Edit: To be perfectly clear, I mean no disrespect to anyone who teaches at a community college. It is valuable and important work.
But I think it’s fair to say that people going into a Phd program, and dedicating 6-10 years of their life to working themselves ragged as the OP describes, are not doing so with the hope that they may one day teach at a community college. So, holding that up and saying “See, they had a perfectly fine outcome from getting a PhD, they got to teach at a community college!” is just disingenuous.
You said "Not mentioned here, but if you want an academic job in the humanities, in the US, don't be white. Universities have adopted explicitly racist hiring policies for the time being."
Edit: To be perfectly clear, I mean no disrespect to anyone who teaches at a community college. It is valuable and important work.
But I think it’s fair to say that people going into a Phd program, and dedicating 6-10 years of their life to working themselves ragged as the OP describes, are not doing so with the hope that they may one day teach at a community college. So, holding that up and saying “See, they had a perfectly fine outcome from getting a PhD, they got to teach at a community college!” is just disingenuous.