Project Syndicate."

Amit McKinsey?


Part 2: You Can Take Profit From The CEO...


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