The elite bubble shows it's ignorance

 Ann Althouse writes about a bigshot who recognizes that DEI is being ridiculed at various levels as racism, so decides instead of clarifying the criteria they use, they will merely rename the policy IED.

"DEI is getting a new name. Can it dump the political baggage? Under mounting legal and political pressure, companies’ DEI tactics are evolving" (WaPo)(free access link)...

[I]nstead of referring to DEI, [Johnny C. Taylor Jr., chief executive of the Society for Human Resource Management] switched to calling these efforts 'IED,' putting the focus on 'inclusion' as DEI accrued cultural and political baggage....

I guess too many people started making jokes that DEI meant DIE. As in "go woke, go broke".

But the decision to change this policy to IED just shows that these people live in their own cultural bubble: 

a typical comment on Althouse's blog:

  Political Junkie said... IED. Now that's a winner. Do they recall Iraq and Afghanistan?

of course the answer is no. One doubts they actually know anyone who had been in the military or injured by an IED.

Because to the average non woke Yank, IED means improvised explosive device, similar to a land mine, that has injured so many soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And it says a lot about these people that they are ignorant of this: especially since, in the past, a lot of companies had a veterans preference hiring policy. 

But apparently these consulting companies don't have any veterans or people with veterans in their family in their upper ranks to point out this obvious error: 

and what is worse is that the fawning article in the Washington Post was published praising this decision: I guess despite it's many fact checkers no one noticed this might be a bad choice, because unlike Joe Biden, I guess no reporter or fact checker in the WAPO has a relative who is in the military.

For if you think memes equating DEI as DIE is funny, wait until you start seeing memes about what IEDs do to woke companies.

the article actually names three of these consultants who run companies that make money by advising industry to adopt these policies. Presumably one should look into the history of such  companies, and who is funding them, and why they hire experts who are so tone deaf to public opinion.

Joelle Emerson, chief executive of DEI consultancy Paradigm [said] 'DEI has only been the acronym du jour since 2020... Regardless of what we call it, we’ve done a really poor job storytelling what this work is actually about.'"

actually I see what they are doing: 

Making money: 

 the DEI industry — which was worth an estimated $9 billion in 2023...

one is reminded of the quip: They came to do good and they did very well.

History lesson for the week

the defense of Western civilization. I just read it isn't politically correct because it doesn't include other cultures. But it is about western civilization: You want your culture discussed make your own videos (actually there are quite a few out there).

 

this lecture course discusses the cultural background of the Eastern civilizations.

the course can be bought here.

Cabrini in the slums of New York

 when the movie Gangs of New York came out, it was about the Irish trying to survive against prejudice in the slums of NYC. 

The irony? A lot of the stars and the director (Martin Scorsese)  were Italian, and they saw it as their story too, because a generation later it was the Italians facing poverty and prejudice.

Fast forward a generation: and the movie Cabrini tells the stories of those Italian immigrants via the bio of a nun, Mother Cabrini, who helped the Italians of the next generation of immigrants by building schools, hospitals and orphanages at a time when Italians were seen as different, and even the Catholic church was not especially welcoming these Italians, whose approach to church and religion was quite different.

That is the background of the recently released film Cabrini.

Like the previous film from Angel Studio Sound of Freedom, about a rogue US cop working with the Colombian police to stop child trafficking, this film shows people willing to face obstacles to help those who often languish in the shadows.

And unlike the usual religious themed pap one sees promoted with cardboard characters, this one breaks all the cliches of the left and right: because it is pro feminist, pro immigrant, and pro Christian.

Cabrini reminds one that the problems faced by immigrants is nothing new, and indeed a lot of what is being said about the Italians in the film is the exact same thing is being said right now about immigrants on right wing discussion boards. They are different, they dilute the race, they will never assimilate, they will never become true Americans because their culture/religion is different from the good folk of America.

So the film is countercultural, in a Catholic way. 

And quite well done: the actress playing Mother Cabrini Cristiana Dell'Anna should win an award for her role.

But of course she won't: Because this will be ignored because the woke hate religion. 

And I have already read bad reviews by religious reviewers saying it isn't religious enough, because the deep belief in God that inspires Mother Cabrini is not shoved into your face with pious platitudes.

Sigh

In many ways it is a Catholic film: Because when confronted with poverty, sickness, or the other miseries of life, the approach of Catholicism (and indeed that of mainstream Christianity) is to go out and help. For most of us this is done in the circle of one's family and neighbors (50 million caregivers can't be wrong) or if one is lucky enough to work in the helping professions (nurses, teachers, social workers) it is done by direct action.

Not as glamourous as protesting but hey, it is real and meaningful.

with the unregulated influx of immigrants and refugees all over the world, the problems Cabrini confronted are going on right now in many countries.

In some ways, the refugees will have it easier in the USA than in other countries because the Yanks have been there before.

I had to laugh at the end of the film when Cabrini reminds the mayor that maybe the powers that be might see her as a trouble maker, and the Italians as unwanted outsiders, but in the future that Italians could very well run the city as the Irish were doing at the time: and even reminding him those Italians she is helping are proud Americans and they vote

('shades of Bill Murray).

something the Republicans might want to remember.

Family news Baptism time

 So yesterday, the staff was busy scrubbing the courtyard behind our house, and cleaning up the fish pond/fountain so the water is now clear and all the water plants were removed.

Here is Lolo sitting at the edge of the fountain, with the meeting room in the background.

It is so clean I worry the fish might die from new fishtank syndrome. 

So why did Kuya decide suddenly to clean up the place? 

Because the Baptist church that meets in the business meeting room was planning to use the pond for a baptism and of course Baptists immerse you when you are baptize. 

Indeed, when Kuya designed the fountain he made it so you could enter the shallow end and go down stairs to where it is three feet deep. This was designed for Lolo to cool off, but we have used it for baptisms in the past.

I am the Catholic in our family, and we accept several versions of baptism: dipping, pouring and sprinkling. 

The maid asked if the baptism would be valid, and I said sure, if the pastor said the words correctly, that even non Catholics or non Christians could baptize in an emergency. Indeed, our medical school taught us how to do it if a newborn wasn't breathing, because there were so many Catholic patients in our hospital.

I've only baptized patients a few times, because usually I was busy trying to keep the kid alive, but usually there would be a Catholic nurse to do it. 

Once, in Africa, we had a premie in our nursery. Now, in Africa, 3 pound kids rarely live and sure enough, at day three the baby started having apenea: she would stop breathing but if we stimulated her or gave her a breath, she would restart breathing. 

Alas, after about a half hour, we were bagging her but she just wouldn't breathe, and suddenly you could see that life had left her: she turned pale and limp. At this point, I figured we should try a miracle since regular medical intervention didn't work and said: Petonilla (the head nurse who was helping me) baptize her. And so she was baptized Mary.

Two seconds later she started moving and took a breath, and kept breathing, and had no further problems. Indeed, she even went home.

Alas, when our local priest found out what I had done, he told me off, for not only weren't the parents Christian or pro Christian, her father was the local witchdoctor.

Oh well.

Father thought I was a rigid pre Vatican II Catholic and told me that after Vatican II those old ideas of unbaptized children going to Limbo (an explanation but not a dogma) was no longer being taught. And he asked why I had done it, since he knew I was not overtly pious.

And I felt like Spock when I explained I did everything scientifically possible, and when that didn't work, I felt it was time to do something illogical that might work.

and it did work: a miracle? or just the shock of the cold water?

Doesn't matter. The kid lived.

In pre Vatican II days, often the priest would not baptize a kid if the parents had an irregular marriage or if the mom wasn't married. But nowadays, in the USA, few withhold the sacrament, because the culture is essentially Christian so the innocent child can be part of the church.

But in Africa, it might not be so: in tribal days, she might be forced into a marriage with a non believer who would not let her practice the faith. So in these situations baptism was withheld until puberty for boys or after marriage for girls.

That was 40 years ago so presumably things have changed, but the idea is that if you aren't going to raise the kid Catholic, it is better they remain unbaptized until they are old enough to decide for themself.

The numerous Catholic couples in second marriages or in some countries where people in polygamous marriages who want to convert is a problem that the local bishops face.

Breaking up the family can be a disaster to all including the kids. So before Vatican II the answer was to just go to church anyway but don't receive the sacraments. 

That is the backstory why Pope Francis released his instructions that priest can bless couple in irregular unions so because they seeking God's help in these situations.

Sigh. Alas, the gay friendly clergy in the West started pushing this as a stealth way to legalize  not just gay marriage but to look the other way and deny the reality of sin: and that means pretending there is nothing wrong with any sex outside of marriage, including the very problematic subgroup of homosexuals with a promiscuous lifestyle.

and this got not only the strict Trad Catholics up in arms, but caused a lot of ordinary Catholics who aren't especially homophobic to become cynical because too many of those clergy supporting  blessing gay couples were known to be gay, or worse, know to hint they support the entire gender agenda that we see being promoted in the USA. (Hey, I lived in Altoona,and know how winking at sin works, but that's another story).

 In Africa, the bishops quickly saw the Pope's letter wasn't about mercy for couples in an irregular marriage, but was just a stealth way to push the church to approve all homosexual sex;. This made the African bishops very angry, since the sexual abuse of children and sex tourism is alas becoming more common as society starts evolving from village life where people protect kids,  to the modern life where the street kids, both boys and girls, are vulnerable to sexual predators of sex tourism. link2

Sigh.

Measles outbreak in the southern Philippines.

 Measles is here again. A nasty disease that kills kids who are malnourished, and also weakens them so they are more vulnerable to other infections (pneumonia, ear infections, tuberculosis).

 The outbreak seems to be in the southern island, in Muslim areas but the rate of getting preventive immunizations in kids has gone down after covid hit for several reasons: not just the antivax stuff on the social media but because the economy is bad and moms just don't have the energy or money to go to the clinic for the shots.

this is a follow up to my earlier post LINK

Local video from 4 months is a good discussion of how the public health system is trying to stop preventable deaths on many levels.

the discussion starts with discussing the vaccines for elders and then notes the problem of measles and also about TB and other public health problems.

I should note that I haven't heard of any measles in our area, but we are seeing kids with respiratory symptoms in our area I wonder if this is partly Whooping cough which is causing outbreaks not just here in the Philippines but in other countries at the present time.

conspiracy theories again.

 I have posted Dr Campbell about conspiracy theories on hiding the side effects of the covid shot.' Here is his latest discussion.

these were indeed a lot of side effects reported in the medical literatures but not well publicized because it was feared people might not get the shot.

A lot of kerfuffle about the AZ vaccine (not the mRNA) causing blood clots, but I remember reading about that when I got the AZ vacccine in summer 2021. The rate of clots was highest in young men and lower in elders, so the Philippines only gave that vaccine to elders and high risk folk (at a time when people were dying of Covid pneumonias). Our staff got the Chinese sinovax, even though by then studies in Indonesia showed it was not very good. The problem with the mRNA vaccine are twofold: One: new technology. Two A lot of the side effects seem to be from the covid spike protein and can be from actual infection. Three, of course, is that once omicron varient hit, there was no logical reason to continue getting boosters, except maybe in nursing homes.

But when Biden places the granmom killer Levine as a high level decision maker in the PHS, it shows no one took that problem seriously.

There was a delay in getting the mRNA vaccine here because the DOH would not sign the paperwork that included a non liability agreement. But I guess they relented because later they used it for kids to reopen the sshools.

So did we have covid shot related deaths? well, one of the problems is that when young men die suddenly , we blame bangugot. sudden death syndrome, which alas is common here. So over the last 3 years we had two teenagers found dead in bed. Cause? And one Japanese/Filipino living here, who was an alcoholic, also died. Bangugot or hemorrhagic pancreatitis?

And then there is the daugther of one of our farmers, who is paralyzed. The local docs could find no reason, so sent her home, and the county is helping her with medical expsnses. But I wonder: it sounds like this disease, which is usually caused by a virus, and I have seen several cases in the USA when I was in practice. However, it also could be a complication of the mRna Covid shot. That article was published in Sept 2021...

 from the article:..

several cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) after COVID-19 vaccination have been reported in clinical trials.....The findings of subsequent investigations suggest the possibility that autoimmune responses are triggered by the reactions between anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibodies and tissue proteins, as well as the interaction between spike proteins and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors .,,,The American Neurological Association (ANA) investigated the major neurological complications of COVID-19 vaccination, including tremors, diplopia, tinnitus, dysphonia, seizures, the reactivation of herpes zoster, transverse myelitis, stroke, Bell’s palsy, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and Guillain–Barré syndrome...

 the authors are discussing one case they diagnosed, and they do note that covid the disease itself causes these problems.

in other words, a lot of problems from the various vaccines were noted in the medical literature by late 2021. Yet writing about such things was discouraged because it increase the distrust of vaccine, and when people stop taking vaccines, you get people dying of a preventable disease.

Don't ask me: ironically I heard about such things on conspiracy sites but not in the medical literature, although I must admit that since my husband died, I have not kept up to date with the medical literature.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Another conspiracy theory starting to get the notice of Congress is about Ecohealth. trying to get money to refund the Wuhan lab. Those nasty Republicans promptly pounced on the story (/s). 

From NatReview:

The subcommittee released a report and accompanying documents Wednesday morning recommending EcoHealth no longer receive federal funding and the Justice Department criminally investigate Daszak.

“We’ve come to the conclusion in a bipartisan fashion that Dr. Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance should no longer receive one penny for any type of research forever,” Wenstrup said, while emphasizing the risks of gain-of-function research.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 

in related news: Awhile back, Ecohealth was seeking to establish a laboratory here in the Philippines to investigate diseases in wild animals that might spread to humans.

The problem? Some leftists in the congress here found out about it and objected to it, because it was funded by the US Dept of Defense. 

Since then it has not been in the news, but checking the grant site, it appears that none of the money has been spent on the project, so apparently our good congressfolk have stopped it.

We have all sorts of problems with animal disease here, everything from an epidemic of Footandmouth disease and other animal epidemics during the American takeover that caused a famine to the outbreak of ebola Reston in some pigs in a nearby piggery that spread to four agri workers (but didn't make them very sick). 

But this lab sounded like they were seeking for new viruses, and the link to the US DOD make it seem like it was to find new germs for germ warfare.

the average Filipino loves Yanks, but the left is still suspicious of the American. 

Filipinos see their land as the ant caught in a fight between elephants.

on the other hand, when China steals the traditional fishing grounds from the Philippines (an area that has possible petroleum reserves) and destroys the ecosystem there, you have to realize that the alternative is to let China take over the region, which is of course their long term goal.

But unlike VietNam, the Philippines was never part of China: you could argue that it was part of the Caliphate, not part of China, and the last time some Chinese (pirates) tried a takeover was during the ming dynasty, and the Spanish with the help of the locals thru them out.

There is a lot of antagonism in SE Asia against China because the Chinese ethnics tend to monopolize business, and the rich families who are the oligarchy who run the Philippines are often descended from Chinese traders who intermarried local women (traditionally foreigners can't own businesses, so they marry a local woman and put it all in her name).

But there is a lot of resentment in poorer locals about this. And some of it is true, because in Asia, families only trust those in their family, which make it hard for outsiders to succeed. So often the middle class will migrate to other countries where they succeed more easily. 

What is different in recent years in the Philippines is the ties between Christian (protestant) businessmen, who trust each other and help each other.

This Asian clanishness in business is the story behind the massacre of the Chinese in Indonesia (not the CIA) and the expelling of the Chinese from communist Viet Nam. The Chinese are similar to the Jews in Europe or the Indians in parts of Africa: They enter the country and improve the area, and end up running the economy but never quite assimilate so locals object to that.

And of course, this has long term implications for China's expansion into Africa, which I sort of support, but when I see them doing the same mistakes as they did elsewhere (not hiring and mixing with locals) I suspect in the long term they too will be thrown out by locals when locals get angry enough. Or as the African proverb says: Even a little snake has a fang.

Fiesta time

our city's patron saint is Mama Mary, under the name Divina Pastora (holy Shepherdess). The church held her procession a few days ago to celebrate that the local church is now a minor basilica, ...LINK

but today we are having the city fiesta parade

Lots of people return to the city for the fiesta: Lolo did it every year. And he would have his friends over to drink beer and play cards. They have a big parade in the afternoon, and Lolo and other WWII veterans would march at the front of the parade. And then they would ride in cars. And finally no one was left. Sigh.

right now, we are in the midst of a heat wave. It is the end of TagInit, and it is always very hot, so not global warming, but of course they hint it might be that.

That is one reason I never attended the parade.

Lots of folks parked their tricycles on the street near us: some of the men stayed with the tricycles so they wouldn't be stolen, so our cook asked permission to give them ice water and I said okay. (her husband and sons are tricycle drivers, so she knows a lot of them).

we live in town, not in a gated community, and so some folk come here for help with paying for medicine. With the heat, some with heart problems needed to go to the ER or get help paying for the BP medicine. And right now, at planting time, it is the time of hunger: Farmers sell the rice and use the money for expenses, but now need money to plant and are short of money. So it's the time of hunger from now until the rice is ready to harvest in three to four months.

Also a lot of pneumonia in kids recently. I wonder if some of the cases are whooping cough, which is blamed on the low rate of immunization. Another problem caused by covid where people stopped getting routine care, not to mention the anti vax stuff on social media.

sigh.

And quite a few dogbites too. No, I don't feel angry about that Yankee politician who killed her wild two year old dog (not a puppy) for attacking chiekens and biting her. I suspect they had problems with the dog before that incident, and in rural areas, uncontrolled dogs kill stock. This article from 2022 discusses the problem. and this article notes it is legal.

Bad behavior is the major cause of dogs euthanized by the Humane society in the USA.

Sigh.

Here, it is feral dogs, often who are thrown out of the house when people can't feed them. This was especially bad after covid hit and a lot of people lost their jobs or funding from their OFW relatives.

But you know, when there are hungry kids around, and when poor kids get bitten by street dogs and need treatment for rabies (which kills folk here), I don't get too upset at killing a dangerous dog.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

update: The maid just told me that a  local 13 year old girl died of rabies after being bitten by a street puppy. The puppy died a few days later, but the girl didn't tell her mom that the wound on her leg was from the puppy, so she didn't get her rabies prevention shots and died two months after being bitten.

Sigh. The city will give you a free rabies shot if you are poor, but often the clinic runs out of money, so about once a week I get asked for a donation. The prevention shots were 350 pesos each and you need 3 shots. The minimum wage is 350 pesos a day, about 7 dollars. 

I don't know what is the answer: Too many don't get their dogs vaccinated, and dogs kept inside the house (on a leash or in a dog house) often are let lose at night to run around for protection and they often escape into the street, especially if a local lady dog is in heat.

Usually dogs owned have collars, so maybe placing a medal to prove they have had the shot might work in the cities, but what about those in the farm area?

In Africa, the government sent in teams to vaccinate all the dogs in rural areas and painted their backs, and then two weeks later sent in sharp shooters to shoot every dog that lacked the paint.

Samurai

 With Shogun being the big hit on TV right now, the myth of the Samurai is being discussed.

Hiroyuki Sanada points out that most of the Hollywood  films about Japan and Japanese history are the interpretations of the westerners making the film. But here he influenced the film which differs from the earlier miniseries because it emphasized the Japanese characters and included Japanese actors playing all the minor roles in the film.

Smithsonian magazine article on the film and that period of history in Japan.

yup. Authentic. Or maybe not completely: no blackened teeth or high eyebrows for the leading lady.

Shogun is set in a  time was important to Japanese history: trying to unite the warring states causing chaos in the land, with the added problems of the Europeans who introduced new technology (guns) and ideas (Christianity, not just because of the danger of becoming a colony of European powers, but because it preached dangerous ideas that everyone is equal. This undermines the traditions of Confucian culture which honors hierarchy: women obey husbands, peasants obey local lords, etc. It's easier to run a country if the religion supports the idea that not to obey the guys in charge is a sin.)

So escapism? or is it a lesson for today's world, where the idea of separate states is being pushed by the MAGA types, but ignores the question of what happens when unity breaks down? Hobbes points out a strong central government might be the best choice, but hey who reads those old philosophy books nowadays?

But anyway, instead of Americanized viewpoints maybe watching the Samurai films and historical dramas of Japanese director Kurosawa will give a different background to those times of trouble before Japan was united:

For example: Seven Samurai, about farmers at a time of chaos facing bandits, hiring Samurai hitmen to protect the village.

the full film can be streamed from Internet Archive LINK

Who do you chose, the bandits who you know or the outsiders who you hire who might just take you over anyway?

The film was remade as the Magnificent Seven, placed in Mexico at a time of disorder.

and of course, Kurosawa's other Samurai films use themes similar to the American western. This essay on Yojimbo explains how noir films inspired the film, which then went on to inspire western films like a Fistful of dollars.

the Hidden Fortress inspired parts of Star wars, but we also see influences work both ways: Throne of Blood and Ran are Japanese retelling of Macbeth and King Lear.

Then we have the classic Roshomon about four points of view of the same crime.

This film is about the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and especially important today's news in discussing he said she said stories of sexual harassment where everyone's memory is tainted by self interest.

I always found Roshomon interesting, because the men and their stories all blamed the woman, but the final story, by a woodcutter who had no reason to lie, shows they are all wrong: All the men reject the woman after her rape, so she gets angry and provokes the men into fighting each other by ridiculing their manhood saying they only see her as a doll, not a real woman, and gets them to fight over her by saying that none of them deserve the love of a real woman of passion.

I should note that few reviewers notice this feminist outburst by a woman stuck into what might have been a loveless arranged marriage and now rejected by her husband for something she didn't do. (or maybe because he was angry because she didn't kill herself in shame for being attacked).

the western proverb is; hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.