“People who fail to learn from their mistakes tend to fall again and again for the wrong partner, continue to work in jobs that are unsuitable for them and suffer recurrent ailments without questioning the root cause.”

Reading about the inability to learn from mistakes after struggling to finish another mind-numbing OSCE report hypocritically dedicated to Nicolae Gheorghe.

Low level of dopamine due to a gene that is present in around 30% of us; and a damaged frontal cortex seem to be the main explanations coming from neuroscientists to justify this particular inability.

It must be that these 30% have some other special gene that makes them much more likely to end up in high level positions in governments or in senior and medium level management in international intergovernmental organisations.

Another explanation is that getting to these positions automatically damages their brain – and that will justify most of the insane salaries, benefits these people have.

Considering the laughable experience for the job of most of the senior management people that work on Roma issues, the frequency they manage to put their feet in their mouths, the appalling way they choose their “partners” to work with, one has to wonder if there is a prerequisite to have a damaged frontal cortex as the simple lack of dopamine could not explain it.

Almost everybody (experts and the above mentioned senior managers) agrees that we Roma face the worst ethnic discrimination in Europe – comparable levels of prejudice like those faced by blacks in the Southern States of the US in the 1950-ties.

Experts also overwhelmingly agree that we are wasting money on things that can not have any positive effect or that are in fact making the situation worse.

In the meantime there are only positive practices, visible progress and other similar expressions to be found in the reports of activities of all major intergovernmental institutions dealing with Roma. Same when it comes to national governments.

If this is not idiocy or management inflicted delusion then just seriously damaged frontal cortexes might explain the discrepancy. Either way senior management jobs on Roma issues have very high risks.

PS. Indeed there is also a positive practice as strong institutional racism does prevent most of us Roma not to risk a damaged frontal cortex or our proverbial happiness ( low level of dopamine are associated to unhappiness, depression …) – those senior management jobs about us are not for us.