Norms and rules only matter if they can survive being tested

Norms and rules only matter if they can survive being tested

Three events this weekend highlighted this maxim:

• The Odyssey is in movie theaters
• The World Cup final
• Trump is still in the White House

The Odyssey explores the breakdown of the “rule of Zeus”. The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina explores the breakdown of the laws of the game. Trump explores the breakdown of norms of governance.

In each case two things are apparent:

1. Keeping to norms in good times doesn’t prove you have norms.
2. Cheaters never prosper is certainly untrue, but cheaters are unruly and that makes them less likely to get ahead.

In the Trojan war norms fail when the Trojan prince Paris visits Sparta and violates the Greek law of xenia (guest-friendship) by abducting or seducing his host King Menelaus’s wife, Helen. Its all downhill after that.

In the World Cup final the combination of five instead of three substitutes during regular time (introduced 2020), a hydration break once per half (sometimes in 2014 but mandatory in 2026), and a look the other way final referee, seduced Argentina into thinking they could go the distance to penalties on defense and fouling alone.

For Trump norms and rules broke down as inequality between college educated and not college educated rose.

The Americans who never finished high school held $2.3 trillion in household wealth at the end of 2025. In 1989, that same group had $2.4 trillion. Thirty-six years. Three and a half decades during which the US economy grew enormously, the stock market went up roughly 25 times, and total household wealth expanded from $21 trillion to $175 trillion. The bottom rung of the education ladder ended up essentially where it started — except that everything around it got vastly more expensive.

In The Odyssey the unruliness of Odysseus’s crew is, without spoilers, a real problem for them. In the World Cup Enzo Fernández needlessly gets his first yellow card for dissent after not being awarded a free-kick following a minor challenge. Then, even though on a yellow, he does this

For MAGA unruliness leads them to re-elect a president that absolutely, under no circumstances, has any intention of helping them.

In all of this there is also a theme of being too clever. Odysseus is “cleverest of all the Greeks”, but his cleverness results in a city sacked and its women sold into slavery. Clever Spain trains an unbeatable squad resulting in one of the worst World Cup finals for an estimated 1.5 billion spectators. Clever American college grads make much more money than their not college graduating peers but end up with Trump for their efforts.

In each case it isn’t cleverness itself that is at fault but the application of it. Odysseus lies and tricks; even when it involves gods. Spain’s cleverness comes with a high cost — literally:

Club Academy Budget: FC Barcelona invests roughly €10 million to €12 million annually to run La Masia. This budget covers housing, education, medical care, nutrition, and elite coaching for about 70 to 100 youth residents and hundreds of local day-pupils.

Time and Resources: Scouted at age 6, Yamal spent nearly a decade in the system. By age 13, his rigorous physical preparation included up to 20 hours of training per week (consisting of tactical work, individual skills, agility, and match strategy).

American college grads use their cleverness and immense power to maintain a caste system:

Which brings us to the suitors in the 2026 movie The Odyssey.

The lead suitor, Antinous, actively avoided joining the Trojan War because he lacked the bravery to fight. He manipulated a deal to have a man named Sinon take his place in exchange for his family’s money.

Antinous, the World Cup final referee, and the wealthy MAGA supporters are the real villains here. In each of their three cases bad early decisions lead to increasingly worse later decisions.

In the movie Odysseus at least desires redemption, Spain tried a bit to extend La Masia to other countries, and American college grads mostly voted against Trump. So compared to the Antinous type they are only villains lite.