Objections to Dilbert

For John, BLUF:  The Woke world is spreaking in all directions and many are not able to resist the urge to cancel those who are different.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Then they came for “Dilbert”…; STEM academics defending the indefensible as ‘recalibration’

From Spin, Strangeness, and Charm, by Blogger Nitay Arbel, 23 September 2022.

Here is the lede plus five:

(a) So Scott Adams sees his strip “Dilbert” canceled by nearly 80 newspapers, which represents a serious hit.

Now Adams has been poking fun at corporate wokebaggery for many years, and has been a Trump supporter. The latter got his lecture invitations to dry up.  So what is new?

Is it simply the “banana republic without bananas” kicking into higher gear?

Or is it that his latest target have become ESG (economic environmental and social governance) scores — which are big, big business for firms like Blackrock Capital?

My money is on… follow the money.

(b) Seemingly unrelated, the Powerline authors are mystified why what I will in code-speak call “trans-butadiene hair grooming” of young children — a policy that is deeply unpopular with the electorate — became a hill for the Brahmandarin Left to die on.

Fortunately, my newspaper, The [Lowell] Sun has not cancelled Dilbert.  The Scott Adams strip is an island of sanity in the churn of business culture.  Perhaps I am lucky to have retired a decade ago.  Even so, there were some strange rules from HR even then.  Referencing item (b), one can only imagine the turmoil in the minds of teachers and other eduction staff.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Judging Talent

For John, BLUF:  How do we, in this age of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, pick for talent to do a job?  In New York City the Mayor is asking for photos of job applicants to ensure Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Merit system is unjust because it rewards productive individuals, professors argue

This item is from eleven months ago, but nothing suggests things are better.

From Campus Reform, by Kate Anderson, 8 September 2021, 11:07 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Professors at top American universities are criticizing the merit system in academia, arguing the concept is a 'barrier' to realizing DEI outcomes.

'Campus Reform' spoke with one professor who criticized merit pay for its effect on the 'gender gap in bonus pay.

Professors from the University of Arizona and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs are arguing that "success and merit" are "barriers" to the equity agenda.

“Admitting that the normative definitions of success and merit are in and of themselves barriers to achieving the goals of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion is necessary but not sufficient to create change,” professors Beth Mitchneck and Jessi L. Smith recently wrote for Inside Higher Education.'

My question is, how do we wring progress from a system that does not reward excellence?  Would a system that accepted mediocracy have given us the Salk Polio Vaccine or Neil Armstrong on the Moon??  Would we today have Facebookr iPhones?

The companion question has to do with our form of government.  If our form of government is based on Western European (British) ideas of merit and hard work and majority rule, and is thus anathema, what is an acceptable replacement?  Is it the Chinese Social Credit System?♠  Perhaps it is the strong man system of an Idi Amin?  This is not a question we should stumble into blindly.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The Wikipedia writeup seems to be downplaying the undesirable aspects of the system, perhaps to placate the Chinese Government.

Good News Story

For John, BLUF:  A Senior comes out as Conservative at Harvard and the world does not end for Harvard or for her.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

She came out as conservative at Harvard. It went better than expected.

Here is the sub-headline:

Carine Hajjar said after she respectfully raised her conservative views at the liberal university, most people thanked her for it

From The College Fix, by Reporter Allie Simon (UC San Diego), 29 April 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

Carine Hajjar dealt with ideological homogeneity at Harvard University for three-and-a-half years mostly in silence, but in the spring semester of her senior year, she finally came out as conservative. She said she has no regrets.

“A common stance among Harvard liberals was that conservative viewpoints don’t matter because they’re just wrong,” she said in an interview with The College Fix.

Yet Hajjar said what she experienced after coming out as conservative by becoming a columnist for the Harvard Crimson in her final months as a student at the Ivy League school in the spring of 2021 was camaraderie.

She received a lot of quiet agreement from peers, friends, teaching assistants and professors, including private emails, texts, and even people coming up to her in person expressing their approval and concurrence.

She also said some of her very liberal friends thanked her for writing her column, as they felt like they “couldn’t say anything anymore” due to today’s stigma and intense analysis of everything people say.  Others told her to make sure she continued to write it, saying a contrarian point of view was sorely needed.

Maybe this story is to remind me to bite my tongue the next time I thoughtlessly dispariage that Down County School.  There are some good, thinking, people there.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

United Yet Divided

For John, BLUF:  We, as a nation, are divided, between those living in Blue Cities and those living in the hinterlands.  There is an intermixing of folks with different outlooks, but the Cities tend Democrat and the hinterlands tend Republican.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Diner breakfasts are perfectly normal, no matter what D.C. elites think

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by Reporter Salena Zito, 13 March 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. — For nine years, Shawn Stanford has called Dean’s Diner her second home.  On a recent grey Tuesday afternoon, the petite 30-year-old in a crisp white uniform offered an infectious smile and warm greeting to anyone who walked in the door.

At the heart of the reason she loves her job is a sense of community — “outside of the money,” Ms. Stanford said, laughing.  “There is a great mix of regulars who I know what their order will be as soon as they walk in the door as well as travelers passing through on the highway looking for some good homemade food and a place that feels welcoming.”

The Hay family from State College were the latter; they quickly grabbed one of the green leather booths located by a window overlooking U.S. Rt. 22 and ordered some stick-to-your-ribs nourishment for their drive from Pittsburgh back to Happy Valley.

This column was provoked by a Tweet from a DC-Based journalist, which denigrated the idea of diners as being for serious people.  He evoked this response:

A Washington, D.C.-based journalist working for a well-respected newspaper — seeing someone being interviewed at a diner for another reporter’s story — recently tweeted:  “Who has time to sit down for breakfast at a diner on a weekday?  Feels like people who have time for a leisurely weekday diner breakfast are not normal!”

It was another reminder that those who work for our cultural curators — corporations, academia, Hollywood, Silicon Valley and our national newsrooms — often have very little in common culturally with many of the people who buy their products, attend their schools, stream their shows, use their social media platforms or read their news stories.

(It was also a swipe at yours-truly, made explicit in a follow-up tweet about “the salena zito-style real american interview.”)

Unfortunately, many of these people who live and work and socialize in the “super zip codes” amuse themselves by mocking people who frequent diners, gas stations, Dollar Generals, Dunkin Donuts and other un-trendy places.

Keystone College political science professor Jeff Brauer sees it as a big part of the cultural divide in this country that has caused both the Republican and Democratic coalitions to shift so significantly over the past few years.

The column then goes on to talk about the sociological and political factors at play, as Professor Prauer lays it out.  Well worth the couple of minutes to scan through or read.

Yes, the Americans in big cities on the two coast tend to look down on those in the hinterlands.  But, across the fruited plain the people have a low opinion of those college educated manderins in our centers of power.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Paybacks Can Be Fun

For John, BLUF:  Atlanta loses $100 million in revenue when Major League Baseball pulls the All Star Game, but then the Braves go to the World Series.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Braves Fans Rejoice as MLB Backpedals

From PJ Media, by Reporter Chris Queen, 27 October 2021, 11:00 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

The Atlanta Braves are in the World Series — and won the first game Tuesday night — which is the perfect opportunity for us to thumb our noses at Major League Baseball.  If you need a refresher as to why Braves fans everywhere have a beef with MLB, let’s hop in the Wayback Machine and take a look.

You may remember back in the spring when Georgia passed its voting rights bill, which extended voting opportunities while tightening security.  The Left actually pounced, the way they accuse conservatives of doing, mischaracterizing the law as one that would disenfranchise minorities.

Major League Baseball virtue-signaled in a big way, moving the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta’s beautiful ballpark to Colorado.  MLB commissioner Rob Manfred issued a statement at the time:

“Over the last week, we have engaged in thoughtful conversations with Clubs, former and current players, the Players Association, and The Players Alliance, among others, to listen to their views,” Manfred said in his statement.  “I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.

“Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.  In 2020, MLB became the first professional sports league to join the non-partisan Civic Alliance to help build a future in which everyone participates in shaping the United States.  We proudly used our platform to encourage baseball fans and communities throughout our country to perform their civic duty and actively participate in the voting process.  Fair access to voting continues to have our game’s unwavering support.”

The move cost businesses in Cobb County, the location of Atlanta’s Truist Park and the Battery, a business and entertainment area that surrounds the park, an estimated $100 million.  A group of businesspeople sued MLB.  Yet the game stayed in Colorado.

Yes, it is fun when some high level poobah finds his pious inanity is paid back by fate.

Later in the article Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledges that Major League Baseball is 30 different markets, each unique:

“It’s important to understand that we have 30 markets around the country,” Manfred added.  “They aren’t all the same.  …  The Native American community in that region is wholly supportive of the Braves program, including ‘The Chop.’  For me, that’s kind of the end of the story.  In that market, we’re taking into account the Native American community.”

E plurabis unum.  Out of many, one.  We should celebrate our diversity.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Work In Progress

For John, BLUF:  Even in hidebound bureaucracies it is possible to foster innovation and creative thinking.  We should encourage such aberrant behavior.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Inside the Secretive Government Unit Saving American Lives Around the World

Here is the sub-headline:

A little-known team of medics and miracle workers—hidden deep within the U.S. Department of State—opens its doors to Vanity Fair.

From Vanity Fair, by Reporter Adam Ciralsky, 6 MAY 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

In a concrete hangar in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Katrina Mayes is working with precision and purpose.  Wisps of smoke surround her, wafting off the dry ice she is using to jerry-rig a cardboard vaccine carrier.  Her task:  to create a vapor phase vent to moderate the temperature of the cooling container from around minus 80 degrees Celsius (for storing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vials) to minus 15 degrees Celsius (to accommodate supplies of the Moderna vaccine).

At 29, the biochemist and virologist has spent much of her professional life indoors, where the U.S. government has entrusted her to handle some of the world’s most lethal pathogens—including Ebola, Lassa fever, and Nipah viruses—at top-secret Biosafety Level Four facilities.  “I shower six times a day,” she tells me.  “I’m the cleanest person you’ll ever meet.”  Her winning smile and gallows humor mask the gravity of her work, which has involved diffusing poison-laced letters that have been mailed to federal buildings.

On a Tuesday in March, her mission was just as urgent but more life-affirming. Dubbed “Operation Icebox,” Mayes was helping deliver nearly 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to American embassies, consulates, and other overseas posts scattered across six continents.  It is a complex affair involving two dozen jets that are big enough to fly long distances—carrying ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers—yet nimble enough to land on a variety of runways.  Mayes’s colleague Taundria Cappel, a Guyanese émigré who began her government career as a secretary, oversees the entire operation—at age 30.  “We are the MacGyvers of the State Department,” she explains.  “People come to us with crises and we develop solutions.”

That our Department of State has a specialized unit, ready to go anywhere to medically treat and evacuate American Citizens is an encouraging sign.  It shows innovation alive and well within the bureaucracy.  It gives me a good feeling.

After a few paragraphs on the lack of diversity of race and ethnicity within the Department of State—there is no diversity—we come to this set of sentences:

“Diversity of opinion and diversity of options,” Walters responded when I asked about the net effect of his hiring practices.  “There’s no groupthink.  There’s not enough people that are similar to create groupthink.”

This is how diverity pays off for America.  "Diversity of opinion and diversity of options" is greatly to be desired.  It generates its own rewards for those who would encourage innovation.

We forget that the clash of ideas has been important since the Europeans came to these shores.  We may think of our Founding Fathers as all cut from the same mold, but a hundred years before they gathered in Philadelphia they would have been running their conferees out of town for holding different and diverse views on issues such as religion  Yet, gathered in Philly in 1776 they were able to come up with some innovative ideas of governance.  Not perfect, but trail breaking.  They hadn't grown alike, but they had learned to get along.  President George Washington, yes, a slave holder, managed to break through some barriers, to give room for Catholics and Jews in the new nation.  A work in progress, which we should further.

Regards  —  Cliff

It Is Never Enough

For John, BLUF:  How much diversity is enough diversity, and when will we begin to explore all the dimensions of diversity?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

BBC diversity chief says Idris Elba's TV detective Luther 'isn't black enough to be real' because 'he doesn't have any black friends and doesn't eat any Caribbean food'

Here is the sub-headline:

• Miranda Wayland said the hit BBC crime drama was only superficially diverse
• Bosses are now looking to portray minority groups in a more convincing way
• BBC will spend £100m of content budget on diverse programming over 3 years

From The Daily Mail. by Reporter Tom Pyman, 13 April 2021, 20:58 EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

The BBC's diversity chief has claimed Idris Elba's TV detective Luther 'isn't black enough to be real' because 'he doesn't have any black friends and doesn't eat any Caribbean food'.

Miranda Wayland said the hit crime drama, which won plaudits for having a strong, black lead character, was only superficially diverse and that corporation bosses are now looking to portray minority groups in a more convincing and rounded way.

Elba, who first made his name across the Atlantic starring as Stringer Bell in The Wire, cemented his status as a worldwide star by picking up a Golden Globe, among other gongs, for his depiction of the obsessive John Luther between 2010 and 2019.

From Wikipedia, "Luther is a British psychological crime drama television series starring Idris Elba as DCI John Luther…."

We watched Luther! and we enjoyed it.  Truth be told, I also like Hinterland but may be the only one, except for Senator Joe Biden.

This seems over the top.  I don't eat Irish food.  Does this obviate my heritage?  As Undertaker John McDonough says, "The food is why we left Ireland."

Hat tip to Fox News Commentator Tucker Carlson.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Cost of Eduction Frills

For John, BLUF:  When I say frills, I mean the extra bells and whistles in higher education.  Given the problems we have in socialization of young people in a period of fewer intact facilities, this may be needed in grades K though 12, but then those students graduate and are adults, with the right to drive cars and vote.  At some point the apron strings need to be cut.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Why Tucker Carlson predicts diversity deans could soon be 'gone for good'

Here is the sub-headline:

• Fox's Tucker Carlson predicted that many college diversity deans could soon be "out of work."
• As the coronavirus pandemic has a costly impact on colleges, many top-tier schools will weather the storm just fine.
• Others, however, could have a much tougher financial path ahead.

From Campus Reform, from Managing Editor Jon Street, 21 March 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

Fox's Tucker Carlson took aim at the "higher education establishment" Thursday, predicting that many colleges are soon likely to "go under."

As Campus Reform previously reported, amid federal bailouts of the airline industry and perhaps even many hotels and cruise lines, a survey of college presidents across America before the coronavirus pandemic found that less than two-thirds are "confident" in their schools' financial stability over periods of five and ten years, signaling what could be yet another sought after bailout by American taxpayers.

But as a number of top-tier American colleges have been found to have more money even than some countries, as Campus Reform also has reported, it's unlikely that schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford will run out of cash any time soon.

As for some smaller, private colleges, on the other hand, they could face a much bleaker picture.

You can almost count on Tucker Carlson to vear into less trodden territory.  And, his comments make sense.  There are smaller colleges, without big endowments, on the edge.  To survive they will have to shed some of the frills.  Like Host Tucker Carlson, I think a "diversity dean, and the accompanying overhead of administrators and deputies, are a frill.  The mission is education and not nursemaiding.  Students need to be focused on what happens after college, when they have to get a job in a world where there may or may not be a "diversity dean".

I would think that colleges could replace their diversity staff with a couple of lectures for the Senior Class on job hunting and interviews and work place social behavior.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Christmas Television Watching

For John, BLUF:  What are the limits to what one wishes to watch for entertainment?  Must it represent the cultural tastes of the avant guard, the bien-pensant?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Hallmark Channel Under Assault by Race Hustlers and LGBTQ Cult, 'Too White'

From PJ Media, by Ms Megan Fox, 29 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Every Christmas season, it appears we have to endure listening to the race hustlers and the gay patrol complain about the one channel left in America that does not partake in envelope-pushing.  The Hallmark channel really is the last known entertainment that does not engage in the culture wars by pushing "diversity" for the sake of pleasing the agitators and instead focuses on its demographics; white moms and grandmas.  But these days, being white and enjoying things white people like is a cause for concern and mockery.  I'm white, and a mom, and Hallmark doesn't particularly appeal to me except in the sense that I know I can turn it on and not be concerned that my children will be exposed to clown world morality that is on every other channel. It's safe.

The Hollywood Reporter penned an article called "Hallmark Channel Struggles to Give Diversity a Home For the Holidays."  In it, author Lesley Goldberg takes aim at white people liking to other watch white people as if it's some kind of mortal sin.  "While other networks are viewing the holidays  with an eye toward inclusion, Hallmark is delivering the dream of a white Christmas, just like the one's audiences used to know."  I doubt Goldberg would ever complain about the lack of diversity on Black Entertainment Television (which, by the way, I happen to think is a great idea and caters to a specific audience that likes what they do. What a concept!)

As bad as the acting gene rally is on the Hallmark channel, the stories are blissfully devoid of any toxic cultural stew pushing politics with every line. There was a time in America where television censors would never allow any sex scenes as graphic as what you would see on Cinemax after dark but today it's old hat to have to watch people groaning and panting (and swearing) at 7 pm on NBC.  It's gross.  As a result, I've given up cable and only subscribe to online services with access to movies and shows the cultural elites now call "unwatchable."  I've completely lost the desire to watch any new programming.

In an article from 2017 in the Walrus entitled "The Unwatchable Whiteness of Holiday Movies," Hallmark fans give reasonable explanations for why they like the channel.

“It’s clean and I just don’t enjoy cussing,” a Georgia grandma told E! News in October.  The sentiment was echoed by a North Carolina senior who said, “There is no profanity nor any offensive sex acts in any movie I have ever seen.”  A middle-aged Minnesotan added, “There are no politics, there is no crime, no hate, no war.”

But in a culture that values offensive sex acts, profanity, and violence overall, the Hallmark channel is doomed.  The diversity activists will never be satisfied until everything white people like is canceled, including white people themselves.  And they will eventually get their wish because white people in America will become a minority in the not-too-distant future.  Meanwhile, however, whites are still the majority population.  Even so, if that majority wants to watch entertainment that represents them or doesn't include a constant assault on morality and decency, they're relegated to one cheesy channel that plays nothing but sappy Christmas movies most of the year.  But when the social justice soldiers get done with Hallmark, they won't even have that.

I am a Hallmark aficionado.

The Hallmark channel's CEO, Mr William J Abbot, has signaled that the network is open to gay stories.

Since we still don't force feed television programming, it will be a case of Go Woke, Go Broke.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Those "Rural" People

For John, BLUF:  We are a diverse nation.  Which is a good thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

A Tweet

This is another indication of a cultural divide within the United States, or perhaps in the West In General, between those in Urban areas and those in rural areas.  This divide is not good for the nation.

Chris Arnade
@Chris_arnade

He deleted the tweet & seems contrite, but he is saying out loud how a frustratingly large number of front rowers feel

Which is, impoverished regions are filled with bad people who we need to scold or fix

It is a form of colonialism, dressed up into today’s woke language

Jackson Kernion
I unironically embrace the bashing of Rural Americans.  They, as a group, are bad people who have made bad life decisions.  Some, I assume, are good people.  But this nostalgia for some imagined pastoral way of life is stupid and we should shame people who aren't pro-City.

Jackson Kernion is a Philosophy PhD student at UC Berkeley, working in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of science.  He is visiting NYU for 2018-2019.

Chris Arnade (@Chris_arnade) writes about addiction, poverty, & other despairs.  He wrote a good book called Dignity.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

True Diversity

For John, BLUF:  Is Diversity something we owe others or something we honor for its value?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Toxic "Diversity" vs. Genuine Diversity: A Handy Chart

From The Right Geek, by Stephanie S, 10 March 2019.

In which Stephanie S looks at diversity in terms of how it is; toxic diversity and genuine.  She kindly includes a table.

I would add that Genuine Diversity is inviting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Guy Fawkes Day

For John, BLUF:  Our freedoms are precious and we need to preserve them.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Remember, Remember,
The Fifth of November.

November 1605

Diversity means giving every faction the chance to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as they see fit.  Within the boundaries of legality.

The Plymouth Colony, where the Pilgrims landed on 9 November 1620, 15 years and days later, wasn't the solution either.  They just wanted the freedom to worship the way they wanted.  They weren't interested in religious freedom for others.  But, we finally got there, thus the First Amendment.

Happy Birthday, Nick.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who Are We?

For John, BLUF:  What is diversity and what is the will of the people, and how do we hold this union together.♠  "Majority rule and minority rights."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Joe Scarborough on Diversity in the Senate

Joe Scarborough
@JoeNBC
Joe Scarborough Retweeted Dave Wasserman
This is staggering and is a warning to all coastal Democrats.  The party of diversity must also become more geographically diverse.

Dave Wasserman
@Redistrict
To Dems who can’t believe what they’re watching, remember:  a majority of the Senate now represents 18% of the population & answers to a subset of voters that is considerably whiter, redder and more rural than the nation as a whole.  That’s the reality of our times.
4:49 AM - 28 Sep 2018

So, considerably whiter and redder, at the same time?♥

I think it is fair to mention that one of the things that makes the United States work is that we give each of the geographic areas a voice.  If the Senate, like the House of Representatives, was based strictly on population, there would be a lot of unhappiness in vast swaths of the nation, as the fly-over states would be dominated by the bi-coastal population majority.nbsp; I am not sure that would work out well.  The fear in one region of domination by another has already lead to a civil war.

All that said, it is the duty of the Democrats to campaign hard in those "Red" States.  And, the duty of Republicans to campaign in Democratic Party strongholds.

It should also be noted that amongst the 50 States, 12 have a Senator from each of the major parties.  In addition, two states have an independent Senator, one with also a Democrat, and one with a second who is a Republican.  That shows a fair degree of diversity in action.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Of course there are those who would break up California into several new states to provide diversity of a sorts for the various populations in the Golden State.
♥  I finally figured out the meaning of the colors red and blue. : I am personally embarrassed it took me so long to figure it out.

An Adult in the Room

For John, BLUF:  Here is a moment to be proud of Barney Frank.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Barney Frank to LGBT Voters: ‘People Have a Right to be Bigots,’ Don’t ‘Trash Them in Return’

From PJ Media, by Mr Nicholas Ballasy, 6 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that people “have a right to be bigots,” which is not “a license to trash them in return.”

“It was a very narrow ruling and there’s a lesson in there for LBGT people and advocates and others.  Be careful.  The fact that there are bigots who trash us is not a license to trash them in return.  Yes, it’s important to stand up and call bigots ‘bigots,’ but don’t make illegitimate complaints about them,” Frank said during a discussion about the history of the LGBT movement on Tuesday evening at the Newseum, which plans to open its new exhibit “Rise Up:  Stonewall and the Gay Rights Movement” next March.

Frank, who came out as gay in 1987 as a member of Congress and served until 2013, noted that Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the majority opinion in the Colorado baker case but wrote all of the past pro-gay opinions.

“He was moved to decide this in part because people on the Colorado Human Rights Commission may have been well-intentioned, but they were mean-spirited when they made nasty comments about religion.  And so there’s a very important point for people on our side to understand:  You can’t have a one-way standard,” said Frank, who became the first sitting member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage in 2012.

“Secondly, yeah, the ruling is very limited.  I think it’s very clear if you are a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, whatever your sexual self-description is, you will not be legally denied any service that is normally provided to others.  Let’s be clear:  that’s a given.  The question is, if you want something specifically tailored to reflect your interests as a lesbian couple or as transgender people, how far can you go?  And it is logical, yes, people have a right to be bigots and you have some limits on what you could have people sign on to,” he added.

Representative Barney Frank, who can be pretty acerbic, hits the right notes here.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Using Diversity For Advantage

For John, BLUF:  "You end up with firms recognizing that cognitive diversity is a strategic asset."  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

How Diversity Powers Team Performance

An interview with University of Michigan Professor Scott Page, author of a new book, The Diversity Bonus:  How Great Teams Pay Off In The Knowledge Economy.

Here is how the article starts out:

Knowledge@Wharton:  What drove you to research this topic?

Page:  It’s a little bit of a C.P. Snow moment.  He was the British academic who said there are two academies: science and arts.  Within the University of Michigan or almost any university, you’ve got people in the humanities and in the arts and philosophy departments talking about the need for inclusion on normative grounds, a sort of moral case for a more integrated society.  Over in computer science and ecology and business, there are all these people showing in a knowledge economy this incredible value from people who have different perspectives, different ways of looking at problems, different tools.

On one side of campus, there’s a whole bunch of people talking about the pragmatic benefits of diversity.  On the other side, people are talking about the normative benefits.  They weren’t communicating with one another.  I saw this as a real opportunity for a fruitful conversation.

Knowledge@Wharton:  Don’t you think this “right thing to do” mindset about diversity feels a little patronizing?

Scott Page:  It does in a way.  We want our firm to look like America or have people that come from all these different categories, as opposed to asking whether we are bringing in people who can help us fulfill our mission or be better at whatever it is that we do as an organization.

Well, he had me at C P Snow, one of my heroes from my youth.

Here is the sum of the argument.  If your job is to take down trees, you want the best ten lumberjacks, regardless of race, creed or nation of origin.  If you are working on a project with a lot of complexity, from designing a new building to developing social media to building a space launch vehicle, you need diversity of input because of all the "what ifs" you have to deal with, including the unknowns that someone from a different background might have a clue about.  And, you need free discussion, so you don't miss the "O Ring" problem.♠

Hat tip to Wharton Knowledge.

Regards  —  Cliff
-2, Sun 0.0

♠  There is a Lowell connection here.

Goolag

For John, BLUF:  Suppressing unpopular opinions is dangerous to democracy, because the "approved" views are not always right.  Remember, Margaret Sanger believed in Eugenics and Woodrow Wilson in Segregation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

THE GOOGLE ARCHIPELAGO

This is a long post, by Writer Ed Driscoll, with lots of Links and Excerpts.  He put it up late last night, around 11:44.  This is only part of it.

THE GOOGLE ARCHIPELAGO:  In an article at the Weekly Standard that was likely written before Google’s meltdown this week headlined, “You Can’t Say That,” a review of the recent book The Demon in Democracy, Matthew B. Crawford asks, “Has liberalism taken a Soviet turn?”

He then looked at an item from Mr James D Miller, Get ready for the 'tech alt-right' to gain power and influence in Silicon Valley, on 9 August 2017.

The firing of James Damore over his “Google's Ideological Echo Chamber” memo will empower the tech alt-right.

To understand why, imagine yourself as a Republican working at a big Silicon Valley tech company.

You agree with Damore that some average differences between men and women probably explain some of why such a high proportion of computer programmers are male.  You, however, in no way consider yourself sexist.

What Damore’s termination tells you is that many in your field consider people with your beliefs to be unfit to work with.  They hold opinions of you similar to those of former senior Google employee Yonatan Zunger, who wrote about Damore, saying:

“Do you understand that at this point, I could not in good conscience assign anyone to work with you?  I certainly couldn’t assign any women to deal with this, a good number of the people you might have to work with may simply punch you in the face, and even if there were a group of like-minded individuals I could put you with, nobody would be able to collaborate with them.” (Emphasis mine.)

If you are on the right, you probably find it hard to imagine that any reasonably person could read Damore’s memo and think that it reveals the author to be sexist, punchable, or a danger to women’s careers.  It appears to you that Damore was excommunicated for questioning the progressive diversity narrative in a most respectful manner.

Here is a scary quote from the article:

When SJWs in Silicon Valley realize that their ideological enemies are hiding, they might actively search them out.  They might become suspicious of the guy who was the first to stop clapping when a new diversity initiative was announced.  Even worse, SWJs in human resources might become reluctant to hire those with characteristics correlated with conservatism, such as past military service.

Then Mr Driscoll makes a connection:

That line about SJWs becoming suspicious about “the guy who was the first to stop clapping when a new diversity initiative was announced” is Straight Outta the Kremlin, comrade.  In The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote of the fate of the man who stopped clapping first:

At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for.  Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name). … For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the stormy applause, rising to an ovation, continued.  But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion.  It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin.

However, who would dare to be the first to stop? … After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who would quit first!  And in the obscure, small hall, unknown to the leader, the applause went on – six, seven, eight minutes!  They were done for!  Their goose was cooked!  They couldn’t stop now till they collapsed with heart attacks!  At the rear of the hall, which was crowded, they could of course cheat a bit, clap less frequently, less vigorously, not so eagerly – but up there with the presidium where everyone could see them?

* * * * * * * *

Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a businesslike expression and sat down in his seat.  And, oh, a miracle took place!  Where had the universal, uninhibited, indescribable enthusiasm gone?  To a man, everyone else stopped dead and sat down.  They had been saved!

The squirrel had been smart enough to jump off his revolving wheel.  That, however, was how they discovered who the independent people were.  And that was how they went about eliminating them.  That same night the factory director was arrested.  They easily pasted ten years on him on the pretext of something quite different.  But after he had signed Form 206, the final document of the interrogation, his interrogator reminded him:

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.”

Then Mr Driscoll rings in a Post at The American Conservative by Mr Rod Dreher, on 11 August, that talks to Google’s Hypocrisy On Gender

At the conclusion of a post today on the hypocrisy of Google firing Damore over his memo but making billions off of gender-based data-mining and targeted advertising code, Rod Dreher links to [this] a scene from the 2006 film on the East German Stasi, The Lives of Others:

HERE

If someone asks you why, in the 1930s and early 1940s, the Germans did nothing, said nothing, remember that Soviet Citizen who was the first to stop clapping.

And then remember that a little deviant thinking is a good thing.  They may be wrong, they may be cuckoo, but their existence, in public, means that you too are free to have divergent thinking.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Open Minded

For John, BLUF:  There is some hope that the Progressives across our Universities are not going to burn the place down.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Opening of the Liberal Mind

The sub-headline is:

Wesleyan president Michael S. Roth on why universities need affirmative action for the study of conservative, libertarian and religious ideas

This Opinion Piece is from The Wall Street Journal.

(Mr. Roth's recent (2014) book is Beyond the University:  Why Liberal Education Matters.) Here is the first part of the essay:

There is no denying the left-leaning political bias on American college campuses. As data from UCLA's Higher Education Institute show, the professoriate has moved considerably leftward since the late 1980s, especially in the arts and humanities. In New England, where my own university is located, liberal professors outnumber their conservative colleagues by a ratio of 28:1.

How does this bias affect the education we offer? I'd like to think that we left-leaning professors are able to teach the works of conservative thinkers with the same seriousness and attention that we devote to works on our own side of the political spectrum—but do we?

It is hard to be optimistic about this challenge in the wake of recent episodes of campus intolerance for views on the right. Would-be social-justice warriors at Middlebury College transformed the mild-mannered political scientist Charles Murray into a free-speech hero, and campus appearances by the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald and the right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter have been handled badly, turning both women into media martyrs.

Most colleges, of course, host controversial speakers without incident and without much media coverage. In March, for instance, Franklin & Marshall College gave a platform to the Danish editor who published cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. There were protests and arguments but no attempt to silence the speaker.

Academics worried about attacks on free speech have felt the need to respond, and they have articulated sound principles. Princeton professors Robert P. George and Cornel West recently attracted lots of supporters for a statement underscoring that "all of us should seek respectfully to engage with people who challenge our views" and that "we should oppose efforts to silence those with whom we disagree—especially on college and university campuses."

The issue, however, isn't whether the occasional conservative, libertarian or religious speaker gets a chance to speak. That is tolerance, an appeal to civility and fairness, but it doesn't take us far enough. To create deeper intellectual and political diversity, we need an affirmative-action program for the full range of conservative ideas and traditions, because on too many of our campuses they seldom get the sustained, scholarly attention that they deserve.

Unfortunately, the rest of the article is behind a pay wall.  Alternatively, it is at your local Library.

Regards  —  Cliff

How Much Diversity Is Good For The Nation?

TRIGGER WARNINGS:  Professor Victor David Hanson says history suggests that "diversity" is not a path to national success.
For John, BLUF:  E pluribus unum doesn't mean numerous individual fiefdoms with a common border.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Diversity: History's Pathway to Chaos

From Townhall, and the pen of former Professor Victor David Hanson.

Here is the lede plus three:

Emphasizing diversity has been the pitfall, not the strength, of nations throughout history.

The Roman Empire worked as long as Iberians, Greeks, Jews, Gauls and myriad other African, Asian and European communities spoke Latin, cherished habeas corpus and saw being Roman as preferable to identifying with their own particular tribe.&in so; By the fifth century, diversity had won out but would soon prove a fatal liability.

Rome disintegrated when it became unable to assimilate new influxes of northern European tribes.  Newcomers had no intention of giving up their Gothic, Hunnish or Vandal identities.

The propaganda of history's multicultural empires -- the Ottoman, the Russian, the Austro-Hungarian, the British and the Soviet -- was never the strength of their diversity.  To avoid chaos, their governments bragged about the religious, ideological or royal advantages of unity, not diversity.

Frankly, I like diversity, but I recognize there has to be a unity of political and cultural understanding.  We need a common understanding of all men being created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights.  We need a common agreement on the value of capitalism and a place for small businesses.  We also need a place for faith, but without the belief that any religion should dictate to others, or substitute for government judicial judgements.  Finally, we need an understanding that DNA has no place in determining one's worth before the Government, before the law.

Hat tip to my friend Ricard Byrd.

Regards  —  Cliff

Diversity in the US

For John, BLUF:  Is Lowell Diverse?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

From The Atlantic, and Mr Randal Olson, we have "The 5 U.S. Counties Where Racial Diversity Is Highest—and Lowest".

The 5 most diverse counties in the U.S., according to Olson's calculations, are:

• Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska (31.4% white/non-Latino, 5.7% African American, 15.1% Native American, 28.3% Asian American, 13.1% Latino, and 6.4% other)
• Aleutians East Borough, Alaska (13.5% white/non-Latino), 6.7% African American, 27.7% Native American, 35.4% Asian American, 12.3% Latino, and 4.4% other)
• Queens County, New York (27.6% white/non-Latino, 17.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 22.8% Asian American, 27.5% Latino, and 4% other)
• Alameda County, California (34.1% white/non-Latino, 12.2% African American, 0.3% Native American, 25.9% Asian American, 22.5% Latino, and 5.1% other)
• Solano County, California (40.8% white/non-Latino, 14.2% African American, 0.5% Native American, 14.3% Asian American, 24% Latino, and 6.2% other)

And the 5 least diverse:

• Tucker County, West Virginia (100% white/non-Latino)
• Robertson County, Kentucky (100% white/non-Latino)
• Hooker County, Nebraska (100% white/non-Latino)
• Hand County, South Dakota (99% white/non-Latino and 1% Latino)
• Owsley County, Kentucky (98% white/non-Latino and 2% Latino)

What makes a place diverse?  Race?  Race plus ethnicity?  Race plus ethnicity plus socio-political outlook?

Funnily enough, in some parts of our nation we gerrymander voting districts to group people of the same race, or the same socio-political type together.  This is a lack of diversity on the ground, to provide diversity in the legislature.  Is this helping diversity or is it separating the Peoples of this great nation?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Women in the House

For John, BLUF:  This is staffers, not Congresscritters.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

"The 20 Most Powerful Women Staffers on Capitol Hill"

Regards  —  Cliff