tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-229539162024-03-13T11:37:52.394-05:00anthropological fragmentsRandom comments about culture and life from Joseph Bosco, formerly Hong Kong/now St Louis-based anthropologist.JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.comBlogger172125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-38349067285563006982023-11-07T22:33:00.002-06:002023-11-08T21:08:56.804-06:00The Demise of The China Project: The Erosion of the Middle<p>Today I learned that <a href="https://thechinaproject.com/" target="_blank">The China Project</a> is shutting down. A <a href="https://thechinaproject.com/2023/11/06/some-sad-news/" target="_blank">post entitled "Some sad news" on their website</a> explains why, as does <a href="https://twitter.com/KaiserKuo/status/1721916967303442939?t=xwHpHsNeVcQjyNyqrbS90A&s=08" target="_blank">a thread of tweets from Kaiser Kuo</a>. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg48blQ7I-mXe6Ufd1CXWwl_uKMvo4Cv2CUjpy1yzshgDrSjdo71UzFUXauFZao4DvLMkEriAihvT4pYFlOUjB-zhIUhNgB1Pn6DopuvA6-zcdE1NnTSz1MQo43RQWck2zropvlgpYpVrpWCHJge564zYKdr0_r1ie16DGk9Vr7o-gzY_gps_mWAw/s222/TheChinaProject.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="70" data-original-width="222" height="70" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg48blQ7I-mXe6Ufd1CXWwl_uKMvo4Cv2CUjpy1yzshgDrSjdo71UzFUXauFZao4DvLMkEriAihvT4pYFlOUjB-zhIUhNgB1Pn6DopuvA6-zcdE1NnTSz1MQo43RQWck2zropvlgpYpVrpWCHJge564zYKdr0_r1ie16DGk9Vr7o-gzY_gps_mWAw/s1600/TheChinaProject.png" width="222" /></a></div>The China Project was a media company that tried to provide balanced coverage of China for global English-speaking audiences. It was formerly known as SupChina, and began as a newsletter in 2016, expanding to include podcasts and events, and becoming a "news and business intelligence company focused on helping a global audience understand China." <p></p><p>They reported on abuses in China, including on the horrible treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang, but also called out China-bashing in the US. As a result, as Goldkorn put it, "We have been accused many times in both countries of working for nefarious purposes for the government of the other."</p><p>There may have been many reasons for its closure. The "Some sad news" post refers to legal issues; apparently they were being sued by people or companies on both sides of the Pacific, though there are no specifics. I would like to know some examples because it seems bizarre, but this is a classic example of a "strategic secret": neither The China Project nor those who sue them have any interest in publicizing the suit, as it draws additional negative publicity to both of them.</p><p>It is clear that the main reason they are closing is that it is becoming dangerous to try to stand in the middle between the US and China. People both in China and in the US who understand both sides and try to explain the other side to their people are accused of being biased, or partial to the other side. In fact, despite the excellent work of The China Project/SupChina writers, when my wife was invited to speak at a one of their events last year, she was advised by her company's outside PR firm that she should not go because the organization was viewed as too pro-China, but she went anyway since she felt SupChina was quite balanced. One can see what effect this would have if everyone coming in contact with The China Project got similar advice.</p><p>Indeed, the trigger for the closing was a sponsorship not coming through as expected. Most companies are very cautious about associating with controversial groups. Nowadays, anything in the US having to do with China is controversial. And the reverse is also true.</p><p>The early colonists in 17th century Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, were able to cooperate with the Native Americans by exchanging 10-year old boys who lived with a family of the other culture and would thus learn the other group's language and culture. These interpreters understood both cultures intimately. But in the lead-up to King Philip's War (1675-76), which is often considered the deadliest war in colonial America, these interpreters were distrusted by both sides, and were unable to prevent the conflagration. It is worrisome to see a similar pattern with The China Project. A voice of reason that understands and can explain both sides has been lost. Gradually, only shrill nationalistic voices will remain.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-91739359483791313822023-10-02T17:01:00.007-05:002023-10-02T17:01:55.363-05:00SBF and the Missing $8 Billion<p>I have been listening to Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried (AKA SBF) on
his podcast <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/against-the-rules" target="_blank">Against the Rules</a>, but he has left a lot of threads hanging, perhaps because
he has <a href="https://www.michaellewiswrites.com/#going-infinite" target="_blank">a new book coming out</a> on Oct 3 (tomorrow, as I write this), to coincide with the
opening of SBF's trial for embezzlement and other crimes. Lewis was writing a book about SBF and FTX when the exchange collapsed in November 2022.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjujHDWnfUSQqhzz1FJtifDOQQ6a4lWZtzKGLBiiK4W3MKUVizxJdNK4xhDjaIQU3Ve7hC5bvPwB8jWCvhxc7ohx9wwEnzrxNy8Qc3OM5KQDJtv1ha7lzq638jYM_AUJInb1RE2nv2BkkHSaPaShA0h-vamn6BPnzXGHDbnSFnFx9rnWLAiko4oKw/s1000/search%20engine.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjujHDWnfUSQqhzz1FJtifDOQQ6a4lWZtzKGLBiiK4W3MKUVizxJdNK4xhDjaIQU3Ve7hC5bvPwB8jWCvhxc7ohx9wwEnzrxNy8Qc3OM5KQDJtv1ha7lzq638jYM_AUJInb1RE2nv2BkkHSaPaShA0h-vamn6BPnzXGHDbnSFnFx9rnWLAiko4oKw/w200-h200/search%20engine.webp" width="200" /></a></div>But I also listen to another podcast, called <a href="https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/search-engine/4434383" target="_blank">Search Engine with PJ Vogt</a>,
and <a href="https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/where-did-the-eight-billion-dollars" target="_blank">this week's episode</a> asks, where did the missing $8 billion go. First, I thought that was a dumb question, because when something
collapses in value, the money doesn't actually go anywhere, value just
disappears. But I was wrong, and learned I was wrong from this podcast. <div><br /></div><div>Second,
this podcast does a great job of explaining what SBF did wrong; even
<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/02/inside-sam-bankman-frieds-family-bubble" target="_blank">The New Yorker article "Inside Sam Bankman-Fried’s Family Bubble"</a> by
Sheelah Kolhatkar (in the Oct. 2nd issue, and the only article to include interviews with SBF's parents, who are Stanford law professors) does a poor job of describing
what happened and what crimes he's accused of committing. PJ Vogt had a previous podcast in 2022 called <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/03/welcome-to-crypto-island-pj-vogt-plots-tv-series-podcast-1234979459/" target="_blank">Crypto Island</a> and so has covered some of the crypto hype. In this episode of Search Engine, PJ Vogt
interviews Zeke Faux who had been covering SBF for a while for Bloomberg, and the episode makes very clear where the money went and what crimes he's accused of.<br />
<br />
Third, this is interesting because Zeke Faux (and let me just note as an
aside, that this is his real name, even though it means "fake" in
French) noted that when Michael Lewis interviewed SBF at a crypto conference in
the Bahamas, Lewis just lobbed softball questions and seemed star-struck. Zeke has
tweeted:<br /><blockquote><a href="https://twitter.com/ZekeFaux/status/1708658366426255766" target="_blank">
"I’d heard that Bankman-Fried was going to be the subject of Lewis’s
next book. But the author’s questions were so fawning they seemed
inappropriate for a journalist."</a></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6vOenw299vDN7g1R4ca6WM_7Y3MAJY_K1kaKrOqrNGYeKkQDtEX4ay5UhhHKRRMEq5O_hvVnj6p5oVHWsKqxX-OFPWMqY34H5rUrpq-QRvtl2mLrM1CAf3PiVjuwPWBUTp3P5gu9U5WrSuinwKI9-QP0SLmcj7YdVOG3jLqNRE2aham6lGuzuQ/s901/Zeke%20Faux%20tweet.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="901" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW6vOenw299vDN7g1R4ca6WM_7Y3MAJY_K1kaKrOqrNGYeKkQDtEX4ay5UhhHKRRMEq5O_hvVnj6p5oVHWsKqxX-OFPWMqY34H5rUrpq-QRvtl2mLrM1CAf3PiVjuwPWBUTp3P5gu9U5WrSuinwKI9-QP0SLmcj7YdVOG3jLqNRE2aham6lGuzuQ/w400-h363/Zeke%20Faux%20tweet.png" width="400" /></a></div>He raises the question of how gullible Michael Lewis was at the time that SBF and FTX were riding high, and Lewis does come across as giddy and a believer in the clips cited in the podcast. I'm looking forward to reading his book. But I feel I should read Zeke Faux' book first.<div><br />
Since we are going to be hearing about the SBF trial for a while, it is
worth listening to this Search Engine podcast to get a sense of what happened and what
the issues are.<br />
<br />Get on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/where-did-the-8-billion-dollars-go/id1614253637?i=1000629625896" target="_blank">Apple podcasts here</a> <br /><br /></div><div>Link from <a href="https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/search-engine/4434383" target="_blank">Podcastaddict here</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Link to <a href="https://pjvogt.substack.com/p/where-did-the-eight-billion-dollars" target="_blank">the episode on the Search Engine with PJ Voght website</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-16095639520962443452023-06-29T17:36:00.001-05:002023-07-02T12:20:59.282-05:00Three Observations on My Trip to Asia<p>I have a few observations on a very pleasant and productive trip to Hong Kong, with a brief visit to friends in Tokyo (that's in Japan, BTW; Hong Kong is not in Japan, for the Americans reading this who may not know 😉). </p><p>First, the level of English in the Mainland Chinese students I taught at a workshop was surprisingly high, noticeably higher than four years ago when I last taught this workshop. I asked several of them how they learned their English, and some have spent time in the US or UK, but not all. One said she has been attending English tutorial classes since she was in nursery school. The look on her face suggested she did not enjoy these classes, much like American-born Chinese hate going to Chinese school. But her English was very good, whereas most ABCs don't learn much Chinese. One young lady sticks out in my mind; she said her mother regretted that her own English was not good, and so sent her to a boarding school in New Jersey for a year when she was 14. The daughter then came back to China for high school and university, and now, 10 years later at 24 years of age, she is bilingual and will be a top candidate at any graduate program she applies to. Sadly, her mother passed away, so cannot see how successful her strategy has been. This young lady represents, for me, a new generation of cosmopolitan Chinese who were exposed to English in the early 2010s and now, a decade later, are comfortable in both English and Chinese.</p><p>Secondly, I attended a small conference where young mainland and Hong Kong Chinese students presented their research to each other. I was struck by how the students spoke openly about the limits of what can be said. No one made doctrinaire statements or argued politics, but I was struck by how, in an intellectual context, everyone could assume that everyone knew we were subject to authoritarian rulers. People were not being cautious; they were matter-of-fact. It reminded me of how in the US, in university settings I have been in, there is an open contempt for Trump and matter-of-fact criticism of his boorish ways, in a way that is different from pre-Trump days. On the one hand, the heavy hand of the state and CCP is obvious (Chinese University still requires a University ID to enter the campus, though no ID is required at HKU). On the other hand, I'm told that it is now harder to get into Chinese University because high school graduates are choosing Chinese University over HKU because it is viewed as more politically liberal. I was told that many people are leaving, but that while in the 1990s, before the 1997 Handover, people held "going away parties" before they left, now people are leaving quietly. Often, I'm told, people find out someone has emigrated only once they see their friends' pictures set in the UK. I met one student who is accommodating to the new pro-Beijing rule, but it seems most people who are staying are waiting for the winds to change. As one friend put it, even Xi Jinping will not live forever, and his successors will have to respond to the problems and frustrations his policies are causing. From the US, it is easy to think of "the Chinese" and focus mainly on the nationalistic extremists and authoritarian ruling class, but the reality is much more diverse. And the problems of extreme nationalism and authoritarian thinking are unfortunately plaguing the US too. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLJsf6QF_qo1Nje7daBPRBTmq6v4oZwZs9S6ycB5rdsOjvt7On91uMMr8EetBpQY6p2yQi4BiavR6L6v6c_NYzgsC2AMPkctDalaLSUpa8oEdVl3ntlyYn3owj_QMF6gDEeVfLA21NjW8xjtATN5Fg6HeWQTIVSRJOqr1zOkpnRC05ge5jBUAuQ/s4032/PXL_20230624_bike%20w%20kids.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLJsf6QF_qo1Nje7daBPRBTmq6v4oZwZs9S6ycB5rdsOjvt7On91uMMr8EetBpQY6p2yQi4BiavR6L6v6c_NYzgsC2AMPkctDalaLSUpa8oEdVl3ntlyYn3owj_QMF6gDEeVfLA21NjW8xjtATN5Fg6HeWQTIVSRJOqr1zOkpnRC05ge5jBUAuQ/w320-h181/PXL_20230624_bike%20w%20kids.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pedal-assist bike with children aboard</td></tr></tbody></table>My third observation is about how Hong Kong and Japan "work." Americans (at least some of them) spend much time criticizing the government, so it surprising that anyone is actually willing to work for the common good. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/46266188" target="_blank">Michael Lewis' <i>The Fifth Risk</i> </a>is a paean to the dedicated civil servant, because it is surprising anyone accepts the call of public service given current criticism of government. One cannot spend time in Hong Kong or Japan without being impressed by how their infrastructure works. Hong Kong has built an impressive and efficient subway system over the past 40 years. The new subway line connecting Shatin to Admiralty makes the trip to Central, which my wife took daily, spending 45 minutes with two transfers, now takes only 31 minutes with one transfer. <p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTaKZeDOvzt0llK2isEC1SnCzr28L0T5jPdy6yWpb95j5H9ZQc_r6bBxdsYhpdqdnDKuryyP6ohbe86eXJuMPOYIDq8Z8PeKJLeyw4szI80QEBnMwZpCpmtzxoKPgteyLzJ26uTvGfMvrtoLELQaJTCHeZCaH_QdnapkjXaKV8OabSQHwVA3gxg/s1831/PXL_20230609_Texas.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1831" data-original-width="950" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTaKZeDOvzt0llK2isEC1SnCzr28L0T5jPdy6yWpb95j5H9ZQc_r6bBxdsYhpdqdnDKuryyP6ohbe86eXJuMPOYIDq8Z8PeKJLeyw4szI80QEBnMwZpCpmtzxoKPgteyLzJ26uTvGfMvrtoLELQaJTCHeZCaH_QdnapkjXaKV8OabSQHwVA3gxg/w208-h400/PXL_20230609_Texas.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vulgar Texas traveler</td></tr></tbody></table>And Japan is so orderly and civil, in so many ways. Service workers are very polite (using a series of stock phrases that probably carry little literal meaning because they are used so much, but do have the effect of making interactions smooth and polite.) Customers in restaurants and cafes speak in hushed tones; the noise level is noticeably lower than in Chinese or American restaurants. (Contrast that civility with the "gentleman" in the photo to the right, at the STL airport, waiting for his latte, wearing sloppy clothes with a vulgar statement on the back). Sidewalks and roads are well maintained and clean. The birth rate may be low in Japan, but we saw many parents taking their kids out on pedal-assist bikes, on bike lanes that are narrow, but everywhere. And in contrast to much of the world, where people can park cars on public space for free (see <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/63329951" target="_blank">Henry Grabar, <i>Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World</i></a> [<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/08/1174771693/how-parking-explains-the-world" target="_blank">Fresh Air interview here</a>]), in Tokyo one can only buy a car with proof of a parking space. This makes neighborhoods more tidy and easy to maneuver in (not to mention that people don't drive around in circles looking for a free space.) <br /><p></p><p>The flight attendants on my JAL flight bowed to the passengers in the waiting area before they boarded the plane (many passengers would not have noticed it, because it was not announced, but I saw it). It reminded me of how Thai rugby players bow to the audience before a Sevens match. My flight on JAL (which I choose because it was the cheapest ticket) included two meals and a snack. The meals were good, and I was charmed by the miso soup they served in paper cups, as an additional drink. The plane was an American-made Boeing 787, but it was the first time I have seen windows that do not have shades that you pull down, but have a button that you push that makes the window go dark, like the sunglasses that go dark in bright light. Very cool. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4RINhHwXF2Hio_ArvrxRA4sPjThEpagYb54mX1ZL1MZqYmzzGr0vG8W4qPV7TeFb23yPDJd2TGWOTVdZPf4r237wNOV6W2nxAHemq2TfQECHhofW_Q4cB1Z2B1GSXyvlbjwTogyzh_dLpS7pbGXCAzFz3B30A3mZtGOstDKZJ1vzSbHbU_22ig/s574/Barclaycard_American_Airlines_02.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4RINhHwXF2Hio_ArvrxRA4sPjThEpagYb54mX1ZL1MZqYmzzGr0vG8W4qPV7TeFb23yPDJd2TGWOTVdZPf4r237wNOV6W2nxAHemq2TfQECHhofW_Q4cB1Z2B1GSXyvlbjwTogyzh_dLpS7pbGXCAzFz3B30A3mZtGOstDKZJ1vzSbHbU_22ig/s320/Barclaycard_American_Airlines_02.jpg" width="177" /></a></div>When I got to Chicago, I had to transfer to an American Airlines flight for my last leg home. Once in the airplane, the flight attendant announced that the toilet in the front of the plane was broken, so everyone would have to use the toilet at the back of the plane. Oh, and there is no WiFi, because the system is broken. To make matters worse, the flight attendants spent much of our 46 minute flight haranguing us with a sales pitch about the "great deal" we could get on an American Airlines credit card, for which they would give us 50,000 miles, which she said enough for a one-way ticket to Asia. The male flight attendant then had to go down the aisle holding brochures for the credit card to hand one out to anyone who wanted one (I did not see anyone take one), and the female flight attendant stood at the front of the plane as we deplaned, holding brochures fanned out in her hands. How humiliating. It's bad enough that flight attendants who are there primarily for safety in an emergency have to also serve food and drinks, but now they have to hawk credit cards. At the same time, their planes don't work properly.<p></p><p>Finally, people in Missouri complain about the humidity here. But they don't know humidity. Here are my glasses after I exited a subway station in Hong Kong, where we have <i>real</i> humidity.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAhLXoTiXU1nWRvajm0K-KPgigOOuXgqiBhA-QOmLphzgWihCfpewtLZhwyWfmWglKfTa3pAJUDQVPMWtFyE3UlBD42rbkn5dRyIo-3L_aewX7HWPi_vakHOv8VpFXTT83kA-eALtoveRMyFgiCMJhpGE1Idx9GDsrTsLV3X-6LmIelXqvuZVDA/s1366/humidity.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="1366" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAhLXoTiXU1nWRvajm0K-KPgigOOuXgqiBhA-QOmLphzgWihCfpewtLZhwyWfmWglKfTa3pAJUDQVPMWtFyE3UlBD42rbkn5dRyIo-3L_aewX7HWPi_vakHOv8VpFXTT83kA-eALtoveRMyFgiCMJhpGE1Idx9GDsrTsLV3X-6LmIelXqvuZVDA/s320/humidity.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Real </i>humidity</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-9059154537903256222023-04-27T18:47:00.000-05:002023-04-27T18:47:34.624-05:00"Here is the China Exit Entry Administration"<p>For many months, I have received a SPAM phone message that is both in English and Chinese. This seems puzzling to me: why am I getting them, and in Chinese?</p><p>Here is the message I receive (I've gotten this five times in the past week):</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Here is the China Exit Entry Administration. You have a new message. 你好!中国出入境管理局,你有一个新信息,请按九获取详细内容 </p></blockquote><p></p><p>The Chinese says, "Hello! China Entry Exit Administration, you have a new message, please press nine for details." You can <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1flGa1IkOBcDT4DGSpclZPF-CGkEGs84L/view?usp=share_link" target="_blank">listen to my recording of the message here</a>.</p><p>In the past, the message came as a call, but I've installed <a href="https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/9118387?hl=en" target="_blank">Google Call Screening</a> so I never answer calls from numbers that I don't already know. But recently, the "calls" are coming straight into my phone as voicemail, without the phone ringing. </p><p>This is a very strange message. First of all, who is it aimed at? As <a href="https://huaren.us/showtopic.html?topicid=2824786" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">one online commenter noted</a>, many "foreigners" (i.e. Americans) in the US are getting this message, and though it begins in English, it only has instructions in Chinese. The message seems to be bait for a scam of Chinese speakers. Spamming all of America to find a few gullible Chinese does not seem very efficient.</p><p>Since it is aimed at Chinese, why does the message start in English? It's almost as if the scammers feel that it's a high-class scam because it is bilingual. But I don't think the PRC government authorities send messages to their citizens in English and Chinese. </p><p>And it's bad English at that! "Here is the..." is Chinese English. It should be, "This is the ...." </p><p>At first I thought the "Exit Entry Administration" was fake, because the name sounds so funny in English. Apparently, <a href="https://www.nia.gov.cn/n741430/n741506/index.html" target="_blank">it's a thing, or at least it was until 2018</a>, when it was renamed the Immigration Department.</p><p>I've been curious as to why I'm getting these messages again, after many months of silence. Plus, the calls go straight to voicemail; my phone does not ring. Also puzzling is the fact that these calls are coming from different phone numbers from all over the US. And twice, recently, I got the messages two times within 10 minutes, same exact recording, but from phone numbers from different parts of the country.</p><p>I think this is an example of the cat and mouse game between spammers and phone companies. I recently heard on a podcast about AI that spammers also use AI and have gotten better at evading Google and Yahoo's spam identification. </p><p>But my Google Call Screening is still doing it's job, because my phone does not ring. The spam call is going to voicemail, so I get the start of the recording, but I'm not getting interrupted, nor do I have a chance to push "9".</p><p>Next step is for Google to recognize the calls as spam and send them straight to the spam folder, which it is able to do for some calls. I'm going to start calling my spam folder the "Exit Entry Administration."</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-80976312494686698292023-04-18T14:18:00.006-05:002023-04-18T14:18:51.973-05:00Small World Coincidences and Connections<p>My son is job hunting, and he was telling me a story the
other day about how a friend’s brother-in-law knows someone who works in a
company in which my son hopes to get a job, giving him some inside information. We laughed about how in many
lines of work, everyone knows each other, so you have to behave professionally.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That led me to think about two stories I’ve recently come
across where two famous people from completely different walks of life knew
each other, and not just casually, but really well.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first example is the story that when the actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Roberts" target="_blank">Julia Roberts</a> was born, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133121228/julia-roberts-mlk-birth" target="_blank"> Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill</a>. The story seems improbable (both because two famous people in totally different
fields are linked, and because in our racist society we are used to thinking
white people have money and not that Black people need to help whites), but it’s
true. Roberts’ parents ran a theatre school in Atlanta, and after the Kings
were having trouble finding a program that would accept the King children,
Roberts’ parents accepted them and the parents became friendly. The theatre
school struggled (and in fact closed a few years after Julia was born), so the
Roberts did not have money for the hospital bill, and the Kings helped them
out. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The other story is that the famous singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carly_Simon" target="_blank">Carly Simon</a> was
<a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/carly-simon-connection-to-jackie-robinson" target="_blank">close friends with the family of baseball legend Jackie Robinson</a>. (As an aside,
Carly is the daughter of Richard Simon, founder of the publishers Simon and
Schuster. That is already quite a connection.) It turns out Carly’s parents
helped the Robinsons buy a house in Stamford, CT, in the 1950s when they became
aware that racist housing practices were making it difficult for the Robinsons to
find a new larger home, even though <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson" target="_blank">Jackie Robinson, the first player in Major League Baseball to break the racist color barrier</a>, was an All Star baseball
player. They helped the Robinsons buy the first plot of land in Stamford owned
by an African American. Afterwards, Jackie’s wife Rachel and Carly’s mother Andrea
became close friends, and Carly hung out with the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in
Brooklyn. <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/carly-simon-connection-to-jackie-robinson" target="_blank">“The team had a special jacket made for her, with “Dodgers” printedon the back and ‘Carly’ on the front.”</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These stories of unlikely connections combine the divisions
of occupations (theatre and church, popular song and sports), which make them
surprising, but of course the racial element adds to the improbability of the connections,
given the segregation of America.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was
lucky two weeks ago to be invited to celebrate the Passover Seder in a Jewish friend’s home. The Seder
is a meal with many symbolic foods (e.g. matzah bread) at which stories are
told about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exodus" target="_blank">Exodus</a>, to celebrates and remember the departure of the Israelites from
enslavement in Egypt. One of
the major themes of Passover is that Jews have experienced enslavement, and should remember that and help others who are not free, because only when everyone is liberated
can the Jews (and everyone) be free. One passage we read at the Seder said
something like this: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">"The Passover story is the
Jewish people’s original story of becoming strangers in a strange land. It is
the story that reminds us that we, too, have stood in the shoes of refugees and
asylum seekers in search of safety and liberty. As we lift our voices in song
and prayer, we call out together with those who long to be free. This year,
there are still many who struggle towards liberation; next year, may we all be
free." —Mark Hetfield, President & CEO, HIAS (from a <a href="https://rebekahlowin.com/passover-quotes/" target="_blank">website of Passover Quotes</a>)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is not a coincidence, therefore, that the Simons helped
the Robinsons. First of all, Richard Simon was of German Jewish background (though
his parents were members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement" target="_blank">Ethical movement</a>, a secular group that was like a church for the non-religious.) Second, Richard's wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Heinemann_Simon" target="_blank">Andrea was actually of Afro-Cuban and German descent</a> (see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpLNkuVCp8g" target="_blank">clip from <i>Finding Your Roots</i> episode on Carly Simon here</a>), and active in the civil
rights movement. Given America’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule" target="_blank">“one-drop” rule</a>, one could say that Andrea Simon “passed” for
white, but she also fought for civil rights. </p><p class="MsoNormal">It has long been noted that many Jews
were involved in the civil rights movement, and we can see in Passover one of
the reasons that many Jews support liberation from oppression. (Historical conflicts over Black Power and Zionism, and the
current situation in Israel/Palestine, show that ideology is complex
and contradictory, however.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, I find it fitting that in <a href="https://rebekahlowin.com/passover-quotes/" target="_blank">a website on “Passover quotes”</a> intended for Jews we find the following quotes from African American thought leaders:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p>"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed." —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p>"The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody
is free." —Maya Angelou</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>So true. Especially given that we live in a small world,
where everyone is connected.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-51877706686993231982023-04-07T11:29:00.001-05:002023-04-07T15:04:38.650-05:00Election Day, 4 April 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uDjvGhEQdNOdK9PXvmxDvuI1XiawWOLNRnUvd4HHMe7RYYaNgwS7fyT1gYXwPI9Dq7j0l58Heli39CXesDlOfIJVgHwsAUm7-Y1y-2qLLq1gPn9ZDUIdGWIpkBZc9mfx-auYKaIq_6ybFdLu2mwdYkgCi1xnW33r7lnXnYVE8t3d9OuxKEU/s402/I%20voted%20in%20STL%202023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="402" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uDjvGhEQdNOdK9PXvmxDvuI1XiawWOLNRnUvd4HHMe7RYYaNgwS7fyT1gYXwPI9Dq7j0l58Heli39CXesDlOfIJVgHwsAUm7-Y1y-2qLLq1gPn9ZDUIdGWIpkBZc9mfx-auYKaIq_6ybFdLu2mwdYkgCi1xnW33r7lnXnYVE8t3d9OuxKEU/w200-h200/I%20voted%20in%20STL%202023.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I volunteer to serve as an election judge for elections because I think it is important to help assure election integrity. We get paid, but no one works the 15-hour-day plus travel time for the $240. I also do it because it gives me a chance to get out of my social bubble and to meet other people. Sometimes, however, I end up feeling like I should have stayed in my bubble.<p></p><p>This week’s local election in St Louis County had very few items on the ballot. Voters can vote anywhere in the county, so everyone’s ballot can be a bit different, depending on where they live. A few places had mayor’s elections, or school board election, but the ballot for many people only had one question: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Proposition M</p><p>Shall St. Louis County impose an additional sales tax of three percent (3%) on all tangible property retail sales of adult use marihuana sold in St. Louis County, Missouri?</p><p>□ YES</p><p>□ NO</p></blockquote><p>I served in a small town called Black Jack, which is a fairly prosperous African American suburban town in “North County.” We were set up in a school gym. Only 68 voters came during the 13 hours the polls were open, which meant we had a lot of time to sit and wait. That means it cost over $30 per vote just for the cost of election judges at that polling location. Sixty voters voted absentee, so turnout from my polling place was nine percent, half the overall county turnout of 18 percent. </p><p>The low turnout is understandable; why bother to vote if there are so few items on the ballot? It is absurd that we have so many elections (often four per year, counting primaries), but it is impossible to change because politicians know that certain items are easier to pass on elections like this, when few people vote, or on presidential elections, when many more people vote, so different groups have an interest in keeping the status quo.</p><p>One of the rules for election judges is that we are not supposed to discuss politics. The trainers at the Election Board remind us of this before every election, and yet, people can’t keep their mouths shut. Early in the day, someone started saying something political and our Republican manager commented that we should not talk about politics. Everyone agreed, though Bob, another Republicans poll judge, commented that though we can’t talk here, we SHOULD talk more, because people mostly agree, at least 80%, he said. Mary, a white Republican poll judge, agreed, and added that we are all God’s children, so are basically alike. (I said nothing, and could not help but wonder if my Black fellow election judges agreed, but they also said nothing). Later, as I was standing with him near the scanner, a young Black judge who is Republican said about Proposition M, “Why would anyone vote to give politicians more money so they can just waste it?!” I did not know how to reply without getting political so I just ignored him and said nothing.</p><p>Interestingly, two voters commented, when they saw that their ballot only had Proposition M on it, “Of course I’m going to vote “Yes”! I don’t use it, so let those who do pay the taxes!” So even this seemingly innocuous proposition elicited partisan polarization, with conservatives against taxes and liberals in favor of taxes.</p><p>In case you were wondering, Proposition M passed, with 65 percent voting "Yes."</p><p>We were 8 poll judges, four Republicans and four Democrats, present for nearly 15 hours, and since only 68 people voted, we had a lot of free time. It was a bit like we were characters in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Breakfast_Club" target="_blank">the movie <i>The Breakfast Club</i></a> (except that we weren't all friends at the end), or maybe more like the characters of <a href="https://www.riverfronttimes.com/arts/the-reps-murder-on-the-orient-express-is-a-truly-entertaining-ride-39742438" target="_blank"><i>Murder on the Orient Express</i>, which was being performed as a play this week</a>. </p><p>There was Mary, who talked the entire time. She was insufferable. She was from the western rural part of the county, and mentioned that she had lived many years in Mississippi, as perhaps we could tell from her accent. She told us she ran a mission and sold Mary Kay products, and had been in India for 26 days. No one asked why she went to India, but she proceeded to tell us she was there saving people. The last two hours, she literally read the manual and asked us "pop questions" as she read along. "Did you know ‘wearing apparel specific to a candidate or issue’ counts as electioneering?" And 30 seconds later, "What is the correct order for setting up the poll pad?" I made a point of working the scanner, which was at the other end of the gym, so I could be far away from her, where I could only hear her in the background and could read my book.</p><p>Then there was Bob, originally from the Bronx, a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy recently retired after working 40 years in insurance. Hearing I was an anthropologist, he said social scientists will probably be studying the pandemic for decades. I replied that, actually, after the 1918 Flu, people mostly forgot about it, and that there is evidence people are now also ready to move on. He somehow started saying that there was no way Covid came from the market in Wuhan, and that Covid was genetically created in a lab in Wuhan because it was too precisely designed. I did not know how to reply, since he was so vehement, so I cut the conversation off abruptly by telling him he was misinformed and went back to reading my book. </p><p>Then there was Republican manager, a white woman about 65 years old, who was very competent and in charge. She managed to make everyone stick to the rule that we not start packing up until AFTER polls close at 7:00 pm. (In previous cases, some people always want to start packing early.) The Democratic manager was a nice Black woman, perhaps 10 years older, who for some reason gave each election judge some cream. She gave me a small vial of Dove face cream for men. Then she asked, “Mr. Joe, do you have bad joints or arthritis?” She said she had some cream from her church that worked very well. I told her I did not need it (yet).</p><p>One pair of judges were a kind couple. The husband seemed a bit addled; it took him a while to remember the process for checking people in and producing ballots. He had brought a box of donuts, but they were dated “made March 26, sell by March 28,” so were a week old and stale. Only two of the six were eaten by the end of the day. His wife greeted every voter with a loud, “Welcome to the poll judge sweepstakes! Come on down!” followed by a bellowing laugh. Most people coming in seemed to be amused.</p><p>And then we had the young Black Republican, who spent most of the day listing to his iPods, and then suddenly announced two hours before the end of the election that he had to leave. (Hm; I wonder if he’ll get paid.)</p><p>At the risk of seeming to be a misanthrope, I have to say the experience was not uplifting. The low turnout, the inability to avoid politics, and the confrontation with partisanship and China-bashing all left me discouraged. Tired after the long day, I came home to make dinner and watch a baseball game. To make matters worse, the Cardinals lost 2-5, losing the third game in the series and thus getting swept by the Braves.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-33699255564450227492022-10-24T23:04:00.003-05:002022-10-24T23:05:59.871-05:00Observations on my trip to Hong Kong<p>When I lived in Hong Kong, I found it amusing that visitors
would often and repeatedly comment on how striking they found the clusters of
skyscrapers of housing estates. So I find it amusing, now, that on the ride in
from the airport, I, too, found the clusters of 30-plus story skyscrapers
notable. The fact that I notice these buildings which I once took for granted
shows that I no longer belong in Hong Kong. And yet, everything seems so
familiar, like I never left.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqAuBKLXkPQda_1yzlUDGWuBr-iP4XA0gIvLA4QqsJZWJtbBPaJp7IMqEtTvO55CN-LVTJ9EpwliD-M1cWk2iDu5Dbq-xtxUBnoF4rupS-CDWs33qxauijn30OA9OTM0bF7h9RLzXthjmX6BajXVhj28I2PeSHBlf-WycOSo3gb5Hw7Brrhw/s3840/Rapid%20test.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHqAuBKLXkPQda_1yzlUDGWuBr-iP4XA0gIvLA4QqsJZWJtbBPaJp7IMqEtTvO55CN-LVTJ9EpwliD-M1cWk2iDu5Dbq-xtxUBnoF4rupS-CDWs33qxauijn30OA9OTM0bF7h9RLzXthjmX6BajXVhj28I2PeSHBlf-WycOSo3gb5Hw7Brrhw/s320/Rapid%20test.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>The Covid protocols are a mixture of the efficient and nonsensical.
I was tested by PCR test 4 times: on arrival, and 2, 4 and 6 days later. Each
time, I received the results at around 8:30 pm, which is the time they notify people
who have been tested before noon. I don’t know why the notifications are sent
out as a batch and are not sent out as they are received. In addition, I had to
take a Rapid Test every day and post the results (honor system). Half of these tests, then, were duplicating the
PCR test. I tried to make it more useful by doing the Rapid Test in the
evening, since I took the PCR test in the morning, but that meant I got the
results of both tests at about the same time.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The PCR testing process itself was amazingly fast. I simply
walked in, showed the staff member my Hong Kong ID and the appointment confirmation SMS
text message on my phone. The staff person, who was behind a plastic barrier,
entered my ID number and a code number from the SMS text on their keyboard, and
my personal particulars (including my phone number) then appeared on a screen
that was set facing me (none of the silly swiveling of the screen as in
doctors’ offices in St Louis). She gave me a vial, which I then took down a
line about 20 meters, and a “dispatcher” told me which of about 20 cubicles
(temporary cloth medical stations) to go to for my test. Each time I arrived,
the tester was still finishing up from the previous test and putting on new
gloves. They took a swab of both sides of my nose, and with a second swab took
a sample from my throat (“Say ‘Ah’”), and then, “You’re done, thank you” and I
could leave. I don’t think it even took 3 minutes.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOa_4AZAMP_ZiRb5GPDSwLTvWM3akKhGI749ghDYEH22uN5s-5NwphrF1huvKf5zgUaZdErN4qHSkceBrwnOOgjEmI49Qc5j62HmNLMTPmwoSiXpIKcHjxuSPcOeyg7cK9qs5FRmvRre01x83Qd_BpDY9ZpfdO_DwRb1GqG-z7FoInnNucy4/s2124/please%20wear%20a%20face%20mask%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2124" data-original-width="1973" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOa_4AZAMP_ZiRb5GPDSwLTvWM3akKhGI749ghDYEH22uN5s-5NwphrF1huvKf5zgUaZdErN4qHSkceBrwnOOgjEmI49Qc5j62HmNLMTPmwoSiXpIKcHjxuSPcOeyg7cK9qs5FRmvRre01x83Qd_BpDY9ZpfdO_DwRb1GqG-z7FoInnNucy4/s320/please%20wear%20a%20face%20mask%20(2).jpg" width="297" /></a></div>In theory, everyone entering a store or building has to scan
a QR code on their “LeaveHomeSafe” app, which brings up the visitor’s health
status in a QR code. Until a person’s QR code is blue, one cannot eat in a
restaurant. (A friend who has resisted getting a cell phone for years was finally
forced to get a smart phone!) I found that while restaurants followed this
faithfully, most stores and buildings ignored it. I entered a Watson’s pharmacy
and saw the QR code and scanner at the door but noticed that no one was using
it. On the other hand, when I entered the Chinese University Library, a staff
member was at the barrier where you scan your university ID to enter, and she gently
called me back to have me sanitize my hands. (In my defense, I did not
recognize the new, alcohol-spraying hand sanitizer as a sanitizer, and plus,
didn’t we discover that Covid spreads not from contact by in the air?).<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATgKn96xeShfLhyuA63fz0sVr4NwXd3_RqFuYkIj29wSsxIcK-3nFMvMUVVXe40iwL26v05YCznMxf9HCuXjm0yAzQ2taL3vmlVmsZ_j0iXkAr9zleliYRq3Eh0P1n5B0u3RorXYgGH2fHMPXesfV_DgJnv5BZr0-Y4t-2lVYCswqsqhoyP4/s500/mask%20holder.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgATgKn96xeShfLhyuA63fz0sVr4NwXd3_RqFuYkIj29wSsxIcK-3nFMvMUVVXe40iwL26v05YCznMxf9HCuXjm0yAzQ2taL3vmlVmsZ_j0iXkAr9zleliYRq3Eh0P1n5B0u3RorXYgGH2fHMPXesfV_DgJnv5BZr0-Y4t-2lVYCswqsqhoyP4/w200-h200/mask%20holder.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Surgical mask holder</td></tr></tbody></table>Everyone, and I mean everyone, wears a mask. The only
exception is when exercising, and on the beach. People walking on a promenade
along the water, which could technically be considered exercising, were wearing
masks.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>Hong Kong residents also have a handy plastic mask holder,
which allows you to fold a surgical mask and put it in your purse or pocket
while you eat in a restaurant. I also discovered a "touchless elevator pad" <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Days before leaving for HK, I received the <a href="https://www.cecc.gov/" target="_blank">Congressional-ExecutiveCommission on China</a> report
on human rights in Hong Kong titled <a href="https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/hong-kong%E2%80%99s-civil-society-from-an-open-city-to-a-city-of-fear" target="_blank">Hong Kong’s Civil Society: From an Open City to a City of Fear</a>. As a cover letter put it:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The report, entitled <a href="https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/hong-kong%E2%80%99s-civil-society-from-an-open-city-to-a-city-of-fear"><i><span style="color: blue;">Hong Kong’s Civil Society: From an Open City to a City of
Fear</span></i></a><i>,</i> draws on interviews with 42 current and former
members of Hong Kong’s civil society and details how the draconian enforcement
of the National Security Law crushed democratic institutions and a once vibrant
civil society in Hong Kong. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The report is depressing reading, describing the jailing of
politicians and activists for organizing a primary (which <a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2021/01/06/breaking-over-50-hong-kong-democrats-arrested-under-security-law-over-2020-legislative-primaries/" target="_blank">the government claims is “subversion”</a>), the disbanding of many NGOs, children coming home saying
their teachers told them to report if parents criticized China’s flag, and
journalists forced to leave because of police harassment.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXXRzxFrYZasyra2UgZB591ndJuWuoObLJxlf54wZbGek5thCobpVSU9Pl2E58in1CL-B0f5MSM-wHyWHvKT5QgQUEkrkmhTeVY5FUy3qhHGkmpD7G0cFP3ONw3XaDLq5p0xP8GK5JbFeZN53VAiCfQwPxJNpuIBGV4yN5YHdrxJatjUZ2X0/s3840/touchless%20button.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXXRzxFrYZasyra2UgZB591ndJuWuoObLJxlf54wZbGek5thCobpVSU9Pl2E58in1CL-B0f5MSM-wHyWHvKT5QgQUEkrkmhTeVY5FUy3qhHGkmpD7G0cFP3ONw3XaDLq5p0xP8GK5JbFeZN53VAiCfQwPxJNpuIBGV4yN5YHdrxJatjUZ2X0/w225-h400/touchless%20button.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Touchless elevator pad</td></tr></tbody></table>In contrast to the report, which focuses on the worst cases,
I found people trying to live a normal life. Some professors have left Hong
Kong because of the political situation and the National Security Law, but it
has not been a mass exodus. <a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2022/08/12/over-113000-residents-left-city-in-12-months-as-hong-kong-sees-largest-mid-year-population-drop-on-record/" target="_blank">Recent statistics show 1.6% of HK’s population (116,000people) left HK</a> in the past 12 months (<a href="https://hongkongfp.com/2022/01/16/explainer-how-to-measure-hong-kongs-mass-exodus/" target="_blank">see here for more analysis</a> on emigration and Covid departures). Professors that remain try to continue teaching as before; since they taught
critical thinking and presented different sides of issues, and not one side, they see no need to change their approach. Especially because many courses
still have to be offered on Zoom, and so are recorded, teachers also warn
students to be cautious, but one colleague noted that some students do not
hesitate to talk about what they did in the protests, despite teachers' warnings.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One friend, who had been quite supportive of the protests
when I saw him three years ago (and probably would still be considered
“yellow”), has traveled to the UK for work and commented that the Hong Kong
friends who have emigrated are, in his view, overly negative on Hong Kong. It seems
everyone needs to justify their choice: those who stay say it is not so bad,
those who left emphasize how much it’s changed and how bad it’s become.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now that the protests have been suppressed, perhaps it is
easier to add some nuance, and not see them in simple bipolar terms of good
versus evil, or democracy versus autocracy. Already in 2020, a special section
in the anthropology journal <a href="https://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/issue/view/hau10.2" target="_blank">HAU (issue 10[2])</a> offered some nuance on the protests. Many of the protesters were xenophobic and
anti-Mainland Chinese, and a large number loved Trump (because of his
anti-China stance). And though authorities will not admit it (because they
“won”), much of the violence was caused by the government’s intransigence and by
the police. The violence from a minority of the protesters probably doomed the
protest movement.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I can see that people who, for family or work or other
reasons cannot or do not want to emigrate, are coming to terms with the new
reality. One Chinese friend (who is my age and who had emigrated to Australia in
the 1990s to get his citizenship and then returned to Hong Kong) was surprised
that his sons’ friends all supported the protests. He is relatively moderate and sympathized with aspects of the protests,
but the protest movement appealed especially to youths. Yet, neither he, nor
his sons (who graduated from university in Australia) are considering moving to
Australia. My friend said he is disgusted with the “Mainlandization” of the
government, with officials now speaking like CCP officials. He commented that because they did not do so right after 1997, when perhaps it could have been
logical to make such a change, the patriotic language and public service
announcements on TV in 2022 are quite jarring. But he’s not leaving.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Another young friend, educated in the US, complained bitterly of the government bureaucracy and rigidity with Covid regulations, but he admitted he would not leave Hong Kong, because his skills and bilingualism are only an advantage in Hong Kong.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The fact is, we all live in flawed societies. I live in a
city that still has a gaping racial divide, where White kids in the suburbs go
to excellent public and private schools while Black kids in north St Louis go
to schools that in the recent past <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2019-03-29/after-12-years-away-st-louis-school-board-gets-ready-to-regain-control" target="_blank">were so bad that the state had to take themover</a>. Guns are so common that I sometimes hear shots fired at night. On the social network NextDoor, I read last
week that two teenagers drove up to a gas station near my neighborhood, and one
of them jumped into a car and stole it (<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/videos/watch-now-surveillance-video-of-vehicle-stolen-from-amoco-on-skinker/video_684f7f6d-8e2f-59f0-b59e-bfd96aee73ce.html" target="_blank">here is a video of a similar incident </a>at the same station). One of the first replies on NextDoor
was that the owner should have had a gun! (Right, so she could shoot her own
car and perhaps kill the teenager and maybe some innocent person walking by.) Today
there was a mass <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63375659" target="_blank">shooting in a St Louis high school</a>: three dead, six injured. I
live in a country that is also entering a deeply xenophobic phase, where minorities
are attacked and immigrants who have worked here (usually also paid income
taxes) for decades have no path to citizenship. I live in a country where
supposedly intelligent people continue to assert, without any evidence, that
the 2020 election was stolen from Trump (despite the fact that Republicans did
well in all the other races). I live in a country that claims to be a democracy
and yet corporations and the wealthy can spend unlimited amounts in political
ads and lobbying (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/republican-dark-money.html" target="_blank">see e.g. Leonard Leo’s $1.6 billion fund</a>). And I live in a country where most
people are going to vote for their tribe (red or blue) rather than based on the
qualifications and policy proposals of candidates.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Americans like to think that the US is such a great country
that everyone wants to come here, but according to a report titled <a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Fredirect%2F21805d40-7c3b-4159-9b55-86139910d428%3Fr%3Drdbls&data=05%7C01%7C%7C9768e937c8224ce4d37b08dab0fa4585%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638016886226390107%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zDlC%2BY75maGQwKqfcQY244yAvvl7PRGvX4y8f4RNkjI%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #404040;">Caught in the Crossfire: Fears
of Chinese-American Scientists</span></i></a>, government harassment of scholars of Chinese descent has led to an exodus: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">“The China Initiative caused panic
and an exodus of senior academic researchers of Chinese descent in the US.” The
number who dropped their American academic or corporate affiliation in 2021 in
favor of a move back to a Chinese institution jumped by 23 percent over 2020.
In 2021, 1,500 Chinese scholars who were educated in the United States left to
go back to China."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many Americans seem to believe the political rhetoric that
the US is the greatest country in the world, and believe everyone wants to come
to America. In fact, the vast majority of people want to stay home close to family and friends, and most
refugees who come to America are driven out by violence and other problems at
home.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is easy, from the US, to imagine it is hard to live in an
authoritarian place like Hong Kong. Yet many Americans are perfectly willing to
retire to an autocracy like Dubai:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">A sunshine-filled city, Dubai offers an outstanding quality
of life for retirees. The city is famed for its friendly, multicultural
population and array of lifestyle experiences that put convenience at the
forefront – think on-demand home services and food delivery at the touch of a
button. (From <a href="https://www.visitdubai.com/en/retire-in-dubai" target="_blank">Retire in Dubai website</a>)</p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">Retire amid sunshine and cheap labor; all you need is
US$500,000 in the bank, and an income of at least US$60,000 per year. Why worry
about freedom?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The CECC report quotes an anonymous professor as saying “Hong
Kong has changed from an open society to one in which people are gripped by
fear. And the fear is encompassing.” This is certainly true for some. But most
people are not activists or directly involved in politics. It is startling to
realize that for many people, life seems to go on as before. Even if they are
not happy about the National Security Law, what can they do?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJTKX-QEEyhzcemZIltGod4ka6RHu9vGrnKmC5YzaA8s6UqCyhOAIRBl4Bo_gFnOvDQFyILHSU3IahKa7cZawW1oQGkS6V6MY3mNRAYaoZBkra4Mnte9ZFTY9Fxqrd-kbFsAQa695irEP4UP_ONUivg5HPZODgBhKVtYfIOhlG7bLXf464cw/s3840/Science%20park.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJTKX-QEEyhzcemZIltGod4ka6RHu9vGrnKmC5YzaA8s6UqCyhOAIRBl4Bo_gFnOvDQFyILHSU3IahKa7cZawW1oQGkS6V6MY3mNRAYaoZBkra4Mnte9ZFTY9Fxqrd-kbFsAQa695irEP4UP_ONUivg5HPZODgBhKVtYfIOhlG7bLXf464cw/s320/Science%20park.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Science Park: new buildings</td></tr></tbody></table>Because many people are carrying on as before, the changes
to Hong Kong will be gradual. Several people mentioned the way pro-Beijing
papers identify an issue or a person and then attack them in concert. That
riles up pro-Beijing supporters who add to the attacks online. That is how
Beijing tries to bring about change. It is a bit reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, though less intense (although it is plenty intense if you are the target). But most Hong Kong residents are not
involved in politics and do not fear being attacked. The authorities have
created a flag raising ceremony at schools, and added required patriotic
education, but I heard ways that people get around them (e.g. by assigning a
few Mainland students to attend on behalf of a department). Over time, these ritual may have an effect, or they may become empty rituals. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hong-kong-schools-chinese-national-anthem-flag-1511705" target="_blank">Beijing is making Hong Kong students sing the national anthem</a>; Americans sing the national anthem before all sports events. Does it have an
effect?<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People get used to almost anything. My sense is that people
in Hong Kong will adapt. Like many in China, they will continue to hope that
the government will reform, will open up. They will push at the margins; no
street protests, but passive resistance, like the non-compliance with scanning the
QR code in entering buildings. Hong Kong survived fairly draconian crackdowns
under the British. Many hope it will survive this round of crackdowns, too.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-64989022907944047452022-10-06T03:56:00.021-05:002022-10-06T05:18:19.645-05:00Back in Hong Kong<p>This entry is about details of travel to Hong Kong, and
about airport/airline efficiency, and may be of limited interest to readers, since it is written mostly to record my experiences and to help me get over jet-lag. Mostly
“1<sup>st</sup> World Problems.” Feel free to skip it, unless you want the
details.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I came back to Hong Kong for a brief visit; I need to set foot
in the SAR at least once every three years to maintain my “permanent” resident
rights (this requirement only applies to “non-Chinese,” a concept that one
could write an article about—American-born Chinese technically are “non-Chinese”
because they are “born American” but in fact many manage to get the real
permanent ID). I was already looking into how to fly back to HK when the
government reduced the quarantine from three days in a hotel and four at home
to just three at home, so I quickly bought my ticket. The website was so busy
that I was not able get into the Cathay Pacific website to select my seats
until the following day.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGmK88Osk_MN4_U1Rt388z1y18ioK07rk7Cg-2QzMWhiZjiHPDiWNWYA_r5j8DegWcUoOYwyQi5LZpc8p4Mb7Ye7RDzf7WrSi5J7XqzdENTAttsbIXY7oVlSZqXePUUz_oLtXCM6v-vjvyVxolDf5_x0QadCggPi6U6FAqsM3MlLcxW59DlY/s1625/Repulse%20Bay.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1625" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikGmK88Osk_MN4_U1Rt388z1y18ioK07rk7Cg-2QzMWhiZjiHPDiWNWYA_r5j8DegWcUoOYwyQi5LZpc8p4Mb7Ye7RDzf7WrSi5J7XqzdENTAttsbIXY7oVlSZqXePUUz_oLtXCM6v-vjvyVxolDf5_x0QadCggPi6U6FAqsM3MlLcxW59DlY/w400-h225/Repulse%20Bay.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Repulse Bay</td></tr></tbody></table>I flew on Cathay Pacific because 1) my accumulated miles
would have expired on Dec. 31 if I did not fly a leg on the airline, 2) it was the
only direct flight from the US to HKG, 3) I like Cathay’s service (politeness
and efficiency—you’ll see below). But of course, Cathay does not fly to St
Louis, so I had to fly STL to LAX on a code-shared flight operated by American
Airlines (AA).<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>My flight was supposed to leave STL at 19:45, and at 15:45 I
got an email telling me my flight was on time. To make sure there were no
problems (and because CX was not able to assign me a seat on the first leg,
which was run by AA), I arrived at the airport more than 2 hours early. I tried
to check in at the kiosk, but it did not work. The attendant came over, also
tried, and then sent me to the service desk. No problem: I got two boarding
passes, one STL-LAX, and the other LAX-HKG. So far, pretty smooth (except that
CX does not participate in TSA PreCheck, so I had to do the shoes-off computer-out
routine).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_WxtTz2IvdD9WZiX7pyh4IZmGgWQHCpd6FDELwykYoUZoJFu0_0kVDWO59h1gxB0S7vs2ykUL8laT3NttqspY6cdFtNYfM2sR7dUQLsvh5FC0kM4PYY-IYgome9kM4f-u4HsEJtpjDQPImFkxEQLjs1U6CzvsIt4opkS8luYYM1dHqdBlAw/s1824/New%20seat%2017D.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_WxtTz2IvdD9WZiX7pyh4IZmGgWQHCpd6FDELwykYoUZoJFu0_0kVDWO59h1gxB0S7vs2ykUL8laT3NttqspY6cdFtNYfM2sR7dUQLsvh5FC0kM4PYY-IYgome9kM4f-u4HsEJtpjDQPImFkxEQLjs1U6CzvsIt4opkS8luYYM1dHqdBlAw/w236-h400/New%20seat%2017D.png" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Change or no change?</td></tr></tbody></table>Shortly after I got to my gate, C6, I thought to check where
my plane was. My Flight Aware app then told me that my flight was going to be two
hours late, but there was no indication on the monitor. Finally, about a half
hour later, the monitor indicated the late departure, but it said we would only
be 1:15 hr late, leaving at 21:00. But an email they sent at 18:02 said that we
would depart at 20:29. (Before that email arrived, they sent me at 17:34 an email
that my seat had changed from 17D to 17D—yes, that is not a typo! See
screenshot.) Since I had a three hour layover, I was not too worried. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">At
20:26, they said they would start boarding in four minutes, so I got up and went
to the restroom, about 30 yards up the hallway. When I came back a few minutes
later, I was stunned to see that gate C6 was completely empty! Everyone had
left, and the monitors at gate C6 still had my flight to LAX displayed.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I knew there was no way everyone boarded the plane that
quickly, so I looked around, and I could see a family that had sat next to me was walking
down the corridor. It turned out AA had changed our gate to C10. I got there
after everyone had found places to sit, and so decided to stand, thinking we
were about to board, but it took another 30 minutes, because people had to get
off the airplane first, and then they had to clean it. All this time, there was
not a single announcement about what was going on. The only announcements were
that there was only space for 45 roller bags, and so everyone in groups 7-9 had
better check them in now, to avoid further delaying our flight.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, at about 21:00, they asked us to board. I got in my
group (#4 of 9!) and once we were in the jetway, we just stopped. We waited in
line in the jetway for 10-15 minutes. I heard staff in the front talking, asking passengers if
the jetway was full, if people were still coming. One passenger went up and
asked the staff woman at the head of the jetway and I heard them saying
something about the pilot not having enough hours left to complete the flight.
She sent an assistant to get a wheelchair (oh no, are we now disembarking the wheel-chair
assisted passengers who are already on the plane?!) but just as the assistant was
returning with the wheelchair, the staff woman said we could board, and told
her assistant she did not need the wheelchair. Whew!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Again, at no point did they announce what was going on. By
now it was getting to 21:40, and I was worried about making my connection. The
flight was scheduled to be 3:50 hrs, so would land around 23:30 LA time, and my
CX flight was supposed to board at 23:50.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The flight itself was fine. I did, however, ask a flight attendant
if they would make an announcement to ask passengers to let travelers with
tight connections get off first, and she replied that they can do it, but that
it depends on whether other passengers will cooperate. In my mind, I was
thinking that passenger cooperation depends a lot on how the announcement is
phrased, but, whatever. In fact, however, they did not make any announcement. I
timed the disembarkation: the plane doors opened at 23:13, and I got off at
23:18 (since I was in row 17). Not bad. But again, pretty poor service. I’ve
noticed AA does this; they seem to agree to do things to get a customer off
their back, but then don’t follow through.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was worried I would have to go through security again to
get to the international terminal (like at Chicago’s ORD), which could take time since I did not have TSA PreCheck, but I did not, so I arrived to my CX flight gate with plenty of time. I was astonished to see
that Cathay did not use the boarding passes for boarding the airplane: they
used face recognition. You can see in the video below. Passengers are told to step
on two green footprints on the ground and look at the monitor. The program
identifies the face and then turns green and opens the gate. I was shocked that they used it, and that it seemed to work. In
my case, the screen did not recognize me; it said to take off my mask (it was already
off! Did they want me to take off my beard?) or see an attendant. The attendant
was very patient as she dealt with me, and with a French passenger who had done something wrong with his quarantine statement and might not be allowed to
board. She multitasked, and calmed him down, and took care of my my problem. I
think the issue was that I had bought the ticket using my passport, but had
submitted the quarantine information using my HK ID. After showing the ground
staff my passport, ID and green quarantine QR code, she told me I was being
upgraded to business class and gave me a new boarding pass, which I did not
need to use, because now the computer recognized my face. I do wonder what
picture(s) they have of me. And why are they doing this? Are people sneaking
into Hong Kong with fake documents? One thing is for sure: this does remind every
traveler to Hong Kong that Big Brother knows what you are doing. On the other hand, it is not just Hong Kong; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/travel/customs-kiosks-facial-recognition.html?referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank">today's NY Times has an article</a> that says of the US, "Around 85 percent of the 221,000 daily visitors arriving from abroad are now verified by face, according to C.B.P. [Customs and Border Patrol] officials." In fact, it may be the US that wants Cathay Pacific to use facial recognition, not Hong Kong!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwY5mKRUQUD5Z0_lpNpN8b8HXdIps6ivhmnf7JtnIWO_qqqcFL9ORTMaFmeVEVHgB1vVVBlFIYL_M0' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">It is not fair to compare economy class on AA to business
class on CX, but I do want to point out that my reading light on the AA flight
did not work (it was not that they were all off; the reading light over the boy
at the window seat did work). Not everything on my CX flight was perfect; if I
plugged in my phone charger, the headphones had a loud buzz. But I have to say
that the Airbus 350-1000 was so quiet that I could hear people near me crinkling
a bag of potato chips or the flimsy water bottles; the crinkling made an
annoyingly loud noise. (OK, now we are really descending in 1<sup>st</sup> World
Problems.) In a moment of boredom, I decided to measure the background sound of
the airplane, and it was only 70-71 db, which the app says is the sound of
traffic. (<a href="https://www.iacacoustics.com/blog-full/comparative-examples-of-noise-levels " target="_blank">For comparison, “Conversation in restaurant, office, background music”</a>
are 60 db, which is half as loud as 70 db, and a garbage disposal is 80 db [twice
as loud, though that would depend on the model; <a href="https://insinkerator.emerson.com/en-ca/insinkerator-products/garbage-disposals/quiet-series" target="_blank">see quiet Insinkerators here</a>]).
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hong Kong still tests everyone arriving in the SAR. There
are temporary stations set up in the airport arrival hallway, with plenty of
people directing passengers. At the first station, I was given a green lanyard
with a green card with a bar code on it (there were twelve desks for this, and
the entire procedure of submitting travel document and receiving the lanyard
took half a minute. Then I went to the next station, where there are over 30 cubicle’s
separated by temporary sheets, like in a hospital. I sat down, pulled my mask
down, and they took a sample from both nostrils with one medical swab and a
sample from the throat with a second swab (the first one did not go that deep,
but the second one nearly made me gag). Then I was given the samples in a bag
(I don’t remember whether there were two vials or only one) and I went further
down the hall and handed them to another team that took them, and scanned the bar code.
And I was done! Granted, I was among the first off the plane, but there were so
many stations and so many helpers, I’m sure everyone got through very quickly.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Efficiency in moving people is one thing that Hong Kong excels
in. The plane touched down at 5:55 am, and I got off the plane at about 6:05. I
was at the luggage claim area by 6:19, and that includes taking a train from
the far end of the terminal to the arrivals area (and a 5 minute wait for the
train). The luggage came out right away (I’ve never understood why it is so
fast in this enormous airport, and so slow in STL, which is very small). I was
in a taxi on my way to my friend’s apartment at 6:40. Amazing: 45 minutes from wheels
on the ground to in taxi, even with all the quarantine protocols.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And I received a text that my covid test was negative at 10:10. I now have to do a rapid test daily, for seven days, and go to a health center for a PCR test in two, four, and six days. It seems a bit extreme (especially doing a rapid and PCR test on the same day) but Hong Kong authorities can be a bit enthusiastic about safety. I've always wondered how many people actually get injured on escalators, because in Hong Kong (including today in the airport), there are announcements that say "Please hold the handrail and don't walk." Not "Stand on the right and walk on the left" as in the Taipei subway system.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgPYEk2O-ESyOyLxvUl3-fRVJQJrlbjaUUxM4OndDYZohOODJHlCVj2BWFr-LpPHJmKyxCFaVnEQnEt5sIf7acddpB2Lbiu4jOidqLcog6DM28AVQHYuaNnuG6XiIpuTJh7Ueuk5O1vbbhNvZWVSNnPWZRcZzeSC5-rpwxO1jSZjApyYx8jY/s603/taxi%20information%20sheet%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="475" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGgPYEk2O-ESyOyLxvUl3-fRVJQJrlbjaUUxM4OndDYZohOODJHlCVj2BWFr-LpPHJmKyxCFaVnEQnEt5sIf7acddpB2Lbiu4jOidqLcog6DM28AVQHYuaNnuG6XiIpuTJh7Ueuk5O1vbbhNvZWVSNnPWZRcZzeSC5-rpwxO1jSZjApyYx8jY/s320/taxi%20information%20sheet%20(2).jpg" width="252" /></a></div>One thing that Hong Kong does is load 8 taxis at once. The
taxis pull up in 8 spots, and staff guide passengers from the single queue to
load at the 8 spots, so people don’t have to wait as long. After experiencing
the HK system, I get impatient when I go to other airports and I have to watch
one or at most 3 people get into their taxi, while we just wait. When you are
as crowded as Hong Kong is, you develop tools to move crowds more quickly and
efficiently. The assistants even ask you where you are going, and give you a “Taxi
information card” with an estimate of what it should cost, to help avoid
cheating. (I noticed that I paid a $3 “Airport fee” on my Uber ride to the STL
airport, but I don’t see that I got anything from that; it looks more like a
troll fee).<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t mean to complain. It is a thrill to be able to
travel again. And when you are in a place, you read and learn about things you
would never hear about while outside HK, because there, you are paying attention to a different place's local news. The SCMP (which I don’t usually trust, but often does
have interesting information) has an article about Beijing’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs asking all HK consulates to provide a list of their properties
in Hong Kong, and when and how they bought it. Apparently, many consulates have
ignored the missive, which had a Sept. 22 deadline. Most consulates declined to
comment, so this part of the article caught my attention:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">A former Asian diplomat said the
request was ‘clumsy’ and could be ‘counterproductive’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">‘I think it is probably to
intimidate and unsettle the diplomatic community and as a not-so-gentle reminder
that Hong Kong’s boundaries of acceptable conduct by diplomats have changed.’ The
envoy said. ‘I doubt it will work—those very few, mainly Western consulates,
inclined to behave in the way the Chinese fear are not going to stop supporting
‘democracy’ or calling out Chinese violations of human rights in Hong Kong,
while the majority of consulates who never had any intention of doing so will
just get irritated.’ (Ng Kang-chung and Jeffie Lam, “Beijing seeks details on
HK assets owned by consulates.” Oct. 6, 2022, p. A3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Ge89Slyuui0k11Qc4myjdSu2yFAF2sdwTcJu-cLrGgjodGS8t0ug08eZw32_EiIoZ7fFPQjvg3TPCJQA83YvpmR1CcJ1WAuxdI-cqD-gCR-9ZizwbdbUfHfuYsJuIFPn_1S2cMgXqoErANK9sl8a0ixBN7Qa0C-e2DTqiYUHIkYbb-l7fEM/s3840/taxi.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Ge89Slyuui0k11Qc4myjdSu2yFAF2sdwTcJu-cLrGgjodGS8t0ug08eZw32_EiIoZ7fFPQjvg3TPCJQA83YvpmR1CcJ1WAuxdI-cqD-gCR-9ZizwbdbUfHfuYsJuIFPn_1S2cMgXqoErANK9sl8a0ixBN7Qa0C-e2DTqiYUHIkYbb-l7fEM/w400-h225/taxi.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">HK taxi, with multiple phones, and sanitizer. Orange box is air purifier.</span> </td></tr></tbody></table>The article right next to it (“Slight increase in arrivals
since easing of restrictions” by Rachel Yeo) notes that on Oct. 3, 768 tourists
arrived in Hong Kong, and 471 left (this would not include me, since I enter
with a HK ID). On January 24, 2020, before the coronavirus crisis, 22,872
visitors arrived. The article concludes with an economist saying that <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">It is possible to see air passenger
capacity rebounding around 10 per cent at the moment to 30 percent of the
pre-pandemic level by year-end. Still, there is a long way to go for Hong Kong
to catch up as Singapore will reach 80 per cent soon. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hong Kong is always competing with Singapore. And now, the
terms of the competition are much less in its favor.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-38790966863945320192022-08-22T23:11:00.002-05:002022-08-22T23:11:27.146-05:00On Migrants and Immigration<p>I often wonder what later generations will “see” as
obviously irrational, immoral, or unjust practices in our culture, and ask
themselves how we could have accepted these, the way we look back at enslavers
today. Some are obvious: even before I die, expect my grandchildren to ask me
why we were so careless in burning carbon, what with all the airplanes, heating
and air conditioning, and big cars. Some people argue that future generations
will look in horror at our carnivorous practices; I’m skeptical, though I
assume we’ll eat a lot less meat, especially beef.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I was fascinated to hear <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-mohsin-hamid.html" target="_blank">Mohsin Hamid on the Ezra KleinShow podcast </a>say that he thought we today are as barbaric today for preventing migration ("enforcing
the limits of geography on people’s lives") as slaveholders were for enforcing birth
hierarchies 150 years ago. He points out that humans, like all animals,
migrate. In fact, the enforcement of borders is actually fairly new.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">[N]one of us are, in a sense,
indigenous to where we live.… [W]herever we are, in a sense, we are migrants.
And up until quite recently, this idea of the nation-state with such impermeable
borders and passports and this entire mechanism didn’t exist. Of course, there
were tribes that wouldn’t let members of other tribes live among them. There
were wars, there were all kinds of things. But the human record is of movement,
incredible amounts of movement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Europeans migrated to the New World with almost no
restrictions until the early 20<sup>th</sup> century. The Qing dynasty tried to
prevent Chinese from moving to Taiwan and the Philippines in the 17th century,
but pretty much failed. But today, Hamid notes, we have governments attempting
to use industrial technology to stop any movement. He continues:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">And I think that, while I fully
understand and can empathize with the idea that, well, if we let everybody
come, it will change everything and we can’t do that, I can understand that.
And there needs to be some navigation of how do we manage this tussle of what
those who wish to move and those who do not wish others to move to where they
are, how do we manage the balance between those two things.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">But what I think is very stark is
that it cannot be that the moral right is simply to say that people mustn’t
move, they are criminal if they move, they should be criminalized if they move,
because in a world where there will be, I think, enormous flows of people, due
to climate change and environmental disruption, but also wars and other things,
if we say to people that they just can’t move, we’re, in a sense, handing out
death sentences to millions and millions of our fellow human beings. If you
can’t leave a country where there’s a war underway and where people of your
particular group are being killed, or if you can’t leave a country where there
is enormous starvation and crops have failed, we are basically deciding that
these people now need to die.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">And for me, that decision should be
revealed in its correct moral complexion, which is to say it isn’t the person
who wishes to move who is the criminal here. If somebody is drowning and we can
help them and we don’t, it’s not the person who drowns that is the criminal
here. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The same day that I heard this podcast interview, I also heard
<a href=" https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/npr-immigration-perceptions-august-2022" target="_blank">news from an IPSOS poll</a> that Americans are very misinformed about immigration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Over half of American adults
believe it is either completely or somewhat true that the U.S. is experiencing
an invasion at the southern border, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.
Moreover, half believe there is at least some truth to the view that migrants
bringing fentanyl and other illegal drugs over the southern border are
responsible for the increases of overdoses in the U.S.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The idea of an “invasion” is hyperbole at best, and the migrants
are not bringing drugs, but trying to save themselves. Though half of all respondents believe migrants
are smuggling drugs, Republicans who watch Fox are most likely to believe this
(89%), compared to 64% of Republicans get their news elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The survey also shows that support for giving citizenship to
Dreamers (people brought to the US by their parents as children) has fallen
from 65% in January 2018 to 51% today. And “Fewer Americans today (56%) believe
that immigrants are an important part of our American identity than in January
2018 (75%).” This represents a significant rightward tilt in the country. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll admit I’m biased; I am the child of immigrants. My father’s family migrated to the US
in 1920. My mother survived Allied bombing near Argenta, in Emilia-Romagna, and
relied on distant relatives and strangers to survive. Her beloved great aunt,
virtually her only relative on her father’s side, was killed in a bomb shelter
in Ferrara. She always said that in wars, everyone suffers. My parents taught me that refugees needed help and that we should help them. They lived those values by sponsoring a family of Vietnamese refugees in 1979. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In another coincidence, this week I also heard <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/i-was-a-stranger-and-you-welcomed-me" target="_blank">Malcolm Gladwell’s
last podcast of the 7<sup>th</sup> season, “I Was A Stranger and You Welcomed
Me,”</a> which tells the story of how his parents and their friends sponsored three
Vietnamese refugees in 1979 (I highly recommend listening to this podcast; excellent, as usual). He makes the
point that many people contributed to the effort, and there was little or no organization;
many of the people Gladwell assembles for his interview were not aware of who
did what or how things got done. It was all a series of small acts of kindness.
No bravery was necessary; like the “Good Samaritan” of the Bible, who does not
fight off hoodums or sneak the injured man past a military checkpoint, but just
tends his wounds and pays an innkeeper to restore him to strength, a number of
people donated money and time to help refugees start a new life in Canada.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The group in Canada was in part motivated by their Christian
faith, and the podcast has them reciting these verses from Matthew 25:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was
naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in
prison and you visited me.<o:p></o:p></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have to wonder at these people who consider themselves
Christians, or even "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_nationalism" target="_blank">Christian Nationalists</a>," and yet spread misinformation about migrants at the border, and are able to turn their backs on their suffering. And I
worry that the poll shows this country is turning Rightward, becoming more intolerant and
fearful. What will our grandchildren say?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-11986659298087387152022-08-14T17:33:00.000-05:002022-08-14T17:33:27.161-05:00Observations on Working as an Election Judge on the Aug. 2nd Primary<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAejhKfwVRK6ie9EVmp-na7yhqTVYBemB3MMRmMsokAtI3mnOanzQl2vdaSc6RBD5UDS3iYr2lQ4aRKwFAdQVaxnE7MWkwORI6_fIPky5qZ1iAZG8QPE947NuvgZhyJsnsngsCOPnOIODAbV0lbtF7k9NTPzVIZCdjkAxK302cRpGxS2pQO0/s1250/I%20voted%20STLC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="1243" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieAejhKfwVRK6ie9EVmp-na7yhqTVYBemB3MMRmMsokAtI3mnOanzQl2vdaSc6RBD5UDS3iYr2lQ4aRKwFAdQVaxnE7MWkwORI6_fIPky5qZ1iAZG8QPE947NuvgZhyJsnsngsCOPnOIODAbV0lbtF7k9NTPzVIZCdjkAxK302cRpGxS2pQO0/w199-h200/I%20voted%20STLC.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>The people who serve as election judges work part time, only
on election days. Most are retired; a few are elderly, some are stay-at-home
moms. I worked with a woman, who I’ll call Pam, who has lived over 50 years in
the neighborhood, and knew many of the people who came to vote. She herself was a Republican, but many who came to vote requested the Democratic ballto. They would say
they wanted to go to Pam, so would wait until her position was open. Neighbors,
fellow church members, and even her daughter came to vote at her station.
Later, while fellow election judges were teasing her about knowing so many voters,
she mentioned she also knew the man who had just come in. Pam said to him,
“Your wife came earlier.” Him: “Yes, I heard.” I later figured out he was her
son-in-law! My colleague was the nicest, kindest person, and wore a perpetual
smile. I’m sure she made a good impression on most voters.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Earlier, while we waited for polls to open, I spoke with
another judge I had met working the local election last April. He told me that
he once worked in polling a place where everyone was very nasty. He said if the
manager saw a voter lingering “too long” at a check-in station, he would yell,
“What’s going on there!” That is ridiculous because it is not uncommon for
there to be an issue with the voter’s ID or registration. He said another
station was staffed by two older and very short ladies who were not visible to
voters in line, because they were so short and hidden behind the poll-pad and
printers. They would yell, “NEXT!” and get angry that voters did not step forward, but he said people could not even tell where the voice
was coming from. He says he told the Election Board that he would not serve if
he had to go back there. That is how he’s ended up at my location.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We ourselves had one new election judge who was described by
a voter as “alarmingly perky.” She said “HELLO!” and “WELCOME!” to everyone who
entered as if they were long-lost friends, and was always laughing and smiling.
She was very pro-active and helpful, but sometimes intervened where she was not
needed and thus complicated matters (like causing a queue for us to print out
ballots, which can cause problems if we’re not careful to give the right ballot
to the right voter, because every voter’s ballot can be different, since the
county allows voters to vote at any polling place in the county.) But Miss Perky
was very organized and pro-active, and got us packed and ready to go home just
30 minutes after polls closed, by starting the tear-down process early and assigning
everyone tasks (though technically that was not really her job). It takes
informal leaders to make individualistic Americans work as a team.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Early in the morning, while I was managing the scanner (standing
aside so I could not see the ballot, but giving voters instructions on how to scan
their ballot: “Insert it in any direction, except sideways!”), a woman stood in
front of the scanner and called out, “How do I know that this machine is not
going to change my vote? Is it connected to the Internet?” I explained that it was
not connected, that we had to take a USB drive out and bring it to election
headquarters at the end of voting, and that the original ballots would be
available for checking. She continued on, saying that she knew that votes had
been changed by machines in other states, though not in Missouri. The
Republican judge working with me looked at me with her eyes open wide in shock,
and also added a few reassuring words to the voter, but after the voter left, she commented,
“Oh my goodness, some people….” She did not have to finish the sentence.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KpfAb_b69ICnCgwQ2u92RXU7bs7ynm0eiq7zdvt71Ev1wAOgLWg2vGwMf7Cl2YRd_aYVFQLVkCqCEIeb9DZEImAoQA0RE-njBSWglvpYfieZWLDjcwqZU-wiJvzNgu6cyVH0dA7v4pwmeGZfsjwMbNpq9LFst-A6lQ5u5IdCt3BDeQ9CZ_Q/s684/Breaking%20News%20I%20dont%20care%20t-shirt.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="684" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KpfAb_b69ICnCgwQ2u92RXU7bs7ynm0eiq7zdvt71Ev1wAOgLWg2vGwMf7Cl2YRd_aYVFQLVkCqCEIeb9DZEImAoQA0RE-njBSWglvpYfieZWLDjcwqZU-wiJvzNgu6cyVH0dA7v4pwmeGZfsjwMbNpq9LFst-A6lQ5u5IdCt3BDeQ9CZ_Q/w200-h159/Breaking%20News%20I%20dont%20care%20t-shirt.PNG" width="200" /></a></div>I was surprised by the number of people who complained that
we did not offer computer voting (that is, voting on a touch screen).
Sometimes, if I was not busy, I explained that this system was more secure,
because each voter marked the paper ballot which remained as a record, and a
machine scanned and counted the ballots, whereas the other system was viewed as
less secure because you voted on a machine which created a paper record that you could not see. About
five voters complained that we were going backwards, that this was not modern,
and at least two of them were registering for Republican ballots, which
surprised me since I would have thought Republicans would be in favor of more
ballot security. The most vociferous complainer was a man with a police shield
hanging on a chain around his neck, and a gun (looked like a Glock, but I don’t
really know guns) in his holster on his right side. He was not in uniform; in
fact, he was wearing an irreverent T-shirt that read “Breaking News: I Don’t
Care” which I found a bit disconcerting on a police officer with a gun. Guns
are not allowed in the polling area, but my Democratic manager claimed officers
wearing a badge were allowed to carry a gun at all times and everywhere. He
said that in any case, he does not argue with police. I told him I was not arguing
with the police, but that was why I raised it with him.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Very few people tried to vote with anything but a driver’s
license. I saw one woman vote with a Wisconsin driver’s license; I don’t really
understand why that is legal, since to get a Wisconsin license, you need to be
a Wisconsin resident, but to vote in Missouri you need to be a resident of
Missouri. That issue is above my pay grade. Nobody tried to vote with a bank or
utility statement, which is still allowed. I saw two people vote with a paper
“Board of Elections ID” which did not have a photo on it; we had to tell them
that in the November election, they would not be allowed to use that as a form
of ID. Both of them knew that already, suggesting they were choosing not to use
their driver’s licenses, for whatever reason. The state legislature has made
voting “safer” according to Republicans, or “more difficult” according to
Democrats, by requiring a photo ID.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One woman very apologetically said she was going to cause us
trouble, and pulled out a “safe voter” ID. She said she did not know how it
would work since this was the first time she tried to vote with it. This is for
voters who need to hide their residence from stalkers or estranged partners. I
had actually just learned how to handle this type of voter by reviewing the
training video the day before, and it was no problem. The video said that there
were less than 100 such IDs in St Louis County, but that it was good to know
about it just in case. That turned out to be true. I was glad to be able to tell—and
show—this voter that it was not a problem.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the more disappointing cases was of an elegant
African-American woman, perhaps 25-30 years of age, first said she wanted a
Democratic ballot, which we printed for her. Most minorities picked the Democratic
ballot (except the Vietnamese, who all chose Republican), so thus far, she fit
a stereotype. But then before she had even left our desk, said, “Wait, I want
to vote for Vicky, because she is the only candidate I know, but I don’t know
what party she is in.” She also did not know Vicky’s full name. We established
that she meant a senate candidate, and so it must have been Vicky Hartzler. So
we spoiled the Democratic ballot, and printed a Republican ballot for her. She
brought to mind the criticisms of people like Walter Lippman that most people
are not smart enough to know how to vote. I wonder what made her want to vote
for “Vicky,” and how well informed she was of Vicky’s extremely conservative
views, given that she did not even know what party she belonged to. Ignorant
voters like this make decisions based on media images rather than policies, and
can tip election results in our closely balanced and very polarized electorate.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpJSNdCcthj4xCHJRJFwQlvt0Dnl6G9IAM6X2s-fnovb3JhJgRiOwYgKXsb_7Bfs2j7VU69cd20TBTTvG_zVQZZ0hlabfDJG664rQmZuEUqN4TOfMd8XNN4kVWymqvhIoOix0qlzzrvJEDojmfAsBrU76Uf4_7lF5C8ShfUsTllnKDUYlcqk/s580/Trump-Lost-Get-Over-It-Snowflake-T-Shirt.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="580" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpJSNdCcthj4xCHJRJFwQlvt0Dnl6G9IAM6X2s-fnovb3JhJgRiOwYgKXsb_7Bfs2j7VU69cd20TBTTvG_zVQZZ0hlabfDJG664rQmZuEUqN4TOfMd8XNN4kVWymqvhIoOix0qlzzrvJEDojmfAsBrU76Uf4_7lF5C8ShfUsTllnKDUYlcqk/w200-h166/Trump-Lost-Get-Over-It-Snowflake-T-Shirt.PNG" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Voters are also not allowed to wear clothes or hats that
promote a candidate or party. At one point, while we were putting up a sign on
our door and could see outside, we saw a man approaching with a t-shirt that
said “Trump Lost” in large bold letters. We had a quick discussion and decided
that since Trump was not on the ballot, that shirt was not a form of prohibited
electioneering.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Voters have to sign on an electronic screen with a soft tip
on a pen, and use the other end of the pen—a black ball-point—to mark the
ballot. Nearly everyone finds this confusing. They use the wrong end to try to
sign, and then they can’t figure out that you need to twist the pen to get the
ball-point to come out. And nearly everyone feels foolish for being confused.
It is a classic example of something that is easy once you know it, but can
fluster you the first time. Fortunately, all of us judges were patient with the
voters; I suppose we’ve also been there, done that. Nearly everyone leaves the
process embarrassed.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qfgTAcqdln7aHQPoRXYgvQVY1NROIiUZON0vCQkkDaLpMCxjqK2Y2ZDz5ugt-a9IkUpvJB0O3eCS3rPqjpbomQgl5wuI4gItPwcAFXiCgE1L1L80__SxzqkskATqzo26Cu1gAgbtaBvmoBcL31XCWhdalo4SSXh1sO7viHie3dZyBKuDXXs/s2645/Pen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="2645" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6qfgTAcqdln7aHQPoRXYgvQVY1NROIiUZON0vCQkkDaLpMCxjqK2Y2ZDz5ugt-a9IkUpvJB0O3eCS3rPqjpbomQgl5wuI4gItPwcAFXiCgE1L1L80__SxzqkskATqzo26Cu1gAgbtaBvmoBcL31XCWhdalo4SSXh1sO7viHie3dZyBKuDXXs/s320/Pen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The county results for both parties mirrored results across
the state. No major surprises. The beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine won the
Democratic nomination for senator, despite not debating her main opponent or
taking any press interviews. St Louis Public Radio made the Democratic primary
look like a three-way race between Valentine, Kunce and Toder, but Spencer
Toder did not raise much money and ended up getting less than 5% of the vote.
It is clear that the Democratic Party establishment mostly was alarmed by Lucas
Kunce’s populism and thus got behind Valentine, even though many commentators
noted that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/06/20/he-man-politics/" target="_blank">only someone like Kunce has a chance in Missouri</a>. Now, no one thinks
the Missouri senate seat is in play.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the Republican Senate primary, the establishment also
worried that Eric Greitens (who is always described as “the disgraced
governor”) would win the primary but be unable to win what should be a safe Republican
seat. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/02/eric-greitens-attempted-comeback-00049388" target="_blank">A PAC was formed to attack him</a>, and polling showed that within one week
of the PAC starting to show TV ads highlighting his ex-wife’s claims of
physical and mental abuse, his numbers tanked. Eric Schmitt, who <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2021/05/18/missouri-attorney-general-serves-chinese-communist-party-wuhan-institute-of-virology-in-covid-19-lawsuit" target="_blank">filed aquixotic suit against China for causing COVID</a> (in case you were wondering, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-missouri-cape-girardeau-d21087f6aa9ed088de0f58a042b142ee" target="_blank">it did not work</a>), and sued school districts who
tried require students to wear masks, was able to get a plurality of votes in a
crowded field. People who knew him 10 years ago say he is a good man, but to
win the Republican nomination he has had to veer far to the right, as can be
seen from his victory statement, where he still harps on fighting socialism and "Critical Race Theory." One of the more dispiriting criticisms against him is that he tried to create a logistics hub at the St Louis airport for trade with China--that is being portrayed as somehow being pro-China and disloyal. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U0iXB_KuJaHiGTPVVIQUfDDwBmkHJnjW3jeQzAAHegZNPJC31zqmAjt3UcqUNNGaz-BQx8EKWWPWL0MjFokByOb4ElHBgmR1zfAeHJSLXjJd1cEi5fzWBaLqsLk_X8UO5AhFIWIw5ALwavaGdiCePYayzUEOCVZaTDANFhuAB5nDN5E6BX0/s1239/Republ%20Pinner%20v%20Dogan.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="1239" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U0iXB_KuJaHiGTPVVIQUfDDwBmkHJnjW3jeQzAAHegZNPJC31zqmAjt3UcqUNNGaz-BQx8EKWWPWL0MjFokByOb4ElHBgmR1zfAeHJSLXjJd1cEi5fzWBaLqsLk_X8UO5AhFIWIw5ALwavaGdiCePYayzUEOCVZaTDANFhuAB5nDN5E6BX0/w400-h176/Republ%20Pinner%20v%20Dogan.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from KMOV news broadcast</td></tr></tbody></table>The only odd result on the Republican side was the loss by
veteran politician Shamed Dogan in the race for the nomination for St Louis
County Executive. He was defeated 44%-56% by a candidate who did not raise any
money or campaign, and who even Republican officials say they don’t know and have never met. <a href="https://www.kmov.com/2022/08/03/mystery-surrounds-st-louis-county-gop-primary-election-win/" target="_blank">This news report</a> expresses the surprise and mystery
over her victory, and notes that her blog indicates she believes there are microchips
in vaccines, and believes QAnon and global conspiracy theories. The obvious reason for the surprise result is race: Dogan is Black, and Pinner is White.
Amazingly, KMOV and other news reports fail to note this—maybe they don’t have to; everyone already
knows.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The best news from Missouri is that there are efforts to
change the primary system from a party primary to non-partisan primary, as has
been introduced in California and Washington state. That would make it less
necessary for candidates in each party to appeal to their vocal and most
committed fringe. In heavily Democratic areas like St Louis, the primary
effectively decides the winner. A non-partisan primary would take the two most
popular candidates of any party, and have them run against each other in the
general election. It would make both the primaries and the general elections
more interesting, more fair, and more representative of public opinion. In Election Judge training, they told us not to ask voters which ballot they want, but to turn the poll pad around so they can see the choice of parties, and they mark the poll pad with the stylus. They recommended doing this because many people don't like to have to announce what party they belong to. That suggests that a non-partisan primary would be popular with the public. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-90136762282074387362022-07-27T12:36:00.000-05:002022-07-27T12:36:39.807-05:00The July 26 Floods in STL<p>Many friends have reached out to check that we are OK, given
the news coverage of the flooding in St Louis, so I thought I’d write a bit
about our experience. (BTW, it is a sign of America's influence [hegemony?] that people from all over the world know about flooding in my city, but floods have to be very serious before we in the US hear about it.) (You can see some pictures from <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2022-07-26-st-louis-flood-rescues-live-updates-emergency" target="_blank">weather.com here</a> from the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/lsx/July262022Flooding" target="_blank">National Weather Service here</a>.)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First of all, I slept through the entire storm, which started
late at night. So either I sleep very soundly, or, more likely, the storm was
not very noisy. But I did wake up to find an emergency notice on my phone (which had not
rung because it was in “Do Not Disturb” mode) saying to stay home because of
flooding on many roads. My wife spent the day working from home.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Early in the morning, my wife had gone to the basement to
exercise, only to find water pouring from a small hole in the wall. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz91X7AW71mZFrszSPvvGvjHwkkYfe7hxxhQX42q6UVJKp1kKGyZkJ2x7dFpzGBDz3fF9hqXuKZKvE' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal">Our basement is not finished and has drains in the ground, so the water drained
out or collected in shallow puddles that we were able to clear out. At first, I
wanted to use a mop, but we don’t have one. Then we realized we have a “wet/dry
vac” (AKA “shop-vac”, which is a brand name--that company announced it was closing down in 2021,
but then <a href="https://www.pahomepage.com/top-news/new-buyer-of-shop-vac-announced/" target="_blank">was bought by a Chinese company</a>), which is like a vacuum cleaner that can pick up water. This is a pretty
standard American home appliance that I don’t think is very common in Asia. Worked
great.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXgwEHIVklkoe-KS0ABVcjy9cSr0gb2MIn9hV3Q48_nvlemXz6io2sEGNiVg3woRV7Vu7n2VcnmjKoSAx0CALPf6ZqBl7x08OVGCtlsZsfUaT2unv3Mlpvw93hb2SkxoZuvjdJqJdsvsq_gD64yNoI2G54OC2qFSqJaApaWW4_F70L07f72c/s633/Govt%20rain%20map.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="633" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXgwEHIVklkoe-KS0ABVcjy9cSr0gb2MIn9hV3Q48_nvlemXz6io2sEGNiVg3woRV7Vu7n2VcnmjKoSAx0CALPf6ZqBl7x08OVGCtlsZsfUaT2unv3Mlpvw93hb2SkxoZuvjdJqJdsvsq_gD64yNoI2G54OC2qFSqJaApaWW4_F70L07f72c/s320/Govt%20rain%20map.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>Our house is not in a flood-prone area, but when there is this
much water in the ground, some water can seep into the basement. While we were in the basement, I also heard
our sump pump go off for the first time ever; glad to know it actually works.
(Sump pumps are water pumps placed in the lowest place in a corner of the basement
to pump out into the back yard any extra water that collects from below). It
only stayed on for a few seconds. Since the previous owner’s sump pump had been
broken when we bought the house, and she had not noticed it, I was not sure we
even needed one, but I guess we do.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGpXOXJYslLhm6qYlM-pNRxF1ESorBkFVmpPOkUBq8aSKRnjcyOC-1cYU-5_XwSz2Y3RaJUqpke5RBmI-v9xX1WROnK8OfVkjSnpGxAsswLqPFkkatpmRzN1VtZqnQktATHXhPwr83urbMSVt0kUlXR4tlfk7yYo6gns6rqvPmPWuRH0jh1o/s775/map%20of%20train.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="775" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGpXOXJYslLhm6qYlM-pNRxF1ESorBkFVmpPOkUBq8aSKRnjcyOC-1cYU-5_XwSz2Y3RaJUqpke5RBmI-v9xX1WROnK8OfVkjSnpGxAsswLqPFkkatpmRzN1VtZqnQktATHXhPwr83urbMSVt0kUlXR4tlfk7yYo6gns6rqvPmPWuRH0jh1o/s320/map%20of%20train.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From www.weather.gov/lsx/July262022Flooding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Previous floods that I know of have occurred because of
rising rivers, with the rain and melting snows coming from much further north.
In this case, we were victims of a very strange weather pattern. You can read
more about it at <a href="https://www.weather.gov/lsx/July262022Flooding" target="_blank">the government weather website here</a>, but basically, the rain was trapped between weather patterns to the north
and south of us, so the rain, instead of passing through as a vertical band from west to
east as usual, became what they call a “train” (as in railroad train), with constant rain for over 6 hours. That is why we were dumped
with 6 to 12 inches of rain in about 15 hours. You can see the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/lsx/July262022Flooding" target="_blank">moving radar map at theweather.gov website</a>. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7aZoG6moMxEvodCjekeLHXhCmMXx5AQlNjR6tcraCTcEjVdF8zt8nGMu8x_M9_UosEjphRXr14gKfnc7TNZcTO-xdaaG1nJRaSTz6Tq4N5IY-o3LtFhnVXXmxM5n5mEe6qcDvUFuAA6rzROHBdQ1dzpwtFTQc2hGzpCrLD1cBerAf55OD64/s1134/Flooded%20MetroLink.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1134" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7aZoG6moMxEvodCjekeLHXhCmMXx5AQlNjR6tcraCTcEjVdF8zt8nGMu8x_M9_UosEjphRXr14gKfnc7TNZcTO-xdaaG1nJRaSTz6Tq4N5IY-o3LtFhnVXXmxM5n5mEe6qcDvUFuAA6rzROHBdQ1dzpwtFTQc2hGzpCrLD1cBerAf55OD64/w400-h270/Flooded%20MetroLink.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br />As always, it is the poorer neighborhoods that suffered
most. They tend to be in lower areas. And in our town, there is a river, River
Des Peres, that has been channeled and actually goes underground through Forest
Park. Except that with so much rain in such a short time, it could not drain
fast enough. It ended up filling the train track of the MetroLink, our subway
system.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEduJb-h3OgnVoBCRjncrRnD1Vg5CYoSOx2xyaBxTscCJtga8RIpbW1b0lqrBHTvr507DFPFT2M8u7zY0Q07VOIf1MM_0bKgKpTTxJX-whKpVCTx4X5bEYcyKRs5JekdYcaHyqWnWtA-ENUht6H0uBUaJwVa8bCzQPUg3y8d-FWIK1WuhaVs/s908/Flooded%20stop%20sign.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="633" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEEduJb-h3OgnVoBCRjncrRnD1Vg5CYoSOx2xyaBxTscCJtga8RIpbW1b0lqrBHTvr507DFPFT2M8u7zY0Q07VOIf1MM_0bKgKpTTxJX-whKpVCTx4X5bEYcyKRs5JekdYcaHyqWnWtA-ENUht6H0uBUaJwVa8bCzQPUg3y8d-FWIK1WuhaVs/w279-h400/Flooded%20stop%20sign.PNG" width="279" /></a></div><br />In another neighborhood nearby, the water reached up to a stop sign! The weather service said that we had the equivalent of all of July and August's rainfall in just one day, and of course we broke all records for precipitation. It may not be due to climate change, but it is not normal. So yes, we are fine. But maybe the earth is not.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0St. Louis, MO, USA38.6270025 -90.199404199999989-39.718652360168988 129.1755958 90 50.425595800000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-75050516097005013442022-07-24T16:15:00.002-05:002022-07-24T16:15:35.099-05:00Athletes Are not Heroes<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFSBKPutLAGN9wkSHa5eM0Gyg-obQIAOPSkVLJN4SwGvaAap_mhZgE91Dfa6mYqCgqL1hWlKxZEjF04g_cEjwSuiuSfDY13MraaWNt7A4wxnPuz8siEfBDRvAYuP7vgvaA5Saa9kntnpA9KVFTJsERCYLfc-BPcxu7ykrblVEqN_2dwLH9jGo/s3172/PXL_20220427_004733057.PANO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1672" data-original-width="3172" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFSBKPutLAGN9wkSHa5eM0Gyg-obQIAOPSkVLJN4SwGvaAap_mhZgE91Dfa6mYqCgqL1hWlKxZEjF04g_cEjwSuiuSfDY13MraaWNt7A4wxnPuz8siEfBDRvAYuP7vgvaA5Saa9kntnpA9KVFTJsERCYLfc-BPcxu7ykrblVEqN_2dwLH9jGo/w640-h338/PXL_20220427_004733057.PANO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />One of the impressive aspects of the St Louis Cardinals
baseball organization is their farm system, meaning the organization they have
in place to select, train and prepare their young players for the Major
Leagues. As a result, the Cardinals are never a bad team; they are not like the
Marlins or Cubs, who have sold all their good players once they win a
championship. Being consistently above average maintains fan interest in the
team: St Louis has been second or third in attendance in the National League in
most years, which is pretty good for a small-town market.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The Cardinals’ two stars, however, are actually on the team
as the result of trades. First baseman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Goldschmidt" target="_blank">Paul Goldschmidt</a> was traded from the
Arizona Diamondback in 2019, and 3<sup>rd</sup> baseman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Arenado" target="_blank">Nolan Arenado</a> came from
the Denver Rockies in 2021. They were both named to the All-Star game last
week, and are having phenomenal seasons. Goldschmidt is batting .333, and
Arenado .299. Both are outstanding defensive players, with Arenado making unbelievable off-balance throws all the way to
first base.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Equally important to me, both are humble and team players.
When <a href="https://www.kmov.com/2022/06/14/goldys-still-got-it-day-after-on-base-streak-ends-goldschmidt-carries-cards-comeback/" target="_blank">Goldschmidt had streaks</a> of 25 games with a hit and 46 games on base, he repeatedly told journalists that he did not care about these personal accolades
and that all that mattered was that the team won the game. Both seem to be team
players.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So it is with great sadness and disappointment that I <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-goldschmidt-arenado-wont-go-to-toronto-because-they-are-unvaccinated/article_a7c9f870-713c-59e3-9bb2-bcb016def499.html" target="_blank">read today</a> (<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/22953916/7505051609700501344#" target="_blank">also here</a>) that both Goldschmidt and Arenado will not be traveling with the team to
play against Toronto because they have not been vaccinated. Canada requires all
people who enter the country to show proof of vaccination. They will forfeit
their pay over those two games, but given their importance in producing runs
for the team (a desperate need for the team), they will sorely be missed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw2efbGp4i3W4AfpnX2BwBBZ2eHPV4604IGsyLxZvV0l4nu9LBJbseBtK95CvHKEgJ05OKbzng24Pc' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">But what disappoints me is not that the Cardinals will more likely
lose the games, but what it says about the players. The Cardinals did not give
an explanation for Goldschmidt’s vaccine refusal, but apparently he’s an
evangelical Christian, so perhaps he’s influenced by that community’s vaccine
skepticism (though <a href="https://hishuddle.com/2022/02/08/tommy-edman/" target="_blank">Tommy Edman is also an evangelical</a>, and is vaccinated). In Arenado’s case, the team president, John Mozoliak said Arenado <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/cardinals-announce-restricted-list-for-toronto-series" target="_blank">“was hoping to begin a family with his wife and for him it was a personal decision, and we honor that.”</a> Of course, there is no evidence that getting vaccinated against Covid has any effect on
fertility or a baby.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I believe in being civil and polite, so try to respect other
people’s opinions. But I always struggle with how to react to opinions that are
illogical and/or unscientific. I do realize that today’s scientific consensus
may turn out to be wrong, so we cannot be doctrinaire about science. But how
are we supposed to react to people who thumb their noses at not only at science,
but also at the rest of society, because by not being vaccinated, they undermine
“herd immunity.” They are making their bodies available for the Covid virus to
spread and mutate (hence Canada’s immigration rules). At what point do we start
condemning people for their irrational and anti-social beliefs?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They will both be penalized financially. <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/cardinals-announce-restricted-list-for-toronto-series" target="_blank">“Arenado will forfeit $384,615 of his $35 million annual salary for the two missed games, while Goldschmidt will lose $285,714 of a contract that pays him $26 million in2022.”</a> I respect people who stick to their
beliefs despite financial costs. But in this case, given that there is no
evidence to support their skepticism (but plenty of political misinformation
and pseudoscience), how do we balance respect for other people’s beliefs with
an insistence that the truth matters, and that social responsibility is
important?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My respect for the two of them has plummeted. This
is a reminder of why athletes are poor role models: they are lauded for
performance in a sport, and that has little or no bearing on other aspects of
life. They may be famous, but they are not heroes. They may even be
knuckleheads.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-19410712848521879142022-04-19T11:10:00.003-05:002022-04-19T12:52:47.397-05:00An Individualistic (and Ridiculous) Ruling on Masks<p> When I lived in Austria, my Hausfrau (landlady) would hear stories about America in the news and say, "<i>Nur in Amerika ist es möglich!</i>" (Only in America is this possible!) I remember she once used this expression when telling me that a local Austrian band that was touring the US was stiffed by their American promoter and had no money to come back home.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxIV5glfsfsRnfpypMzCa87yZSK3pBw_4hVYqnIRJoQr3Ia3EDlHDC6tjKUR4GsCk2LHITmTQyoUYQ5ketQjTeA8TS9sWg6iUzMuLVxSoZ8vsVT3I-jvp9t1QDPqXAtqTpGciV9VMyC1y0qZubLjaq6CBFko3ACLKoiJBSMfrMeZvcNJ6X4jI/s756/mask%20(2)small.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="756" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxIV5glfsfsRnfpypMzCa87yZSK3pBw_4hVYqnIRJoQr3Ia3EDlHDC6tjKUR4GsCk2LHITmTQyoUYQ5ketQjTeA8TS9sWg6iUzMuLVxSoZ8vsVT3I-jvp9t1QDPqXAtqTpGciV9VMyC1y0qZubLjaq6CBFko3ACLKoiJBSMfrMeZvcNJ6X4jI/s320/mask%20(2)small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I could not help but think of this expression when I read yesterday that a federal judge in Florida overturned the CDC’s mask mandate. There are three aspects of this story that make it unbelievable, and culturally significant.<p></p><p>1) The political. What kind of crazy country is this that a 35 year old judge, one appointed by then President Trump <i>after </i>he had lost the election, can declare that the nation's top health officials do not have the authority to require people to wear masks? Judge Mizelle had been <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal-judicial-nominee-lacks-enough-experience-aba-says-in-letter-explaining-not-qualified-rating" target="_blank">rated not qualified (for lack of experience) by the American Bar Association</a>, but she was rapidly confirmed by the Senate along party lines anyway. Our public health measures are decided by her? Republicans and the group that brought the lawsuit (Health Freedom Defense Fund) complain about unelected officials making rules (“Unelected officials cannot do whatever they like to our personal freedoms just because they claim good motives and a desirable goal”), but the judge was also not elected, and was named to the bench in a most unseemly manner, too.</p><p>2) Mask science: Opponents of mask mandates often say that wearing a mask should be voluntary. This misunderstands the science of masks, which shows that they primarily work to prevent sick people from spreading the virus, more than protecting the wearer from others who are sick (though it helps in that too). <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html" target="_blank">Here is the CDC’s current view</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Masks are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets by the wearer (“source control”), which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others (estimated to account for more than 50% of SARS-CoV-2 transmissions). </p></blockquote><p>Of course, masks alone are not the perfect protection, but they do work by reducing transmission.</p><p>3) Individualism. I have always bristled when Asians comment that Americans are individualistic, because Americans are also joiners and are not selfish, as is often implied. But in this case, I have to agree that it is American individualism that is distorting Americans’ understandings of masks. It has long been noted that the Sony Walkman was developed in Japan so listeners would not disturb others, while Americans bought the Walkman to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-walkman-forty-years-on" target="_blank">socially distance</a> (if you walk around with headphones on, no one will disturb you). The judge’s ruling that the <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/overview/history/public-health-service-act#:~:text=The%20Public%20Health%20Service%20Act,Institutes%20of%20Health%20(NIH)" target="_blank">Public Health Service Act of 1944</a> covers only “sanitation” and not “hygienic steps” like masks a) treats masks as an undue burden, and b) seems to prevent any public health measure. She's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/us/politics/federal-mask-mandate-airplanes.html" target="_blank">quoted in the NY Times as ruling</a>:</p><blockquote><p>“If Congress intended this definition, the power bestowed on the C.D.C. would be breathtaking,” she wrote. “And it certainly would not be limited to modest measures of ‘sanitation’ like masks.”</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>If the government’s broader interpretation of the agency’s powers were accurate, she added, the C.D.C. could require businesses to install air filtration systems, mandate that people take vaccines, or even require “coughing into elbows and daily multivitamins.” </p></blockquote><p>Of course, health authorities have required vaccines for decades. There is an individualistic, indeed, selfish, streak in her logic that is truly amazing to me.</p><p>It is shocking, and very disturbing to me, to see Americans unable to understand that wearing a mask is not primarily to protect yourself, but to protect others. This type of individualism is a dysfunctional, anti-social perspective, that when combined with a lack of scientific understanding of mask use, and a hyperpartisan political environment in which unqualified judges are named and then can make major decisions, bodes ill for the US. <i>Nur in Amerika ist es möglich!</i></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-27923179812543136272022-03-08T12:42:00.000-06:002022-03-08T12:42:00.253-06:00A Data Point in the History of Email <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSuYS3jcSTZaoK7_UmjjKwbiZmu0zGsAcfSEjbqvps-_PCbnHfYwUlC-00v182sAQgZYxP4eHpa6n6zh0Kj2p6IpKk9XrkmnJuGhFCvnWxG1TUkjeBNou1QqAJWmaJLP5NU8BnWgmd-sfkbvgGEebRilOP6LpV8X8OSlFmHd1i9fvUCvTlDa8=s665" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="665" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhSuYS3jcSTZaoK7_UmjjKwbiZmu0zGsAcfSEjbqvps-_PCbnHfYwUlC-00v182sAQgZYxP4eHpa6n6zh0Kj2p6IpKk9XrkmnJuGhFCvnWxG1TUkjeBNou1QqAJWmaJLP5NU8BnWgmd-sfkbvgGEebRilOP6LpV8X8OSlFmHd1i9fvUCvTlDa8=s320" width="320" /></a></div>I have been trying to cull files and get rid of "stuff," and came across a folder labeled "Letters" that began after my arrival in Hong Kong in August 1992, and interestingly ended with a copy of a fax I sent in October 1994. As I looked through this odd time-capsule-like folder, I realized that the reason the folder ended was that by 1995, almost all correspondence had switched to email. The few letters I received after that would have been filed under the specific topic; I no longer used airmail for regular correspondence, so the file folder went dormant. This file provides a date on when that shift occurred, a shift I was hardly aware was happening.<p></p><p>When I first started my administrative/post-doc job at the East Asian Institute of Columbia University in August 1989, I read about this new form of communication, electronic mail, and suggested to my boss that we should get it for our research project. Email turned out to be very helpful for planning a trip to Taiwan that December to study an election, because we could communicate very quickly with our colleagues in Taiwan on the itinerary and arrangements.</p><p>When I contacted the Information Technology people at Columbia that August to set up our email account, email was brand new. They told me that we had to put money into a non-refundable account in advance to cover the costs of email. I asked them how much it would cost per message, or per byte, and they said they did not know, so we initially put only $100 in the email account, and we thought we'd see about topping it up later, depending on how much it cost. Keep in mind that email in those days was not user-friendly; we had to learn all sorts of UNIX commands, and it only worked by logging into the mainframe computer from my office. But it was fast; because of the time-zone differences with Taiwan, we would get a reply overnight. </p><p>We were never approached by the Information Technology Dept. to top up our account. At the end of the year, I checked our budget to see how much we had spent: only $0.79. (Unfortunately, the Information Technology Dept. kept the remaining $99.21). For the next year, Columbia decided it was costing more to collect the money than it was worth, so email was free.</p><p>That was 1990. In my Letters folder, I found a September 1993 letter from the Assistant Director of the East Asian Institute at the time. She thanks me for mailing her some receipts from Hong Kong, then adds:</p><blockquote><p>I have resisted e-mail so far. I know that people love it, and it's convenient and cheap, but, but, but, people already have so many ways to get me. As it stands, there is phone mail, and regular mail, and people coming through the door at all hours of night and day, and messages, and, and, and. But I feel myself breaking down, because [the director], too, has been pestering me about getting it. His latest not very subtle message was that he would teach me how to use it.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Till then, snails will be my model. </p></blockquote><blockquote><p>Thanks for writing. </p></blockquote><p>There are only a few more letters (from other people) in my folder. And then, the world shifted to email, and the folder stopped growing. It is interesting that four years after I was among the first at Columbia to use email, she was still under the impression that this was a new and optional technology. And by about a year later, everyone was on email. The change was gradual and it is hard to remember when it happened. This file shows the timing of that change, at least for my academic circle.</p><blockquote><p> </p></blockquote>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-87190851392224719412022-02-09T10:31:00.002-06:002022-02-09T14:59:51.784-06:00Connection & Separation <p>People like to believe the idea that we are all connected by “six degrees of separation.” This is the idea that between me and any other person in the world, there are only five persons, each of whom know each other and have a personal connection, i.e. six links. The research to support that notion is pretty weak; Stanley Milgram’s famous research that popularized the notion actually had at most 30 percent of seeds actually reach the target person; some psychologists even consider “six degrees of separation” an academic urban myth (<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/articles/200203/six-degrees-urban-myth" target="_blank">see <i>Psychology Today</i> article here</a>). </p><p>What strikes me about this concept, however, is the separation, not the links. Some people enjoy “connecting,” meeting new people. To me, however, meeting people I will never see again is sad, almost depressing. Maybe I’m an introvert, or maybe it is because my family moved every two or three years until I went to high school, so I lost friends and contacts after every move. I value permanent connections and friendships, not brief encounters. Of course, this is a stupid approach, because you can’t have long friendships if you do not start with the encounters. Plus, nothing in life is permanent; we just have to go with the flow.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizwviSYOZXTMiyx9nvHJgDB4cmYM0K_UIKyJ0VRvHWw0TRBqiUAfkhkbMt5FaLhk-ndEi0ctghbWIfilHJAcUBv7vagDRxAp4Ak0c4T8d0AEspk093fNUXumcdYLeaqQ57xkSNIn-RHo_5OFhKWg881psAXhU6HEhnhfs6G7RHaLrKqFWov9g=s1275" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="825" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizwviSYOZXTMiyx9nvHJgDB4cmYM0K_UIKyJ0VRvHWw0TRBqiUAfkhkbMt5FaLhk-ndEi0ctghbWIfilHJAcUBv7vagDRxAp4Ak0c4T8d0AEspk093fNUXumcdYLeaqQ57xkSNIn-RHo_5OFhKWg881psAXhU6HEhnhfs6G7RHaLrKqFWov9g=s320" width="207" /></a></div>This was brought home to me this weekend when we went to a St Louis Symphony concert celebrating the Lunar New Year. Though we are being very cautious about going out and even about meeting people because my 91-year old mother-in-law is staying with us, we decided that since everyone in the symphony hall would be vaccinated (and mostly older), and everyone would have masks on the entire time, it was relatively safe. We were especially eager to go because the guest conductor was going to be Elim Chan (陳以琳), who in December of 2014, at age 28 and while still a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, won the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition, the first female conductor to win the competition in its history (and one of only 5 females among 225 entrants in this overwhelmingly male occupation) (see <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/arts/music/elim-chans-flick-conducting-prize-is-rare-win-for-a-woman.html" target="_blank">NYTimes article here</a>). We had read about her while living in Hong Kong, because she was Hong Kong born and raised, (<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1672733/conductor-elim-chan-achieves-dream-working-ferrari-orchestra" target="_blank">see SCMP article here [paywall, after intro]</a>, for example). So we thought it would be fun to go see her conduct in St. Louis.<p></p><p>Elim Chan’s visit was held in partnership with the <a href="http://aaccstl.org/" target="_blank">St Louis Asian American Chamber of Commerce</a>, and through friends we were invited to meet Elim Chan backstage after the concert. Due to a bit of miscommunication, the person who was to take us backstage did not meet us at our seats after the show, as we expected, and we ended up waiting in the hall while the ushers cleaned up, searching for lost glasses and gloves. All this time we could actually see Elim on stage, deep in discussion with a musician. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuP_FyH6VVqjKY16Si3AYLWl8C9f22rRR1gjRM-W09h8Tsy3IcaeB3tGOC9WaOAajOeFH54ZArexT-tB5v75-oHkBbTupsWJ7O9c0iaN7DEs6rPJiVcZ1NMO1FsI3-1lZWR6gXlgkuUld2j-F0-hle3iVLKlicdmZQUJiOUY4xlHDLWe_8l2A=s1689" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1689" data-original-width="1061" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuP_FyH6VVqjKY16Si3AYLWl8C9f22rRR1gjRM-W09h8Tsy3IcaeB3tGOC9WaOAajOeFH54ZArexT-tB5v75-oHkBbTupsWJ7O9c0iaN7DEs6rPJiVcZ1NMO1FsI3-1lZWR6gXlgkuUld2j-F0-hle3iVLKlicdmZQUJiOUY4xlHDLWe_8l2A=w251-h400" width="251" /></a></div>I was ready to abandon the whole thing. To me, what was the point of meeting her briefly, since we will never see her again (or if we do at a concert in, say New York, we certainly will not be able to meet her backstage). My mother-in-law, on the other hand, suggested we just call out to her to get her attention; I’m not sure whether my wife or I were the more mortified.<p></p><p>Finally a kind usher went and found our contact person, who very apologetically came and took us backstage, where we met and chatted with the conductor for five or ten minutes. She was charming and gracious, and said she was happy to be able to speak Cantonese with my mother-in-law.</p><p>And it turns out we have some connections. Elim Chan did her final two years of high school at <a href="https://www.lpcuwc.edu.hk/" target="_blank">Li Po Chun</a>, which is a branch of the famous United World College located in Ma On Shan, very near the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Our daughter has a good friend, Bettina, who was one year behind Elim at Li Po Chun, and Elim knew Bettina. Bettina’s father was a colleague of mine at CUHK, and we knew him and his wife socially as well.</p><p>My mother-in-law asked Elim Chan if she knew <a href="https://sco.com.sg/en/orchestra/musical-leadership/music-director.html" target="_blank">Tsung Yeh, currently the director of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra</a>. She said she of course knew about him, and that he was up there, indicating with her hands that she considered him to be in an exalted position. My mother-in-law noted that she was good friends with Tsung and his wife, because he had been conductor of the South Bend Symphony for 28 years before <a href="https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/05/01/orchestra-director-tsung-yeh-takes-a-final-bow-after-28-years/46296293/" target="_blank">his retirement in 2016</a>. South Bend is her home town. In fact, I also met the conductor many times, and enjoyed a long conversation with him in the O’Hare United Airlines lounge in the early 2000s, where he taught me many interesting things about conducting and we speculated on why his baton, which could really be a lethal weapon, was never confiscated or examined by TSA. He also had consulted with my parents, who were teachers of Italian, on the finer points of Italian pronunciation, so he knew my parents well.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggv1JE8U-MoZv1TXqfpuKdRYRaNEePK56ergy7iWpg8lgHeod7ZMXXiMKA614ovkgYqAZjl5XcTS8MlDpib3oAEZW5d9ByzcAAb5U9tIV_vYsNnRFD6QdpMxYYzcbL9DXWQ7akC1_ItdkHpVRknNDy_gqt9XfNU1pwKwI2QmlmzCj8dNjpKkA=s1600" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggv1JE8U-MoZv1TXqfpuKdRYRaNEePK56ergy7iWpg8lgHeod7ZMXXiMKA614ovkgYqAZjl5XcTS8MlDpib3oAEZW5d9ByzcAAb5U9tIV_vYsNnRFD6QdpMxYYzcbL9DXWQ7akC1_ItdkHpVRknNDy_gqt9XfNU1pwKwI2QmlmzCj8dNjpKkA=s320" width="320" /></a></div>We took pictures before we left; only then did we lower our masks briefly for the photo. And I was glad we had stayed and was really charmed by Elim’s graciousness. She may have had more interesting people to talk to than us, but she did not express that. A few of the departing musicians stopped by and complemented her on how efficient she had been, because it turns out that due to the heavy snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday, they were not able to hold rehearsals on those days as planned.<p></p><p>As we left and walked to our car, I reflected on this brief encounter. Though I very much enjoyed meeting her, I’m sad we’ll probably never meet again. And I thought about Tan Dun. The first piece performed by the symphony was composed by Tan Dun. I actually met him shortly after he arrived in New York. I remember that he was very friendly, and that he was surprised and amused that I spoke Chinese. He lived in an apartment across the street from me, on 113th street, in an apartment that was an “anthropology apartment.” I don’t know how or why, but that apartment had had a series of anthropology grad students living in the apartment over the years; the apartment even had a bow and arrow hanging on the wall, and as I remember it, no one seemed to know who they had belonged to. Ashraf Ghani, later the president of Afghanistan, had lived in that apartment four years earlier, I believe—at least, I met him there, when Ghani was finishing his notoriously lengthy dissertation.</p><p>So as pleasant as meeting Elim Chan was, there is also a sadness in it for me. It highlights the impermanence of relationships in the everyday flow of life. Not only is the notion of “six degrees of separation” a myth, but most of the “connections” we make are fleeting and fade away. Such is life.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-59820691011532150272021-12-16T13:41:00.005-06:002021-12-16T18:29:16.171-06:00College Football Has Gone Crazy<p>College football has gone crazy. My friends in Asia and Europe will be confused, so let me try to explain what has happened, and why it is so crazy. (This is a long post, so I've listed the main points at the end, if you want to jump to bullet points).</p><p>First, the facts. On Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, the University of Southern California (USC) announced that Lincoln Riley had been named head football coach, with an annual salary of over $10 million. The 38 year old had been head coach at the University of Oklahoma, with a salary of $7.672 million. This news stunned the sports world; there had been rumors for days that Riley would leave to coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), but he had strongly denied them. So the fact that he left, albeit for a different school, was surprising. Oklahoma and USC are both schools with a tradition of great football; it was unprecedented for a coach to leave a school like Oklahoma for another great school, and the salary levels seemed very high, keeping in mind that the average coach in the professional NFL earns $6.7 million. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-_0g2NcoCPZS4sg7DxS0yFjb9t5yV4rymw93Ci1gMxSX75Ztk_6qwphxml-VxpmorMY6XnwefsXb6YLEV7nNuILsErLJPPeKxazITYJiukQl-SjnE69yaBla_MyzKnt3zzSo3W2VEoJvYU7vY0rsrzaZACViaRR96YqdyWqn5R6AcutD16TA=s818" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="818" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-_0g2NcoCPZS4sg7DxS0yFjb9t5yV4rymw93Ci1gMxSX75Ztk_6qwphxml-VxpmorMY6XnwefsXb6YLEV7nNuILsErLJPPeKxazITYJiukQl-SjnE69yaBla_MyzKnt3zzSo3W2VEoJvYU7vY0rsrzaZACViaRR96YqdyWqn5R6AcutD16TA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reaction by a star player</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Then, a day later, another bombshell: Brian Kelly, the coach at my alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, announced he was leaving to become the head coach at LSU. Again, a stratospheric salary: $9.5 million per year for 10 years guaranteed, with incentives that make it worth over 100 million in all. And apparently these deals come with additional perks, like cars, insurance, and travel allowances. Notre Dame is a private university, so we do not know his salary, but it was probably around $5-7 million. Kelly himself had once said that the Notre Dame head coach job was not a stepping stone; it is the pinnacle of coaching, a “destination job.” He had also <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/brian-kelly-lsu-never-leave-notre-dame/z6wjsjlsg4bx1a61nknpgauel" target="_blank">said just a week earlier</a> that he was not leaving, <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/brian-kelly-selfishly-leaving-for-lsu-with-notre-dame-in-playoff-race-puts-sports-hypocrisy-on-display/" target="_blank">"… unless the fairy godmother comes by with that $250 million check, my wife would want to take a look at that first. I'd have to run it by her," Kelly said.</a> <p></p><p>But he had also indicated that he understood that to cement his legacy at Notre Dame, he had to win a national championship. This is something he was not able to do in the 12 years he coached there, from 2009 to 2021. Notre Dame has won a national championship 11 times, but not since 1988. In the 2021 season, he surpassed the fabled Knute Rockne in number of games won (105), and he is also the first ND coach to win 10 or more games in four consecutive seasons (though, to be honest, it is easier to do that now that teams play 12 or 13 games per season than it was when I was young, when there were only 10 games plus one bowl game each year. And until 1970, Notre Dame refused to play in bowl games, saying it interfered with student-athlete’s final exams. How quaint.) </p><p>Brian Kelly did take the team to the championship game in 2012 and to the playoffs in 2018 and 2020, and lost badly each time (14-42 Alabama, 3-30 Georgia, and 31-14 Alabama, though actually, in 2020 Alabama beat Ohio State 52-24 in the championship by an even greater margin, but everyone focuses on Notre Dame being “blown out” because Notre Dame has not won a New Year Six bowl game [Rose, Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta or Peach] since the 1993 season.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2hI_JlJQQRws9FO61EkDS_yluyp0zfsgxasQhJSTpsDp71ZaPPoHgOlN83t1j5dwFNnzPfTLaS-HvnPZftpgT5bY2izRg0p8XcwuGcjk6gM9pcey1Nbr807iQKzfTMQooasOmDhbdYOELtk2XF1B92xyZO7dlZsoTxzXB6tZcPSw0x9IbC0o=s800" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2hI_JlJQQRws9FO61EkDS_yluyp0zfsgxasQhJSTpsDp71ZaPPoHgOlN83t1j5dwFNnzPfTLaS-HvnPZftpgT5bY2izRg0p8XcwuGcjk6gM9pcey1Nbr807iQKzfTMQooasOmDhbdYOELtk2XF1B92xyZO7dlZsoTxzXB6tZcPSw0x9IbC0o=s320" width="200" /></a></div>Brian Kelly knew that unless he won a national championship, no bronze statue of him would be erected outside the stadium along with the statues of Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz. Early in the 2021 season, when he was about to win his 106th game, he said: <p></p><p></p><blockquote><a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/set-to-break-knute-rocknes-record-brian-kelly-knows-his-notre-dame-legacy-rests-on-winning-national-title/" target="_blank">"I can tell you exactly where I sit in Notre Dame history," Kelly said during a conversation with CBS Sports this week. "The coach that won more games that hasn't won a national championship. That's where I'll sit."</a> </blockquote><p></p><p>So the fact that Kelly is leaving Notre Dame suggests he essentially decided he was not going to be able to win a national championship at Notre Dame (see <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YswLOkSEMoQ" target="_blank">pundits saying this here</a>). </p><p>One can only wonder whether Kelly viewed Notre Dame’s academic standards as an obstacle to winning a championship. It is rumored that Lou Holtz left Notre Dame in part because the administration would not bend academic requirements enough. Many commentators note that recruiting should be easier for Kelly at LSU. Notre Dame recruits nationally, but athletes also need to be good students and there has to be a good match with the Notre Dame culture (which can be very conservative). Notre Dame’s graduation rate of 97% is also much higher than LSU’s 66% (<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2020/12/22/study-graduation-gap-widens-between-white-black-athletes/115207570/" target="_blank">which is in fact the second worst in the country</a>).</p><p>Of course, the money is significant, but really, once you are earning even $5 million a year (and he’s been head coach at Notre Dame for 12 years, so has been earning big money for a long time), is the additional money really the main attraction? Athletic director Jack Swarbrick and assistant coach Tommy Rees each said that they think after 12 years, Kelly was ready for new challenges. While Kelly is considered a good coach, there will always be doubts about his talent until he wins a championship.</p><p>But I want to emphasize that I think a good coach does not just win games, but has to mold teenagers into men. He is a teacher. He has to help players develop to their ability, whether it is to contribute to the team or to go on to play in the NFL, and for life after football. Overall, Kelly was a good coach.</p><p>My friends in Asia are justifiably stunned at the prominence that sport plays in American universities. College sports, especially football and men's basketball, are major social activities and money-makers for many campuses. In fact, I once heard that then CUHK vice-chancellor (equivalent to university president) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lau" target="_blank">Lawrence Lau</a>, an economist who came to The Chinese University of Hong Kong from Stanford University, tried to make sports more prominent and a focus for university community solidarity, but it failed miserably. CUHK students don’t wear CUHK t-shirts, either; there is no rah-rah "student spirit" and "school pride" of that sort in Hong Kong. </p><p>There are other aspects of the Brian Kelly story that are significant. First, one needs to understand that Notre Dame considers itself, and is widely viewed, as a special place. This is what makes Kelly’s departure so surprising. Skip Bayless is a TV pundit who said he was shocked by Kelly’s departure. He covered ND closely while a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, attending many games in South Bend and knows Notre Dame well. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msC_OmhLcsg" target="_blank">He said:</a> </p><p></p><blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhC0mlQfubebozwvr0ZXlJ9riH1ia3JPZwiTO0nONTJAXvgy5-5P2kwtWL6GXrF-GFOOdcI1LWoI0M9dby4VX4huBFcFnKeoHaUPXeBOM3Xzb-5I07quMedZvjm_FUi38rid_qr8PkWk1Cjf9tuvcXSj8TOzkOXFanBKmtc0ES7ALosXf_Omxo=s473" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhC0mlQfubebozwvr0ZXlJ9riH1ia3JPZwiTO0nONTJAXvgy5-5P2kwtWL6GXrF-GFOOdcI1LWoI0M9dby4VX4huBFcFnKeoHaUPXeBOM3Xzb-5I07quMedZvjm_FUi38rid_qr8PkWk1Cjf9tuvcXSj8TOzkOXFanBKmtc0ES7ALosXf_Omxo=s320" width="215" /></a></div>“It [Notre Dame] is a great place, I can’t tell you. We will talk about what Lincoln Riley said at his opening press conference about he’s going to make USC the Mecca of college football. To me, Notre Dame is still the Mecca, to me. It represents everything that’s great about college football, all rolled into one. It’s<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_(film)" target="_blank"> the movie Rudy</a>, it’s <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32338947/notre-dame-oklahoma-battle-play-champion-today" target="_blank">“Play Like a Champion Today,”</a> it’s those golden dome helmets that they wear, it’s the coolest gold that I’ve ever seen, it just comes off the TV screen and gets in your eyes, it’s so gold. The legacy, of obviously <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knute_Rockne" target="_blank">Rockne</a>, of “play <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e7rmpjBSR8" target="_blank">one for the Gipper</a>,” all of it. There is no greater tradition than this one. I love my Oklahoma tradition, but woof, it’s not this. ... <p></p><p>“He [Kelly] was made for Notre Dame, because he is Irish Catholic, he grew up in the Boston area, ...he was made for that throne there that is Notre Dame football.”</p><p></p></blockquote><p>One thing that was shocking is that when Kelly announced he was leaving Notre Dame, his team still had a good chance to make the playoffs this year. As it turned out, Notre Dame ended ranked #5 on the following Sunday, and everyone knew this year’s team was young, so unlikely to be able to win the championship. But it was shocking that he would abandon his team just one week before they knew whether they would make the playoffs (only the top 4 teams make the championship playoff). He had to take the job right away because LSU needed him to make sure the players they had recruited stayed committed to LSU. Signing day when high school players commit to colleges is Dec. 15th. But Kelly knew he was abandoning his team when he left for LSU.</p><p>The rapid increase in college coaches’ salaries is crazy. <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/brian-kelly-selfishly-leaving-for-lsu-with-notre-dame-in-playoff-race-puts-sports-hypocrisy-on-display/" target="_blank">“Craziness. In a period of seven days, we now have four coaches – Tucker, Riley, Kelly and Penn State's James Franklin -- making significantly more than the average NFL coach (average salary: $6.7 million).”</a> College football has become extremely commercialized, with magazines focusing on high school prospects, coaches flying on private planes to visit potential recruits, the evolution of what is called “the transfer portal” that allows more and more so-called scholar-athletes to switch schools (like free agency in professional sports), and these astronomical salaries. In 40 states in the US, athletic coaches are the highest paid public employee in the state! </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnZ27VhaKTxk0ZKdx3u-egX5CbzDDUAMY3S9ug9hqJG87JcgbYO-6it_LCC1dnRFccbOq5xwV2udGQ9_CVGuDM0GAONkxYrVieEpp2985l9cvl5p3wafRyourpgrhRTgRb1nZpbENG_aEgWN_KJ-jk1SC-z9CGeDXYykd7Pdn4_8v-wIn-bzw=s750" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="750" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnZ27VhaKTxk0ZKdx3u-egX5CbzDDUAMY3S9ug9hqJG87JcgbYO-6it_LCC1dnRFccbOq5xwV2udGQ9_CVGuDM0GAONkxYrVieEpp2985l9cvl5p3wafRyourpgrhRTgRb1nZpbENG_aEgWN_KJ-jk1SC-z9CGeDXYykd7Pdn4_8v-wIn-bzw=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Highest-Paid Public Employees according to <i>Fast Company</i> magazine.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some aspects of this commercialism may actually be for the better; the transfer portal prevents players from being “owned” like slaves by the team they happened to choose when they were 17 years old. (And the fact that over half the football players are Black makes this comparison very uncomfortably relevant.) Notre Dame tries in some ways to fight this tide and insist that athletes are students first, by, for example, not having athletic dorms. But in many ways, it is a losing battle; Notre Dame held out against a separate dining hall, but now has one. They used to prohibit freshmen from playing varsity, but that changed decades ago. At the same time, Notre Dame added to this commercialization when in 1990 they signed a television deal with NBC to broadcast all home football games, from which the university earns $15 million per year.</p><p>Increasingly, people realize the system is crazy. Pundits on Yahoo said Kelly’s move was <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/opinion-brian-kellys-move-notre-035838855.html" target="_blank">“shocking”</a> and the <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/brian-kelly-bolting-notre-dame-for-lsu-is-latest-example-of-a-sport-gone-mad-024143723.html" target="_blank">“latest example of sport gone mad.”</a> The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/sports/ncaafootball/college-football-coaching-changes.html" target="_blank">article in the NY Times said</a>:</p><blockquote><p>“If you equate it to college education, it’s insane,” Jackie Sherrill, the retired Texas A&M University football coach and athletic director, said of the industry and its soaring coaching deals. “If you equate it to business, it makes sense.” </p></blockquote><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyu1bzFrg5OizOsFC1pe4fX_wQyFfBYwQBMM4sGwABky-Biem0Q2SrAzHJqGdVyZVOGh5A9-TB-ZwiC81rcpKMx2Hcv1KmZqZF8VyqOM0i5D8Er4kv7QRETb1AZUrxmOf6TqdQkOAyoOtk3Ww3_cRrTqJTKje0tald-Zc6tYCAvq9L2WnFSsg=s629" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="629" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyu1bzFrg5OizOsFC1pe4fX_wQyFfBYwQBMM4sGwABky-Biem0Q2SrAzHJqGdVyZVOGh5A9-TB-ZwiC81rcpKMx2Hcv1KmZqZF8VyqOM0i5D8Er4kv7QRETb1AZUrxmOf6TqdQkOAyoOtk3Ww3_cRrTqJTKje0tald-Zc6tYCAvq9L2WnFSsg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A player's tweet accepting the business logic of the move</span></td></tr></tbody></table>In my conversations with some friends, I’m shocked that they simply accept Brian Kelly's move as normal, because he followed the money. I have a lot of problems with that, and it is not just because I’m nostalgic for a simpler time when salaries were lower. The idea that the value of a coach is whatever the market is willing to pay is wrong, because “the market” is not a pure market. This belief in “the market” as an impartial arbiter of value is an example of “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_fundamentalism" target="_blank">market fundamentalism</a>,” a belief that fails to recognize how the market is shaped by laws, policies and ideologies. Coaches would not be paid so much if the universities had to pay the players, for example. And rules prohibiting players from switching teams also prevent a real market from emerging. Universities could also make a lot of money offering sexual services on campus (at least in states where sex work has been decriminalized). There are some things that are just morally repugnant and that we do not tolerate. Ten million dollar salaries for an athletic coach should be one of them. Just as CEO salaries in the US have gone through the roof since the 1980s (in a way that has not happened in Europe and Japan), so too have coaching salaries exploded (<a href="https://sportsnaut.com/highest-paid-college-football-coaches/" target="_blank">see list here</a>). There are many factors causing this explosion; one of them is the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/sports/ncaafootball/usc-lincoln-riley-oklahoma.html" target="_blank">Great Man Theory</a>, which assumes one leader can make all the difference. Leadership is important, but even coaching takes teamwork, and the leader's role is often exaggerated.<p></p><p>I also object to these huge salaries for college football coaches because they do not fit with the mission of a university. Knute Rockne was a chemistry professor at Notre Dame. Coaching football was an extension of his teaching. He was paid like a teacher. Ara Parseghian retired in 1974 at <a href="https://www.bannersociety.com/2019/8/15/20732192/coach-salaries-history-highest" target="_blank">a salary of $36,000</a>, equivalent to $203,000 in 2021 dollars, also like a star teacher. Nowadays, football is a side hustle for university, one that brings in millions of dollars. And winning championships bring in alumni donations. Little by little, universities are turning into sports clubs that have universities on the side. I even know of young people (some are relatives) who choose to go to large state schools because they have big sports programs. (An aside: A Washington University in St Louis student compared the atmosphere surrounding the 2016 Presidential Debate between Clinton and Trump, which was held on campus, <a href="https://debate.wustl.edu/its-game-day/" target="_blank">to a Division I athletic event</a>, which the school does not have!) <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2019/09/12/college-football-most-valuable-clemson-texas-am/" target="_blank">Forbes even ranks football programs</a> like they rank companies and billionaires; Notre Dame’s football program is rated 8th in revenues and 5th in profits. What does “profits” even mean here, in the case of "non-profit" universities?!</p><blockquote><p>“This “amateur” model of college sports yields $18.9 billion in annual revenue to universities and the NCAA, millions to coaches and athletic department officials, and essentially nothing to the athletes upon which the industry depends.” (<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-12-01/lincoln-riley-coach-salary-ncaa-athletes " target="_blank">LA Times opinion</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Notre Dame has benefitted tremendously from this commercialization, going from a small Midwest Catholic college to the #19 National University according to <i>US News & World <strike>Distort</strike> Report</i>. The football victories under Rockne and Leahy put Notre Dame on the map and made it the favorite of most Catholics and many others. Money from the NBC TV deal has allowed Notre Dame to give <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/notre-dame-conference-independent-football/v59x02eh6yt21nc786brczykn" target="_blank">over 6,000 undergrads a total of $80 million in financial aid, plus scholarships for grad students</a>. Because Notre Dame is a valuable brand, income from t-shirts and other gear has also been extremely valuable. </p><p>But the whole system rests on the free labor of players, who are only given scholarships. Some players are from families so poor that their parents cannot afford to travel to see their son play. Yet these young men generate over $1 million each for their universities. As a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/sports/ncaafootball/college-football-coaching-changes.html" target="_blank">NY Times article notes</a> (see <a href="https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-shameful-that-coaches-rake-in-millions-while-athletes-arent-paid-for-labor" target="_blank">original press release here</a>):</p><blockquote><p>“Professional-level payouts for college coaches are only possible because colleges and the N.C.A.A. illegally collude to directly restrict compensation for the mostly Black athletes so that the mostly white coaches and industry executives get to keep all the profits for themselves,” said Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. “That’s shameful.”</p></blockquote><p>The players are non-union, and at many schools (though not at Notre Dame), <a href="https://www.lrt-sports.com/blog/is-my-athletic-scholarship-guaranteed-it-depends/" target="_blank">the school can cancel the scholarship</a> if the players are injured or turn out not to be very good. </p><p>Many pundits heaped contempt on Kelly for abandoning his players before they even knew whether they would be playing for the national championship.(See <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/opinion-brian-kellys-move-notre-035838855.html" target="_blank">one example here</a>.) <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2021/11/29/brian-kelly-move-notre-dame-lsu-college-football-stunner/8803498002/" target="_blank">Dan Wolken of USA Today wrote</a>:</p><blockquote><p>For those who say you can’t blame Kelly for accepting a contract from LSU that is expected to be well north of $10 million per year, that’s bollocks. There is nobody to blame but Kelly for a classless, gutless exit before the kids he recruited to Notre Dame even know whether they’ll have the privilege of playing for a national championship. </p></blockquote><p>Some of this is nostalgic idealism, like children finding out their teachers are paid a salary and don’t teach only out of love. But there is no doubt Brian Kelly’s reputation has suffered, perhaps unfairly. He was roundly mocked for putting on a fake Louisiana accent when he first addressed LSU fans at a basketball game (see <a href="https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/lsu-football/brian-kelly-roasted-as-video-of-fake-southern-accent-goes-viral/" target="_blank">viral video here</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/elleduncanESPN/status/1466920446922833921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1466920446922833921%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fcollege-football%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F32860460%2Fcollege-football-top-10-bottom-10-moments-2021 " target="_blank">an ESPN commentator here who calls him “unlikeable”</a>) and also for some <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/12/13/brian-kellys-cringey-dancing-video-with-lsu-recruit-goes-viral/" target="_blank">supposedly cringeworthy dancing with a recruit</a>.</p><p>The real problem is that after praising Notre Dame for so many years, his conversion to an LSU Tiger is a bit jarring and unconvincing, mercenary even. So maybe there is hope, since by criticizing and roasting Kelly, fans are insisting that football is NOT just a business. (Having said that, Tommy Rees has a very generous interpretation of Kelly's motives in <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/notre-dames-tommy-rees-carl-watched-the-bears-with-rizzo/id1210156055?i=1000544967173" target="_blank">this Red Line Radio podcast</a>.)</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmZiYfCZbOJAUI3NvGtl4vJrJgBghKc-eFeGf25UieFAY17btu12dxmzaabasup5G3-56H0DFJAr1Zwjh9efpNM7cEk-kYUYG1pP47PG5G2zG3iQZyuIp1_z5uTuCp2eXJXeFK2isTty3gDEyU9nRF88S9j2Cl8vmwtI1RG800COzeFeDBCnY=s838" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="838" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmZiYfCZbOJAUI3NvGtl4vJrJgBghKc-eFeGf25UieFAY17btu12dxmzaabasup5G3-56H0DFJAr1Zwjh9efpNM7cEk-kYUYG1pP47PG5G2zG3iQZyuIp1_z5uTuCp2eXJXeFK2isTty3gDEyU9nRF88S9j2Cl8vmwtI1RG800COzeFeDBCnY=w400-h255" width="400" /></a></div>Notre Dame football will be fine. Their new, 35-year-old coach Marcus Freeman was <a href="https://www.si.com/college/2021/12/03/notre-dame-players-maul-marcus-freeman-as-hes-announced-as-head-coach" target="_blank">mobbed ecstatically by the team</a> when he was introduced to the players as their new coach on Dec. 3rd (<a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/1466773192563904519?s=20" target="_blank">see video here</a>), and most of the assistant coaches have decided to stay at Notre Dame rather than follow Brian Kelly to LSU. Tommy Rees told the team: "I love you guys. I love this place. I believe that we can win a national championship here, and I'm committed to doing everything we can to get to that point. This is where my heart is, and my heart is with you guys." (<a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/1466217910989430787?s=20" target="_blank">Video here</a>.) With a young, popular and energetic coach, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/notre-dames-tommy-rees-carl-watched-the-bears-with-rizzo/id1210156055?i=1000544967173" target="_blank">Notre Dame football is cool now</a>. But the contradiction between money and college life is growing sharper.<p></p><p>Final point: These salaries should convince everyone that the anthropology of sport is not just some trivial topic barely worthy of study. Clearly sport, and American football in particular, is symbolically and economically very important in American culture. Both private and public universities are willing to pay obscene salaries to coaches, for athletes to play a game that, like gladiator contests, often leaves them with severe brain and other physical injuries. Why do we do that? From one point of view, this is as “exotic” and “irrational” and at the same time culturally important as other topics ethnographers have studied. The anthropology of sport deserves a more central place in the academy.</p><div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Key points:</h2><div>Salaries of college football coaches have gone through the roof and are obscene.</div><div><br /></div><div>Notre Dame’s football coach Brian Kelly left for LSU for a new challenge, and to win a national championship, perhaps realizing it would be difficult to do so given the academic standards of Notre Dame.</div><div><br /></div><div>Brian Kelly abandoned his team when they still had a chance to play for the national championship, though this year’s team was not the strongest, and in the end, the team ended up ranked #5 so did not make the playoff.</div><div><br /></div><div>College football has become extremely commercialized, though it is supposedly an amateur sport. The fact that these high coaches’ salaries are possible because of the free labor of mostly Black athletes should make everyone squirm.</div><div><br /></div><div>The common view that we should accept what the market will pay as just a measure of a coach’s real value is an example of market fundamentalism, the belief that the market is impartial and always right. It also relies on the “Great Man Theory,” the ideology that one leader can make all the difference in an organization.</div><div><br /></div><div>These high salaries also conflict with the mission of a university, turning it into a professional sports club that has a university on the side.</div><div><br /></div><div>Notre Dame has benefitted tremendously from this commercialization, and has contributed to it, even as it presents itself as fighting for amateurism.</div><div><br /></div><div>Brian Kelly’s reputation has been hurt by the move, which suggests there is still some resistance to commercialization.</div><div><br /></div><div>Notre Dame football will be fine; the new coach is popular with players and most assistant coaches stayed at Notre Dame.</div><div><br /></div><div>The anthropology of sport is not just studying a trivial game, but worthy of a more central place in the academy given the economic and symbolic important of sports in American society.</div></div><div><br /></div>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-51706515781156387782021-11-22T11:23:00.004-06:002021-11-22T11:23:50.388-06:00On Thanksgiving<p> I love Thanksgiving. But it also makes me squirm.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanksgiving is a quintessentially American holiday. In
Canada, it is more of a harvest festival, and since it is celebrated on the
second Monday in October, the holiday is not as long a holiday as in the US. In
the US, not only is it the holiday with some of the year’s highest travel
volume, but it also is a holiday that is practically religious in tone. It
celebrates national unity with a just-so story of "the first Thanksgiving," and that is a
problem.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the one hand, I love the story of the Native Americans
helping the English colonists, teaching them to farm better, introducing new
foods like maize and squash, and helping them survive in the new country. It is
the kind of help to refugees, to visitors, to guests, that nearly every
religion and tradition calls for. It is a story that should embarrass all
Americans who seek to militarize the Mexican border and who are so hostile to even allowing refugees apply for asylum. (Oddly, many of these so-called
“patriots” even call themselves Christian, and yet they take a very un-Christian
stance on refugees.) This is a story of cultural communication and mutual
understanding. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand, the story is also the first step in
Americans’ displacing, killing, cheating the Indigenous People of their land
and way of life. Far from a story of “brotherly love,” it is a story of the
beginning of colonization and genocide. It is little wonder that <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/this-tribe-helped-the-pilgrims-survive-for-their-first-thanksgiving-they-still-regret-it-400-years-later" target="_blank">the Wampanoag regret helping the colonists</a>. That makes the Thanksgiving tale a strange thing
to celebrate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, some debunking:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--Thanksgiving has not been celebrated continuously since
the “first” one in 1621; harvest festivals giving thanks were common, but it
only became a national holiday in the US under Lincoln, who wanted to create a
national holiday as a symbol of national unity;<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--The native Wampanoag people were not invited to the first
event; they came because the English colonists shot their weapons in
celebration, and the Wampanoag thought they were under attack, so came armed
ready to defend them;<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--Just 54 years later, in 1675, the settlers turned on the Wampanoag,
then led by the son of the chief who had welcomed the English; thousands of
people were killed and many were sold into slavery or indentured servitude,
ending all organized resistance to English settlement in New England.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--There was <a href="https://food52.com/blog/20949-what-was-actually-served-at-the-first-thanksgiving" target="_blank">most likely no turkey at the first Thanksgiving</a>, but lots of seafood;<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--The Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock were not the
first colonists in America. Americans have emphasized the story of the Pilgrims to create an image of the founding Americans as
religious people seeking freedom in a new land. The first settlers (who survived)
were the colonists at Jamestown, VA, who came looking for lucre. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--The story of the first Thanksgiving creates an image of
friendly Indians sitting down for a meal with the Pilgrims and then leaving,
effectively giving America to white people. It is really the first chapter of the ideology of Manifest Destiny. Note that this story only became popular in the late 1800s,
when wars with Indians were effectively over. And by removing the violence and
death involved, it hides the colonization of the country by the settlers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are an increasing number of stories explaining the
real origins of Thanksgiving, such as <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/thanksgiving-myth-and-what-we-should-be-teaching-kids-180973655/" target="_blank">this Smithsonian Magazine article</a>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So Thanksgiving should really be a time for Americans to
think about how our current wealth is based on the wealth stolen—literally stolen
and cheated—from the native Indigenous population.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People are coming to recognize this, so it is increasingly
common for seminars, concerts and plays to begin with a "Land Acknowledgement," a recognition that we are
standing on occupied land. I have mixed feelings about these statements, and I
think many of the speakers who make these statements also feel uncomfortable,
because they often stumble as they make their statement. (If you have not heard
such statements, here is an video example of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0I8HjUOxdc&t=32s" target="_blank">the statement that was made at a Stanford Law School convocation</a> ceremony.) </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I feel a bit uncomfortable about these Land
Acknowledgements, and of course, they are meant to make us feel uncomfortable, I
know. But the problem I have with them is that they seem merely performative.
What is the point of making these acknowledgements? Are we supposed to feel
better afterwards? Are they proposing giving the land back? It seems like empty
talk.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It turns out, I’m not alone in feeling this way. Akhil
Gupta, who just finished his term as president of the American Anthropological
Association (AAA), mentioned in his Presidential Address Saturday that the
Stanford Land Acknowledgement should be rewritten (he taught at Stanford for
many years).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Present Land Acknowledgment</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Stanford sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone
Tribe. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone
people. Consistent with our values of community and inclusion, we have a
responsibility to acknowledge, honor, and make visible the University’s
relationship to Native peoples.”</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Proposed Land Acknowledgment</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stanford sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone
Tribe. This land of 8200 acres is currently worth US$19 billion. We are sorry
that the founder of the University, Leland Stanford, while governor of
California, supported legislation and raised a volunteer army to kill Native
peoples. We also regret that although we offer preferential admissions for
alumni and donors, we have chosen not to offer preferential admission and a
free education to all Native students. </p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Obviously, the last part is a bit tongue in cheek, but it
highlights the hypocrisy of claiming “consistent with our values of community
and inclusion” but then offering <i>NOTHING</i> to the Native population. And the part
of raising a volunteer army is not hyperbole; Leland Stanford was truly evil,
worse than a war criminal (you can get <a href="https://cal170.library.ca.gov/californias-long-war-of-extermination/" target="_blank">a bit of the story here</a>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Serranus Hastings, whose donation led to the founding of California’s
oldest law school, was also involved in Indian massacres. <a href="https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Hastings_College_of_Law_Built_on_Genocide%3F" target="_blank">“Hastings and Stanford built their colossal fortunes, in part, on California real estate.Both men thus profited from the theft of California Indian land. Having helped to facilitate genocide, they then used some of their wealth to create institutions that have benefited many people.”</a> But the institutions do not
really address or redress the crimes their founders committed.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How to address these crimes is not a simple issue.
Roy Rapaport, another former AAA president, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1047893" target="_blank">wrote back in 1969</a> that in many cases, money cannot compensate for some things. You can understand
this idea, he says, when you think of a question such as</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">"How much money is your integrity (or honesty or vote)
worth?" </p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">Any value in dollars that you suggest will destroy the value you
are seeking to buy. He continues: “It follows that attempts to mitigate the
violation of strongly held values through cash awards may be taken by those to
whom they are offered as insults heaped on previous injuries. The Shoshone, for
instance, have refused to accept a cash award of tens of millions of dollars as
compensation for what they construe to be seizure of their lands by the federal
government in violation of the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863.” You cannot right a moral wrong just by paying some money. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Interestingly, a group of Indigenous anthropologists has
asked the AAA to suspend land acknowledgements until more thoughtful and
effective statements can be written. <a href="https://www.sapiens.org/culture/land-acknowledgments-soverignty/" target="_blank">They argue</a> that statements that say that Indigenous peoples acted as
“stewards” or “custodians” of the land, and statements that refer to “ancestral
homelands,” “relegate Indigenous peoples to a mythic past and fail to
acknowledge that they owned the land,” and so “tacitly affirm the putative
right of non-Indigenous people to now claim title.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They also note that nothing is said about what is to happen
next. The implication is that non-Indigenous people are now saying, “What was once
yours is now ours.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They also note that these statements fail to acknowledge the
violent trauma that came with the theft of land from Indigenous people—“the
death, dispossession, and displacement of countless individuals and much
collective suffering.” In fact, most Americans prefer to think of the Native
population being “pushed off the land” or “forced onto reservations,” which,
when you think about it, are euphemisms for the murder and theft by the
colonists.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Indigenous anthropologists also worry that “pretendians”—people
who are not official members of a tribe but claim to be Native
Americans—undermine Indigenous rights by masquerading as indigenous people.
This raises the important point that being Native American is not a racial
category, but a political issue; one needs to be registered and recognized by a
tribe to be of indigenous descent. It is not about genes. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So this Thanksgiving, you don’t need to give a formal Land
Acknowledgement, but all Americans should think about who should rightfully own
the land we live on. People like me, whose family arrived after the worst of the
genocide had already occurred, cannot hide behind the excuse that they and
their family did not do it. In my case, for example, my father’s family came in
1920, but his family would not have moved to the US from Italy had the continent
not been seized from the Native peoples. My uncles did not go into farming or mining, so only claimed the small plot on which the family lived, but clearly they benefitted from the great wealth of the country, as wealth based in part on the
stolen patrimony of the indigenous population. Americans got much more than
squash and maize from the Native Americans. And that is something we should ponder, on this the 400th anniversary of that first Thanksgiving.<o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-72625256080313091162021-09-22T18:22:00.001-05:002021-09-22T18:22:44.629-05:00"The Bears of Blue River" and the supernatural <p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLWTfiAl3B_pONlOCxTTk75Km2xLpISogjHxNs2q4UotZxqC4XY73IKgC-pSzj3OzUGsSNmvvXz-dmGMnlBMRv9au2TGtKcJLyaOi3vKn64Q2FCxj6w9riSU-Ch2tpGjiqdv82w/s500/Bears+book+cover+IUP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="328" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLWTfiAl3B_pONlOCxTTk75Km2xLpISogjHxNs2q4UotZxqC4XY73IKgC-pSzj3OzUGsSNmvvXz-dmGMnlBMRv9au2TGtKcJLyaOi3vKn64Q2FCxj6w9riSU-Ch2tpGjiqdv82w/w131-h200/Bears+book+cover+IUP.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>I had a great 4<sup>th</sup> grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, and
there are many things I remember vividly about that year, like the fact that we
moved our desks into different formations over the course of the year, and the
beautiful student-teacher, Miss Anderson. Maybe these memories are so vivid
because my family moved to France after that year, where the school and
education philosophy was so different (disciplined and rigid). I especially remember the books we
read. I was a member of an advanced reading group of about eight classmates,
and we met in a small circle in the hallway to discuss books like <i>Oliver
Twist</i> and <i>Captains Courageous</i>, in abridged “young reader” form.<p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I also remember that the whole class read a book about a
boy that hunted bears. I remember that some classmates liked the book so much
that they read it multiple times (reading a book multiple times is something
I’ve never been tempted to do; there are so many new books to read!). Though I remember being really taken by the
book, and remember that the stories were based on life in Indiana back in
the frontier days when there were wild bears running about, I did not remember the title or author, or the plot. A decade or so ago I asked my old 4th grade friend if he remembered
the book and knew the title, but he did not remember it.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3q8GYwbmeX8cB_I_3wqC4TPcbVzy_s8CR4araEjY9R9U3SjkqgWsCsmT0ZaIgcwukXujrqzCvNDyExyZs2Ggj74YEwSijvM0ORT-M0vl73NSCIt3DH_W2ncA2Gr0w0qtyZFS5Eg/s1322/Balser%2526Tom%2526wolves+shot.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1322" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3q8GYwbmeX8cB_I_3wqC4TPcbVzy_s8CR4araEjY9R9U3SjkqgWsCsmT0ZaIgcwukXujrqzCvNDyExyZs2Ggj74YEwSijvM0ORT-M0vl73NSCIt3DH_W2ncA2Gr0w0qtyZFS5Eg/s320/Balser%2526Tom%2526wolves+shot.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balser & Tom shot wolves and caught cubs</td></tr></tbody></table>A couple of years ago, when back in Indiana, I mentioned
this to a family friend, Pat, who is a retired teacher, and she immediately
knew the book I was talking about. In fact, a few days later, she gave me the
book: it is <i>The Bears of Blue River</i> by Charles Major, originally
published in 1901 by an Indianapolis lawyer who became a writer of fiction. Most of his more popular work focuses on English historical fiction, but <i>The
Bears</i> is young adult fiction, and based on Indiana, so it is currently
published by Indiana University Press as part of a “Library of Indiana
Classics” series. (The book is no longer under copyright, so I'm taking the liberty to reproduce some of the charming original drawings from the book.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdnW0F-x2QM0gpLWvCxLCzM-C8Dc2oeYw718MEyDkTxm8sFM_P4bgPh1TlvCTB7r4PB7b71XjVB-0DKDlDM7_usDCV-bKewtJKL89F9Xv2BZ32Tzx6Q6d5-TRfsuXELFN6ON09w/s1226/Balser+frontpiece+shooting+bear.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1226" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdnW0F-x2QM0gpLWvCxLCzM-C8Dc2oeYw718MEyDkTxm8sFM_P4bgPh1TlvCTB7r4PB7b71XjVB-0DKDlDM7_usDCV-bKewtJKL89F9Xv2BZ32Tzx6Q6d5-TRfsuXELFN6ON09w/s320/Balser+frontpiece+shooting+bear.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balser shooting a bear</td></tr></tbody></table>The hero of the book is Balser, a boy described as being
about 13 or 14. There are many aspects of the story that make it enchanting for
an American reader. The story is set in the 1820s, when Indiana was a new state
and was still frontier. The discussion of Indians as bloodthirsty kidnappers of
children is certainly dated and makes a modern reader feel a bit awkward, but other
details of daily life—like what they ate and how they cooked their foods—are
fascinating. The book describes hunting and fishing as easy because wildlife
was so plentiful. Balser and his brother get up early on the day that a frost
and heavy wind overnight will have knocked nuts out of the trees, and go into the forest with a cart they themselves made to collect the nuts. Their eagerness to get up
early to go “do work” sounds impressive, but it is clear that since they are
collecting food for the family, their work is more meaningful and thus exciting
(or so it seems). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSQVPW5i47WOuXyWQ3wYBZAx-S1Wjq2lrWeEssMHkDaQE0rAcgXawbMkBCJppo6-7dotXU6SuAA5pGVY5K1E2m-TqYBV-xM7uwbdgcmCR2cu8BXmcOBYdbdbUcMK43WG38gZxWw/s901/Liney+saves+Balser.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="901" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSQVPW5i47WOuXyWQ3wYBZAx-S1Wjq2lrWeEssMHkDaQE0rAcgXawbMkBCJppo6-7dotXU6SuAA5pGVY5K1E2m-TqYBV-xM7uwbdgcmCR2cu8BXmcOBYdbdbUcMK43WG38gZxWw/w320-h310/Liney+saves+Balser.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liney saves Balser</td></tr></tbody></table><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">And there is a love interest; the neighbors (who live
several miles away) have a daughter, Liney Fox, and she and Balser both like
each other. Balser saves her from being kidnapped by an Indian, and in a later chapter,
she saves his life by putting a flaming torch in the face of a bear that was
mauling Balser. Early in the story, Balser is given a gun as a gift by a
stranger he helps, and he goes out hunting with it. He hunts to kill scary
bears, and to provide food and pelts for the family. His hunting is described
as “sport and recreation,” and like the trips to gather nuts in the fall sound like
a lot of fun. These are the kind of adventures American boys grow up dreaming
about—at least in mid-20th century Indiana.</blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Reading the book as an adult (I don’t think this counts as
re-reading the book, like some of my classmates did in 4<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">th</span> grade!), I
notice that while the tales of hunting bears are fun and dramatic, they are
totally unrealistic. Even in the 1820s, I doubt parents would allow their 14
year old son to organize a hunting party with a friend (the friend only armed
with a hatchet) to kill a large bear that is so large, fierce and frightening
that some people claim it is demonic. In addition, Balser is mauled by bears
twice, and bitten on his foot one more time, and yet only suffers 2 broken ribs
and wounds that heal in a couple of weeks. Frankly, I’m skeptical. But it makes
for some good stories. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7wJjYS9aPmODnS3M2SWtNyujwAHiIw5tnZV7xPZNaoxiySzTUn4y2aVDtJYTd8aAEcsImXLJfM8xCRuV30kxq3g4erGM_6hY0EqU8Ru24eTWKGCbZ-xFLb5-GoR-8AqGiEJTOA/s925/Lordy+Balser+its+the+one-eared+bear.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="925" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7wJjYS9aPmODnS3M2SWtNyujwAHiIw5tnZV7xPZNaoxiySzTUn4y2aVDtJYTd8aAEcsImXLJfM8xCRuV30kxq3g4erGM_6hY0EqU8Ru24eTWKGCbZ-xFLb5-GoR-8AqGiEJTOA/s320/Lordy+Balser+its+the+one-eared+bear.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>Another aspect of the book that I notice is the aspect of
the supernatural. The “one-eared bear” (AKA “demon bear”) appears suddenly, as
though he sprang from the earth, and similarly, disappears suddenly, so Balsar
and his dogs do not see where it went. This “magic” is not explained in the
book, but the bear is later spotted again, and dispatched, ending speculation
among most residents that it was a demon. In another case, a “fire bear” glows
like fire in the night. The chapter ends:<o:p></o:p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Many of the Blue River people did
not believe that the Fire Bear derived its fiery appearance from supernatural
causes. They suggested that the bear probably had made its bed of decayed wood
containing foxfire, and that its fur was covered with phosphorous which glowed
like the light of the firefly after night. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-2fH3x0a5WWYh9RnlJ6fYP7tD2tA9rriTDw-Mx1NSbK_NsdtZKO17CXW95degAoC6Dcjfrbe1-798ZBKiRAwmWpOc1VuyEssMHDfMzNl2pFchnAxq9wT-tE8THGrGI2YZTluxw/s784/FireBear.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="589" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-2fH3x0a5WWYh9RnlJ6fYP7tD2tA9rriTDw-Mx1NSbK_NsdtZKO17CXW95degAoC6Dcjfrbe1-798ZBKiRAwmWpOc1VuyEssMHDfMzNl2pFchnAxq9wT-tE8THGrGI2YZTluxw/s320/FireBear.PNG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The firebear</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The book also begins a story that involves an explosion with
a note, like an epigraph, that states:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i>Note: The author, fearing that the
account of fire springing from the earth, given in the following story, may be
considered by the reader too improbably for any book but one of Arabian fables,
wishes to say that the fire and the explosion occurred in the place and manner
described. </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">At the end of the chapter, the author explains that this explosion was
caused by a “pocket” of natural gas that was ignited by a torch. Thus, the
author is hinting at the supernatural, but insisting that in the end there are
natural explanations for all these unusual phenomena, even though, as in the
case of the one-eared bear, he may not always know how to explain them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The fire bear, the author tells us, was blamed “by many
persons, especially of the ignorant class,” for fires that broke out in
haystacks and barns. Balser dismissed such ideas and believed Indians started
the fires, but “seeing is believing,” so was convinced it was a “fire bear”
once he saw it. The author later tells readers that the bear glowed because it had laid in some phosphorescent bacteria, so was not "on fire" at all.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZB6bLij7DaV5431Sq_t5aemoqLgTlWK1jhjdevxa4kGmTVFnjufSggs39ZGiEIVOuc_iF9UmDDXhnDc9C5SDW7etPsMVFbtV3KScpyCZWEpbjq-oqCLxshas-ckfkqcGiZLhhZg/s1212/FireBear2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1212" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZB6bLij7DaV5431Sq_t5aemoqLgTlWK1jhjdevxa4kGmTVFnjufSggs39ZGiEIVOuc_iF9UmDDXhnDc9C5SDW7etPsMVFbtV3KScpyCZWEpbjq-oqCLxshas-ckfkqcGiZLhhZg/s320/FireBear2.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom shoots the firebear</td></tr></tbody></table> Another superstition about the Fire Bear was that anyone
who saw it would die within three months. This the author describes as a
“superstition,” but our hero Balser believes it, and especially since his
girlfriend Liney also saw it, he feels he has no choice but to kill the bear to
save their lives. They get the idea that to fight this Fire Bear, they
should have a charm. Liney creates a charm by praying over a piece of jewelry.
Interestingly, she starts to worry that it is evil to rely on a charm. Her
worry parallels the Christian argument that potions and traditional remedies were
witchcraft and thus the work of the devil. But Balser says that it is not evil,
because in praying, Liney is asking God, and it is God that is making the charm.
The author’s naturalism ends the discussion with a paragraph that reads like
this, in its entirety: </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<blockquote style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i>The charm worked at least one
spell. It made the boy braver and gave him self-confidence.</i><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">This is a common argument in research on magic: that it
serves primarily (and perhaps only) to give confidence in the person using the
spell or amulet. In the book, the author describes the beliefs, creates tension
and lets the reader wonder, but in the end shows that natural explanations are
best.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">One cannot help but wonder whether stories we read in our
youth influence and shape us. In this case, I’m amused to see a children’s book
from 1901 that reflects my current “academic” views on the supernatural. The
fact that my views match this author’s also suggests that my views are not new
at all, but over a century old, and merely reflect Western modernism.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-49387682881868746022021-09-03T15:58:00.001-05:002021-09-03T15:58:58.246-05:00Covid and Anti-vaxxers<p>A friend of mine who is a doctor lamented the fact that the
Covid vaccine, which was developed in under one year and that works with astonishing
95% efficacy and thus should be viewed as one of the crowning achievements of
scientific medicine, has become mired in political controversy. He wondered if
it had to be this way. Could different leadership have led more people to
accept the vaccine? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ezra Klein, in one of his recent podcasts, also asks what
would have happened in the counterfactual world where Mitt Romney was approaching
the end of his second term as president (having defeated Obama in 2012) when
Covid-19 broke out: if he had promoted masks and vaccines, would opposition to the
vaccine and to masks have still appeared?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Tara Haelle, a science journalist who covers the anti-vaccine
movement, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/opinion/anti-vaccine-movement.html" target="_blank">an opinion piece in the NY Times</a> that I think clearly shows that
Romney would not have been able to prevent the anti-vaxxers.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She shows that anti-vaxxers have been organizing since the
early 2010s, and that they had adopted the strategy of arguing for their
misinformed opinion with the argument of “freedom” since at least 2015. In that
year, California pass a bill to eliminate nonmedical exemptions to school
vaccine requirements, in response to the growing number of children not
vaccinated and the resulting outbreaks of measles. Republican Texas state representative Jason
Villalba proposed a similar bill, but his proposal led to an uproar and the bill was
never taken up for a vote. Just for proposing such a bill, Villalba was primaried from the right
and lost the primary. Even though his primary challenger went on to lose the
general election, it became clear to Republicans that supporting vaccines was politically dangerous. After reading Haelle’s article, I suspect that Romney lost in
part because he was not able to motivate the anti-science anti-vaxxers. (As an
aside, people seem to forget that the election was actually fairly close; Romney
is now widely viewed as a “loser” and people have all sorts of reasons for why
he lost. Someone just told me yesterday that he lost because he did not
campaign hard enough. Oof!)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Still, looking at other countries’ reactions to Covid, one
can’t help but feel that with different leadership, the current disaster in the
US did not have to be like this. Further evidence that leadership is important
comes from how Republicans have flipped on vaccine mandates in Missouri in just
a few years. In mid-August, our <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/tony-messenger/messenger-missouri-ag-schmitt-flip-flops-on-vaccine-mandates-at-worst-possible-time/article_e0758e36-f38f-5f7a-9fb3-5918b90c6a80.html" target="_blank">local newspaper reported</a> that Missouri’s
legislature in 2014 unanimously passed a bill requiring all college students
who live on campus to be vaccinated for meningitis. Meningitis is not that
common; its incidence peaked at 1.5 per 100,000 in 1981, and in part thanks to
vaccines, has declined to 0.11 per 100,000 in 2017. But it is a serious illness; <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/clinical-info.html" target="_blank">the CDC says</a> “About
10 to 15 in 100 people infected with meningococcal disease will die. Up to 1 in
5 survivors will have long-term disabilities,” including brain damage.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> It's astonishing that in just 6 or 7 years, Republicans in Missouri have gone from pro-vaccine to anti-vaccine, from agreeing to a vaccine requirement to arguing that vaccines mandates are an attack on civil liberties. </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Missouri’s current Republican governor, Mike Parson, in 2014 was a state
senator, and he voted for the meningitis vaccine requirement. Now is against requiring a Covid vaccine, <a href="https://www.kmov.com/news/gov-parson-government-doesn-t-have-a-place-to-play-in-mandates/article_4b7f83aa-f452-11eb-975e-d38c57da8ca5.html " target="_blank">saying “The Government doesn't have a place to play in mandates of the
vaccine.”</a> (The ACLU has argued, correctly in my opinion, that vaccine mandates or requirements are not a violation of civil rights but actually protect everyone's civil rights. You can see a clear <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/02/opinion/covid-vaccine-mandates-civil-liberties.html" target="_blank">Opinion piece on this here</a>.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Eric Schmitt, Missouri’s current Republican Attorney General, was then
a state senator and voted for the vaccine mandate. Now he’s against masks and
vaccine mandates, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/missouri-ag-slams-mask-vaccine-mandates-part-dystopian-biomedical-security-state-1618883" target="_blank">calling them part of the “dystopian biomedical securitystate.”</a> (See<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=869384990680586" target="_blank"> video here</a>.) It is not irrelevant that Schmitt is campaigning for the Republican nomination to run for the open senate seat next year.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Most surprising, <a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/missouri-lawmakers-want-ban-business-vaccine-mandates/63-54b88f17-b7fa-452c-a85b-17e8faf9d2d1" target="_blank">some Missouri Republicans even want to passa law making it illegal for businesses to require their employees to getvaccinated for Covid-19</a>. Usually Republicans are against
regulating businesses; now, over the issue of Covid, they are reversing their
usual stance. This is especially surprising in Missouri, which is an “at will” employee state, meaning that unless an employee has a contract, they can be fired for
any reason (the only exceptions are termination based on “race, religion,
national origin, sex, ancestry, age, or disability.”) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is astonishing that we are in such a polarized country that
even viral infections and deaths do not change the minds of people who insist
on individual “freedom.” Alabama and Mississippi have run out of ICU beds, repeating
the tragedy we saw early in the pandemic in Italy and New York City. But this
time it was entirely preventable. Yet people persist in their arguments that vaccine mandates are oppression.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1033727665" target="_blank">one doctor on the radio commented</a>, the truly sad aspect
of this current phase of the pandemic is not only how unnecessary all this suffering is, but also how we in the general public have
become used to these high numbers of deaths. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">AHARON SARELI: ... one of the challenges of this last delta
wave compared to the last summer, when we were hit by a massive surge as well,
is that last summer everyone seemed to be in the battle against COVID together.
It's almost like the world was holding its breath.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I think one of the challenges with this surge is that if
you're in the hospital, if you're a physician, if you're a health care giver or
if you're a patient that is seriously ill or dying from COVID, you're in it and
you're faced by what we've been talking about. But for the rest of the
community, if you step outside of even Florida hospitals, life goes on. People
are driving around. People are in the streets. People are going on about their
lives. And I think that we've almost become numb as a community to what COVID
is doing to those patients that chose not to become vaccinated and are now
paying the price. </p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-80693995474966803862021-07-12T11:08:00.003-05:002021-07-12T11:08:47.328-05:00St Louis' 4th of July Parade and Civil Religion<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZq0yMscSzSYesE-WHUuYu3hI0hi4v_JQmBWl52iPMvn9HE78YbKW5eIjT6UWBqJJ_ezLRiq3iJjt-n7vhf56klUTO7PYOZTSIKh1_mcteUWww3xWCuO__3xuHxSnxAMsfs97Sg/s1120/20210703-0140.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="1120" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjZq0yMscSzSYesE-WHUuYu3hI0hi4v_JQmBWl52iPMvn9HE78YbKW5eIjT6UWBqJJ_ezLRiq3iJjt-n7vhf56klUTO7PYOZTSIKh1_mcteUWww3xWCuO__3xuHxSnxAMsfs97Sg/w320-h120/20210703-0140.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corvettes on parade</td></tr></tbody></table><p>On Saturday July 3rd, we went to the St Louis "America's Birthday Parade." Parades are common across cultures, and often they are a way for a community to emphasize and build up its identity. Americans have been celebrating Independence Day with parades since shortly after the Revolutionary War. But nowadays, parades do not attract the same crowds as in the past. This year's parade certainly was affected by Covid-19, though no one there was wearing a mask, even though there were plenty of children too young to be vaccinated. I suppose the people who are cautious enough to wear a mask did not attend. The St Patrick's Day parade in March had been cancelled because of Covid, so the Irish community brought their giant inflatable leprechaun out for Independence Day. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXXlGREd1kCZfSKg41q5G-869l_Iz1Syd_FMdO3N_SaSS-zbnGx2nZZiwe6iqDrX_uQan1RIfxjvXdMMaFjhgdcQbBcXE9409oU03RT6aLOBCI4UGO-cQoa9LPH6vEkALIg4cPA/s1202/20210703-0148sm.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1202" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXXlGREd1kCZfSKg41q5G-869l_Iz1Syd_FMdO3N_SaSS-zbnGx2nZZiwe6iqDrX_uQan1RIfxjvXdMMaFjhgdcQbBcXE9409oU03RT6aLOBCI4UGO-cQoa9LPH6vEkALIg4cPA/w400-h268/20210703-0148sm.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sparse crowd on Market Street</td></tr></tbody></table>I was struck by how similar parades are cross-culturally. Each "troupe," be it a band or a float or a balloon, was preceded by a banner that named the group in the procession. A decade ago, I saw a neo-Medieval procession to a <i>palio-</i>like horse race in Ferrara, where they also had banners and bands leading each team. Like religious processions in Hong Kong and Taiwan, St Louis had a variety of bands and music, as well as floats, and displays of dancing and athleticism. No shamans in trance in St Louis, but there were athletic young girls doing flips going down the street, and very energetic dancers. <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNQsjXR5TVKvvAUo67UHCBn11BUDPtA1RYkobrero69WFK20R1sblbB4sBu77fzBjj0NaMlTvtB8AfGDsIkIlOoS7YH36VPVBfU_HhmpmuarMY4ydp6f2uXMpYWpSPtAGjXtolw/s1202/20210703-0149+banner.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNQsjXR5TVKvvAUo67UHCBn11BUDPtA1RYkobrero69WFK20R1sblbB4sBu77fzBjj0NaMlTvtB8AfGDsIkIlOoS7YH36VPVBfU_HhmpmuarMY4ydp6f2uXMpYWpSPtAGjXtolw/s320/20210703-0149+banner.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Patrick's Day Parade Committee banner<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxu9A0DMikFRBRVt6FGa1WUR54oi-VVHz9Irg49UlZoai55dlsdpqXNfj7Izsc3jwxcSuAKI5qoa3cLkibtEgxNOUduxBsZRoR38sa4fTDxRrejsxR5Z1b_nv8RJ9vkh0ve-Jgg/s2048/Ferrara+224.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxu9A0DMikFRBRVt6FGa1WUR54oi-VVHz9Irg49UlZoai55dlsdpqXNfj7Izsc3jwxcSuAKI5qoa3cLkibtEgxNOUduxBsZRoR38sa4fTDxRrejsxR5Z1b_nv8RJ9vkh0ve-Jgg/s320/Ferrara+224.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banner in front of band, Ferrara 2010</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkd2jRjjyUvh7JmPFHme7u0LL6CXEDT0sStURc-I7nZWgAyEAfNg-8iuGpq9pl7te33JiIv7BmuRiCmAZK0QnBJek1M3gRsWOsNCSNndyzji6C8mxrlDP-qYPlKWLFq3gdi8UIA/s2048/Tam+Kung+2013+DSC_0530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkd2jRjjyUvh7JmPFHme7u0LL6CXEDT0sStURc-I7nZWgAyEAfNg-8iuGpq9pl7te33JiIv7BmuRiCmAZK0QnBJek1M3gRsWOsNCSNndyzji6C8mxrlDP-qYPlKWLFq3gdi8UIA/w320-h213/Tam+Kung+2013+DSC_0530.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banners and <i>fa pau</i> in Shau Ki Wan, Hong Kong</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz7cLxXPgLdFjrkbU8IT7mGhAVVXpitQkeGOWbDLXOfFjhp9_StuWpnWIBA3vncK-dnSvd1FJceTZQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div>These flag handlers reminded me of the flag acrobats in Italy, though in Italy they throw the flags in the air and catch them (usually) on the way down.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwEW8bucqJ1Is4mJryLTG98wYUOiTFcozCQvN_2_c6cvBxPf6bEBjnqYsPJ0QjD2IAuJ5sv2bZN5p0' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIBESd0pXdROWF69GYQKcnqgzfJWJcKA7l54BgvZaQl8e1vfbTRC8EjPoNbUIKVqMX1J6VyvAqwTiWB5r9JEyyd7d1sme4-v1m1c4Mo8SExt7jP3r_Pae5aRg51VrVidmoA_gxQ/s2048/Ferrara+042.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEIBESd0pXdROWF69GYQKcnqgzfJWJcKA7l54BgvZaQl8e1vfbTRC8EjPoNbUIKVqMX1J6VyvAqwTiWB5r9JEyyd7d1sme4-v1m1c4Mo8SExt7jP3r_Pae5aRg51VrVidmoA_gxQ/s320/Ferrara+042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flag handlers, Ferrara 2010</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div>Music and bands are nearly universal in parades. Here the marching bands were mostly high school bands.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz6XafyXcIs_vNbGJB05iAZOL6TtbCD9OIgSRUyyjZEtLIG3aUiE3Dg1Wdnd2U8GzWs0Uusllwv3aA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Some of the bands are on floats.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMsEGLXXPNwgXsKE2YnD_C-sjvyzO6R6uxZ0O9j73HltxfL9rk778TsHZIRIcKwadVxxO5kp0d4GDrv7pBkIcVzujLv-0cjpQBwCxlylH8ls4kkObrW3e1roHttQ8YfpBn0Xm-eg/s1202/20210703-0120+floats.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1202" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMsEGLXXPNwgXsKE2YnD_C-sjvyzO6R6uxZ0O9j73HltxfL9rk778TsHZIRIcKwadVxxO5kp0d4GDrv7pBkIcVzujLv-0cjpQBwCxlylH8ls4kkObrW3e1roHttQ8YfpBn0Xm-eg/w320-h214/20210703-0120+floats.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paddlewheel boat float</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXHTrPQ98AyX6B7DAKwTFFb1UxI2PX1bm4kYyxCgyVH_QPqE6a1dBUsW8zWUxWXhjWY_s09gCPCob8tB4LoPYPFp2sjIlQFQm3kaI1dc5X-PY9pGkyXBhmCkQzhtrcAFRPpdUYg/s863/20210703-0062+ambulanceB.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="863" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXHTrPQ98AyX6B7DAKwTFFb1UxI2PX1bm4kYyxCgyVH_QPqE6a1dBUsW8zWUxWXhjWY_s09gCPCob8tB4LoPYPFp2sjIlQFQm3kaI1dc5X-PY9pGkyXBhmCkQzhtrcAFRPpdUYg/w320-h246/20210703-0062+ambulanceB.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amusing "ambulance"</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1e6VEFtRctaFJtLqaSkXLv9NpzdVbVWqE_1GJqa5E1YxAYAegfXvo_uv98CE_giDxZoGwG_J1klj7Ev_Xx26MMKDqu_N3GI6PLyOUCjYFoQYG89mmNA5Qgqsjlx6rSXTpZBaNw/s1110/20210703-0155.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1110" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1e6VEFtRctaFJtLqaSkXLv9NpzdVbVWqE_1GJqa5E1YxAYAegfXvo_uv98CE_giDxZoGwG_J1klj7Ev_Xx26MMKDqu_N3GI6PLyOUCjYFoQYG89mmNA5Qgqsjlx6rSXTpZBaNw/w320-h146/20210703-0155.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Float from local Chevy dealership</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">And this being America, there are many cars.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieWpcknhnuRQV0GsZmOyGDQ-g6q2x7LGkUCUA2okHSKednqFnHR-PDknQuEZaJ4EHAPKdjFtyQN87_V_6CjHaDn5F4CfTXUq7jRpbGFEA207oW7IaMnoxxOqHK9G7vSvYQxSd_yw/s794/20210703-0157.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="794" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieWpcknhnuRQV0GsZmOyGDQ-g6q2x7LGkUCUA2okHSKednqFnHR-PDknQuEZaJ4EHAPKdjFtyQN87_V_6CjHaDn5F4CfTXUq7jRpbGFEA207oW7IaMnoxxOqHK9G7vSvYQxSd_yw/w320-h182/20210703-0157.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patriotic Chargers</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>One of the more interesting parades in the anthropological literature is a parade that used to be held by the Tang lineage in the New Territories of Hong Kong. The Tangs were the big landowners of the Yuen Long area. They paraded along the boundaries of their territory. Their purpose, from a political point of view, was to show other lineages, and their tenants in outlying villages, how powerful and numerous they were. I did some brief research in a village that was located next to a small Gun Yam (觀音) temple that belonged to the Tang, a place they would visit annually on their parade. (This is described in a book chapter by James L. Watson entitled "Fighting with operas: processionals, politics, and the spectre of violence in rural Hong Kong.") These parades are a bit like the way dogs mark their territory. And they are also reminiscent of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parades_in_Northern_Ireland" target="_blank">Unionists' parades celebrating victories over Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland</a>.</div><div><p>Interestingly, the Independence Day Parade in St Louis has a somewhat similar political origin. The current parade began as part of a "Veiled Prophet" parade. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veiled_Prophet_Ball" target="_blank">The Veiled Prophet Organization </a>was a club for the elite men of St Louis. It was founded in 1878, a year after white and Black workers held a major strike that shook the city. Once the strike was broken, the elite sought to heal the wounds, but on their terms. The Veiled Prophet Organization held a debutante ball and a parade, which essentially expressed who was in charge of the city. People have protested against the Veiled Prophet for years, claiming it was elitist, racist, and sexist (see 1969 article on protests in the St Louis Post Dispatch and a 2014 article in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/fair-st-louis-and-the-veiled-prophet/379460/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a>). Just last month, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2608689/" target="_blank">Ellie Kemper</a> (an actress from Missouri) was criticized for having participated in the debutante ball when she was 19 (she was crowned "Queen of Love and Beauty") and she apologized. (<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/06/what-exactly-is-going-on-with-ellie-kemper" target="_blank">Vanity Fair had a good analysis here</a>.) The Veiled Prophet Organization has adapted and changed over the years, and the Veiled Prophet Parade that used to be held at the time of the Ball in October has become a "Fair St Louis" parade over July 4th. </p><p>In general, I find that most people who did not grow up in St Louis are shocked at the Veiled Prophet as a cultural institution, but those who grew up here or have lived here a long time take it as normal, simply part of the culture. There is so much that could be said about the Veiled Prophet. Maybe some other day. Right now I want to focus on the "America's Birthday Parade" and on the custom of parades in general (realizing that by doing so, I'm whitewashing the role of the Veiled Prophet in St Louis).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ECREkYwwa-zoRVFfnNCNN_OgdEjfGiZUxH4eODFzV1WwQCvcVjsFJJiPPvD5Z8WijyjFlxPK8qlOh91IoSGzSZIsCnuOh9r96JmE_ooBsPi7K3g07RCzz0dL1rtfLCXLl9JGQw/s2048/SKW+handing+out+candies+DSC_0461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ECREkYwwa-zoRVFfnNCNN_OgdEjfGiZUxH4eODFzV1WwQCvcVjsFJJiPPvD5Z8WijyjFlxPK8qlOh91IoSGzSZIsCnuOh9r96JmE_ooBsPi7K3g07RCzz0dL1rtfLCXLl9JGQw/w213-h320/SKW+handing+out+candies+DSC_0461.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>I had never noticed that people hand out candies to children along the parade route, but I saw this in St Louis and then found a picture of the same practice in my files of Hong Kong's Shau Kei Wan parade for Tam Kung.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZQvVODaIJhVudiW1Hrx5XSoCz_LKrzv36hyphenhyphen6VBhCzEP9eBdGLrpFbo_ZUIImiU_NihT5c2IYPiYVQ6OkA7uXlGynA7IfvQ9N563JdkyVynd6nwOxAEuPxrf1sOeuuzEwBox0Ag/s1029/candies+STL.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1029" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZQvVODaIJhVudiW1Hrx5XSoCz_LKrzv36hyphenhyphen6VBhCzEP9eBdGLrpFbo_ZUIImiU_NihT5c2IYPiYVQ6OkA7uXlGynA7IfvQ9N563JdkyVynd6nwOxAEuPxrf1sOeuuzEwBox0Ag/w320-h250/candies+STL.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Of course, these similarities between religious and secular processions are not mere coincidences, but are evidence for the theory that nationalism is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_civil_religion" target="_blank">the "civil religion" of the United States</a>. This is the theory that rituals like Thanksgiving Day, 4th of July parades and fireworks, and the singing of the national anthem and reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance are ways Americans create a common understanding of who they are. These secular rituals are necessary because no one religion unifies the country. </div><div><br /></div><div>And, furthermore, the similarities also suggest that what we label "religion" is really not a separate domain at all, but is simply one form of symbolic thinking and ritual behavior that all humans engage in. This is a growing argument in the anthropology of religion and in religious studies, which sees the Western definition of religion as culture-bound. Indeed, Chinese did not have a word for "religion" until about 1900, when the neologism <i>zongjiao </i>宗教 was introduced. Of course, Chinese had all sorts of rituals and ideas (e.g. ancestor worship and the emperor's offerings at the Temple of Heaven) that Westerners called "religious" (actually, they called them "superstitions," but that is another problem), but only in the West, where Papal authority was separate from the "secular" authority of emperors and kings, did a notion of religion develop.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a big topic I hope to write about in the future. In the meantime, it helps me understand my local parade as a ritual of integration, and historically as a display of power.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-16113747871638103672021-01-22T16:37:00.000-06:002021-01-22T16:37:27.035-06:00The Biden-Harris Inauguration: "And the Flag Was Still There"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg20aQthcciDEmaQjkTKmkQQJhtzbTRxheNg9sZQkwT2umFwVdCSFKbvo_BsPUkI9AkdsfYB01Vx4vAAf2E8IrSFjUA_Cc0yXIqP-dw7CP5VbfPHzgA7brFi2GMraw4u_a3mhzBjA/s1356/Inauguration+PBS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg20aQthcciDEmaQjkTKmkQQJhtzbTRxheNg9sZQkwT2umFwVdCSFKbvo_BsPUkI9AkdsfYB01Vx4vAAf2E8IrSFjUA_Cc0yXIqP-dw7CP5VbfPHzgA7brFi2GMraw4u_a3mhzBjA/s320/Inauguration+PBS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I have never paid much attention to presidential inaugurations before. In fact, I remember more than one person in rural Taiwan in January 1985 asking me if I was going back to the US for Reagan's 2nd inauguration, and I thought it was the most ridiculous question I'd ever been asked. First of all, I never even watched the news coverage of past inaugurations; it seemed like meaningless pomp. Secondly, I was not some sort of VIP who could actually attend the inauguration. <p></p><p>But after four years of norm-breaking and two months of lies about the election being "stolen," and then most importantly, after the mob insurrection at the capitol building, I found myself unable to concentrate on anything but the transition, and ended up watching at least five hours of TV coverage of the inauguration.</p><p>Mostly I just felt relief that what to me has been a nightmare of stoked divisions, pettiness and hate is over. I was surprised that I also found several moments moving. I don't believe in rah-rah jingoism, but had to smile when Lady Gaga pointed to the flag over the capitol building when she sang the part of the national anthem that goes, "And the flag was still there" (CNN missed the moment, but you can see her turn around and point to the flag <a href="https://time.com/5931724/inauguration-performances-symbolism/" target="_blank">in the video here</a>; start at about the 2:00 point). </p><p>And I was moved by the young poet Amanda Gorman (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4&feature=emb_logo" target="_blank">video here</a>), which is surprising because I don't normally care much for poetry. But the way she spoke, and the way she moved her hands, as well as the words she chose, spoke for many. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LZ055ilIiN4" width="320" youtube-src-id="LZ055ilIiN4"></iframe></div><br />In part, she said:<p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">We've seen a force that would shatter our nation</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">rather than share it.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">And this effort very nearly succeeded.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">But while democracy can be periodically delayed,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">it can never be permanently defeated.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">In this truth,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">in this faith we trust.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">For while we have our eyes on the future,</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; outline: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #030929; font-family: "Termina W05", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">history has its eyes on us.</span></blockquote><p>Biden's inauguration speech also focused on how democracy has survived but takes constant effort. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/01/20/biden-inauguration-speech/" target="_blank">Here is what he said, along with the annotation from the Washington Post:</a></p><p></p><blockquote><p class="font--body font-copy color-gray-darkest pb-md" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: var(--font-size-small); line-height: 1.75; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: var(--md);">We’ve learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. <span class="annotation" id="CBUUKKJIVJEYPHOGKME72O6VIE-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 40, 0); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s;">At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed<sup style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff2800; font-family: Franklin, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700;">1</sup></span>.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p><sup style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ff2800; font-family: Franklin, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700;">1</sup><span style="font-family: Franklin, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="font-xs gray-dark" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--color-ui-gray-dark); font-family: Franklin, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Throughout the speech, Biden intersperses the idea that democracy and our system of government have triumphed over threats, while acknowledging that victory isn't final. — Aaron Blake</span></span> </p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXp-4Hlba0tPw8unS-0_U9dQ2JADT0jSL1y6iCupfTPBOcZEeC_xTstehyphenhyphen_0tr8YlNTp1VfaGjLgnegcQWn9A85eKiPxM_K_Jg0MVkoSdxSNlrTUqNxrQHYYLW0miyLOjPLywXQ/s2160/Screenshot_20210120-212458.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXp-4Hlba0tPw8unS-0_U9dQ2JADT0jSL1y6iCupfTPBOcZEeC_xTstehyphenhyphen_0tr8YlNTp1VfaGjLgnegcQWn9A85eKiPxM_K_Jg0MVkoSdxSNlrTUqNxrQHYYLW0miyLOjPLywXQ/w200-h400/Screenshot_20210120-212458.png" width="200" /></a></div><div>By 9:24 pm when I took this screenshot of my phone, the New York Times expressed many Americans' sense of relief that we had survived Trump with democracy intact. The Russian commentators <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-falling-apart-how-russian-media-is-portraying-the-us-capitol-siege-153158?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20%20January%2022%202021%20-%201841817925&utm_content=Daily%20%20January%2022%202021%20-%201841817925+CID_50da6ba981d1e5e882fe43e52e4e5927&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=The%20US%20is%20falling%20apart%20How%20Russian%20media%20is%20portraying%20the%20US%20Capitol%20siege" target="_blank">who gleefully said the US was falling apart and that American democracy was a sham </a>were shown to be wrong (at least for now).</div><div><p></p><p>The January 6th insurrection has changed a lot. A number of commentators on TV said that Americans took their institutions for granted, but seeing them at risk, and seeing how vulnerable institutions are to violence and "the big lie," has made people realize that democratic institutions need to be fostered and constantly rebuilt, and cannot be taken for granted. </p><p>I have to admit that I always took for granted the peaceful transfer of power, and did not fully understand until this year how important and significant it is (though I remember my father saying so). Even when Al Gore conceded in 2000, I saw it as necessary once his legal remedies had been exhausted. I tended to see it more as Gore accepting the inevitable, rather than sacrificing for the good of the country, even though the sacrifice narrative was widely used in the press. </p><p>We studied "The big lie" of the Nazis in school, but I thought that applied to other times and other places; I never would have imagined that it would apply to the United States today. Gore could have continued to contest the election; he had justifiable complaints that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot" target="_blank">Brooks Brothers Riot</a> by Bush supporters, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/11/06/katherine-harris-florida-recount-bush-trump/" target="_blank">bias of Republican Secretary of State Kathleen Harris</a>, and the partisan 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that stopped the recount had essentially stolen the election, an election in which he had a majority of votes and only lost the Electoral College vote because of Florida's messy and disputed 537 margin of votes. But Trump created (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/19/never-forget-fox-newss-promotion-big-lie/" target="_blank">with the help of Fox News</a>) "the big lie" that he had actually won the election in a landslide and that it was stolen from him, simply by saying it over and over, and attacking anyone in his party who disagreed and dared to admit the truth. And as of mid-January, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-joe-biden-won-election-legitimately-poll-1562343" target="_blank">a CNN poll found three quarters of Republicans </a>still did not believe Biden won the election legitimately.</p><p>The "bully pulpit" describes the power that a president's words have. Yet, sometimes presidents are able to use it, while other times they are not. Reading Obama's recent book, I'm struck at how often he was not able to convince people that what he viewed as thoughtful and balanced policies were reasonable, and yet Trump, by repeating "the big lie" that there was fraud in the election (indeed, he started saying this even before the 2016 election), managed to have most Republicans believe it. That this was possible in an open society with a free press, and over 200 years of institutionalized democracy, still surprises and worries me. </p><p>Basically, this shows the plasticity of culture; people often think of culture as fixed, as rails along which the train of society moves, but it is actually more changeable that that. A democratic culture needs to be constantly reproduced. This means that everyone has a responsibility to support and renew democratic institutions if they are to last. Yes, for now, the flag is still there. But everyone needs to re-focus their attention on core democratic values. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/few-americans-care-about-democracy/616534/" target="_blank">A recent study showed </a>that only 3.5% of respondents would change their vote if their preferred ideal candidate did something blatantly undemocratic. That has to change; voters have to care more about the democratic process itself. And if they do, the polarization of society will also decrease. Hopefully the members of the evenly divided Senate will be forced to re-learn the art of compromise, and the dysfunctional polarization can be reduced. </p><p>This is in everyone's favor, since Democrats may control all three branches of government for now, but they won't forever. In fact, if tradition holds, they will lose seats, and control of congress, in the mid-term 2022 elections. And hopefully the flag will still be there.</p></div>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-18187853969189376002021-01-08T16:30:00.006-06:002021-01-08T16:53:52.646-06:00The Cynical Opportunism of Josh Hawley<p>Sometimes politicians take positions just to advance their
career and gain more power, even if it goes against their moral conviction or their
constituents’ desires. Dramatic examples are Boris Yeltsin, who
championed “Russia” when he was president of the Russian Soviet Republic and
thereby undermined Gorbachev's power and led to the dissolution of the USSR, and Boris Johnson, who was
widely accused of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/21/boris-johnson-joins-campaign-to-leave-eu" target="_blank">taking the “leave” position on Brexit because it was the only apparent way he could become prime minister</a>. They seem to view this as their shot at power, and decide to seize it.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Hawley" target="_blank"></a></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip17TncxC5o8P071vAjs1DRiPxFQ7pHJfVn92kSssjaLIDvR5SzWzYJBUretgt1Rk7gzAyQxBnrmagrflxouZijDF_IdkKKp0AcDKnX0yk2ypSLGPyARXUlTLBzCWWxv13RLVnRA/s986/Hawley+fist.PNG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="986" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip17TncxC5o8P071vAjs1DRiPxFQ7pHJfVn92kSssjaLIDvR5SzWzYJBUretgt1Rk7gzAyQxBnrmagrflxouZijDF_IdkKKp0AcDKnX0yk2ypSLGPyARXUlTLBzCWWxv13RLVnRA/s320/Hawley+fist.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hawley signals to protesters on the way to the Capitol Wednesday</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Hawley" target="_blank">Josh Hawley</a>, who is the junior senator of my current state
of Missouri, took a similar shot, but it has failed spectacularly. It has long
been clear that he was not going to settle for being a senator. He was going
to be running for president. While there is nothing wrong with ambition, Hawley
stands out for his cynical dishonesty. Even before the Capitol insurrection,
commentators were noting that his gambit of challenging the certification of
electors was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hawley-isnt-impressing-trump-voters-hes-entertaining-them-with-his-humiliation/2021/01/05/379d9c26-4f77-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html" target="_blank">rash and dangerous</a>, and that he certainly knows better, having gone to Stanford and
Yale Law School and clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he ran for senator against the Democratic incumbent Claire
McCaskill in 2018, he was accused of opportunism (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/josh-hawley-missouri-senate.html" target="_blank">see this NY Times article</a>, which includes the ad he had run two years earlier accusing politicians of
climbing ladders, which people were saying now applied to him). As a candidate,
he claimed that he was in favor of forcing insurance companies to cover
pre-existing conditions (a policy that had been part of the Affordable Care Act
(ACA), AKA “Obamacare”), but at the same time, as attorney general of
Missouri, he joined a Texas lawsuit that would have eliminated the ACA. He had
joined the suit to prove his Republican credentials, and yet claimed that because
his eldest son had a rare degenerative bone disease (a pre-existing condition),
<a href=" https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/ad-check-hawley-on-pre-existing-health-conditions/article_3e0acf19-53b4-52f2-a443-8f8635ad06b5.html" target="_blank">he would not risk coverage on pre-existing conditions (see ad in the article)</a>. Yet that is exactly what
his lawsuit was doing. He was widely criticized for that at the time (<a href="https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/09/28/josh-hawleys-pre-existing-conditions-ad-is-officially-a-national-joke" target="_blank">see article that refers to his ad as "a national joke"</a>), but in
the polarized environment of 2018 Missouri, he still handily defeated McCaskill,
and became the youngest member of the senate (then at 39 years of age) after
only 2 years as attorney general.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the argument over certification of votes, Hawley saw a
chance to stand out from the pack. He was the first senator to announce that he
would challenge the results. He did this even though McConnel had strongly
urged his fellow-senators not to join in the objections of representatives. If
no senator had joined, the objections would not be debated.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is worth remembering that back on Nov. 10, a GOP official
was quoted as saying of Trump’s claims that the election had been stolen, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/10/whats-downside-humoring-him-gop-officials-unintentionally-revealing-quote-about-trump-era/" target="_blank">“What’s the downside for humoring him?”</a> At the time, many assumed that the truth would ultimately come out and Biden
would take office. But as Trump persisted with his lies about election fraud, and
his followers overwhelmingly believed him despite no evidence being presented
and over 60 court challenges being turned away, the cost to the nation became clear. Hawley’s challenge was therefore much more serious than merely a procedural
or legal issue, even though it was clear it would fail, because it fed into the Trump argument that the election was unfair
and stolen. And as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/30/let-josh-hawley-put-republicans-uncomfortable-test/" target="_blank">many commentators noted, he surely knew better</a>, which made his position even more cynical. Furthermore, he was putting other Republicans in the awkward position of
having to choose between certifying the election (a mainly ceremonial task that
is legally required) or joining in Trump’s fantasy.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many representatives voted for the challenges because they
fear being primaried from the right. Josh Hawley does not have that excuse. He did
this to stand out, to try to inherit the Trump vote.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hawley did not actually say that there had been fraud or cheating
in the polls. He said he was objecting to the Pennsylvania legislature allowing mail-in
ballots, saying that would require a constitutional amendment. Setting aside
the fact that the legislature was Republican-controlled and that the US Supreme
Court had already ruled and disagreed with his argument, he was being very
clever: he did not join Trump in saying the election was stolen, but he left the
impression that he agreed with Trump. He could claim that he was making a point
of law, while most Trump supporters (voters he was courting for his run for
president) would interpret it as saying the election was stolen and see him as loyal to the president.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He also was clever in saying that he was doing this on
behalf of constituents who had concerns about election fairness. He argued that
further investigation would reassure the public. In fact, as the Trump mob
marched from the Trump rally to the Capital, Hawley’s office <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-josh-hawley-electoral-college-michael-brown-3eddeb6d0ed114999ea074c9e70380cf" target="_blank">sent out a fundraising appeal</a> that said, “But this is not about me! It is about the people
I serve, and it is about ensuring confidence in our elections....That’s why I
am standing up on behalf of the people I serve to relay their concerns to
Washington. For conviction. For principle. For our country. For YOUR VOTE.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This argument is specious, however, because he himself did
nothing to correct his constituents’ false impression that the election had
been unfair. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-romney-says-misinformation-from-trump-makes-it-difficult-to-convince-voters-of-the-truth" target="_blank">As Romney said</a>, the solution was to tell the truth. Instead, Hawley tried to take advantage of the situation to get more visibility
and publicity, and to get the Trump vote when he ran for president.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Instead, he’s being pilloried. The AP has now run a story
headlined <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-josh-hawley-electoral-college-michael-brown-3eddeb6d0ed114999ea074c9e70380cf" target="_blank">“‘Great damage’: Republicans recoil from Missouri Sen. Hawley.”</a> Former three term MO Senator John Danforth, his mentor and someone who had
promoted his career, has been quoted in multiple sources as saying that supporting
Josh Hawley’s career was the biggest mistake of his life.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As an aside, John Danforth is a senator from a different era. Already in 2000,
he was not willing to join Bush’s legal team in fighting to win Florida,
<a href="https://gen.medium.com/a-20-year-old-gop-strategy-drew-the-road-map-for-trumps-attempted-coup-2e38260e5ff7" target="_blank">arguing that it was unseemly and unlikely to succeed</a>. And on Nov. 18, he wrote in <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/john-c-danforth-there-is-nothing-conservative-about-trump-s-attack-on-the-election/article_5747e336-fec3-50b4-b735-7071f1764453.html" target="_blank">an op-ed in the St Louis Post-Dispatch </a>that Trump’s attempts to delegitimize Biden’s victory was not
conservative but radical. And just on Jan. 4<sup>th</sup>, he wrote <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/opinion/us-senate-2021.html" target="_blank">an op-ed in the NY Times </a>along with three other former senators calling for a return to civility
and bipartisanship in the senate. Hawley's behavior was the exact opposite.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even after the occupation of the Capitol building, Hawley
persisted in making his case; his only concession was to decline to make a speech
in favor of the motion to decertify the Pennsylvania electors, since he had
already spoken in support of the Arizona motion. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaftzZYxb8NItesiDa6-3LgcgZNyAT2WHJYmX5T7dwdo34wNJG03HwjZmHlmYT-zDCPEqrqbhoONau7CQ6fCDQWMm4KafIRXCWZnH9ePaT4ENUGlewLQlm-wWPN9IkGr2V1LeqA/s789/Hawley+tweet.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="789" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaftzZYxb8NItesiDa6-3LgcgZNyAT2WHJYmX5T7dwdo34wNJG03HwjZmHlmYT-zDCPEqrqbhoONau7CQ6fCDQWMm4KafIRXCWZnH9ePaT4ENUGlewLQlm-wWPN9IkGr2V1LeqA/s320/Hawley+tweet.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>The repercussions keep coming. Simon & Schuster has
cancelled the contract for the publication of his book criticizing big tech.
Predictably, he makes himself the victim and claims it is a violation of his
First Amendment rights. Though I’m not a lawyer and he is, he should know that
the First Amendment prevents government censorship; it does not require
publishers to publish anything. One of his biggest Missouri donors, David Humphreys, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/533285-donor-who-gave-millions-to-hawley-urges-senate-to-censure-him-for" target="_blank">disowned him and called him a “political opportunist,”</a> and has been <a href="https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/josh-hawley-megadonor-calls-for-him-to-be-censured-calls-him-anti-democracy/63-063410d2-5c4b-4dea-b042-1d2c822cd0e1" target="_blank">quoted as saying “Hawley’s irresponsible, inflammatory, and dangerous tactics have incited violence and further discord across America.”</a> He is being shunned.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In addition to the occupation, one more thing changed that undermined Hawley’s
calculation. With the loss of both run-off senate races in Georgia, it became
clear that Trump was not helping Republicans get elected. People started to
blame Trump for the Georgia defeats and distancing themselves from him, and the insurrection in the Capitol added
to the sense that Trump is a spent force. Hawley missed his cue and continued holding on to Trump.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">David Von Drehle, in what now looks like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hawley-isnt-impressing-trump-voters-hes-entertaining-them-with-his-humiliation/2021/01/05/379d9c26-4f77-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html" target="_blank">a prescient
commentary published Jan. 5<sup>th</sup></a>, notes that Hawley’s elite background
makes him an unlikely successor to Trump, and that Trump voters are not likely
to follow him anyway, though they may enjoy the show he creates as a highly educated
elite trying to sidle up to Trump. Trump himself used and spit out all those
who tried to use him to advance their careers, from Jeff Sessions to all the
other presidential primary candidates who hoped to inherit Trump’s followers
and thus held their tongue only to be mocked as “Lyi’n Ted Cruz” and “Li’l
Marco Rubio.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is not clear what the future is for Josh Hawley. His
career certainly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/josh-hawley/index.html" target="_blank">seems in tatters now</a>. It is not likely he will have to resign,
and I doubt a Republican could win a primary against him in four years when he
is up for re-election, but certainly his plans to run for president in 2024 are
over. But it is still a bit sad to see someone take their shot and fail so
spectacularly. Except that his shot was so cynical and undemocratic that the result is probably what
he deserved.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-89334889230395506872020-12-13T11:59:00.002-06:002020-12-15T09:50:06.268-06:00Holiday Cards and Gender<p class="MsoNormal">When my wife applied for her first job, shortly after moving
to New York City in the mid-1980s, she addressed her cover letters to “Dear Sir
or Madam.” At the time, I thought that sounded awkward, and had suggested that “Dear
Sir” was generic enough to include women. She disagreed, and it is a good thing
she did. The job she got was with a small law firm that had a male and a female
partner, and they tossed out all the applications that said “Dear Sir,” which
as I remember it now, was about half the applications. In my defense, female university students were still referred to as “girls” in the Midwest back then, and I had
just learned to say “women,” which was standard on the East Coast. The culture
was changing. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Words change meaning, and have different meaning in
different places. In Hong Kong, female university students rejected being
called “women” because that implied they were married. I remember one student
saying “woman” had a sexual connotation, implying the person was not a virgin. Female
students preferred the term “girl.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When we were in Hong Kong, we often did not find time to
write Christmas or New Year cards. With the end of semester rush (including
grading papers, final exams, and preparing for trips over the holiday), it was
often impossible to get the cards out. One year we sent them out after
Christmas from my parents’ home in Indiana. Twice, I think we sent out Chinese
New Year cards since we were so late. Gradually—and perhaps because we did not
always send cards—we also received fewer cards. I thought email and social
media would perhaps kill holiday cards. But in fact, now that we’re back in the
US, we’ve started getting a lot more cards. I’m also making more of a point to
send cards (though it does not look good for this year; I’m procrastinating by
writing a blog post).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBlcWVQmxzTgLTRxgsKynEt6XHR0Vz8_RA56lD_xiT8xTXr8D6Z6Uz5sE3mg2Cjr6OXubA4alHxhYB53EtQDhWcq3M8EMfKqQrwguijO49SxVJ0qvA236g8t3CFZfnjSWj80BZwg/s1478/TheSchmitts+envelope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBlcWVQmxzTgLTRxgsKynEt6XHR0Vz8_RA56lD_xiT8xTXr8D6Z6Uz5sE3mg2Cjr6OXubA4alHxhYB53EtQDhWcq3M8EMfKqQrwguijO49SxVJ0qvA236g8t3CFZfnjSWj80BZwg/s320/TheSchmitts+envelope.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Card from MO Attorney General, using holiday to build name recognition</span> </td></tr></tbody></table><br />One thing that surprises me is how many cards we get that
are addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Joe Bosco.” There are a number of problems with
this way of addressing the card. First of all, “Joe” is informal, what people
call me in everyday life, but if one adds the title “Mr. and Mrs.” then it
seems the intent is to be formal, so it should be “Joseph.” Is there anyone whose
birth certificate says just “Joe”? (Actually, I just <a href="https://www.whattoexpect.com/baby-names/list/top-baby-names-for-boys/" target="_blank">looked this up</a>, and the
answer is, unfortunately, yes; “Joe” is the 705<sup>th</sup> most common name
of 2019 [just below Lochlan and ahead of Carmelo, and poor “Joey” is 776<sup>th</sup>,
right after Clyde], while “Joseph” is 24<sup>th</sup>). </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But more surprising is how my wife is eliminated from the address.
The female half of the couple becomes just the appendage of the male, since
only the male is named. This reminds me of a famous article in anthropology, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/644457" target="_blank">“The named and the nameless: Gender and person in Chinese society” by Rubie Watson</a>, which talks about how in the past, married women in south China were virtually nameless and how their names did not appear on their tombstones.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This way of addressing cards is especially surprising because most of the cards
we get are from people we know through my wife’s professional contacts. In fact, most
cards are from people I barely even know, but that she knows through work or
boards on which she serves. They may know <i>of</i> me, but in many cases we’ve
not even met.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I suppose that people write their cards like this because
they are being traditional. The sending of holiday cards itself is traditional
(not to say anachronistic). And the holidays are a time of traditional foods
and rituals. But really, people should at least address the card to “Mr. Joseph
and Mrs. Sara Bosco,” (or, if they want to be very hierarchical and proper, “Dr. Joseph
and Mrs. Sara Bosco”--<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/us/jill-biden-doctor-wsj.html" target="_blank">even though I'm not a “real” doctor</a>). Or better, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Sara Bosco. Maybe “Joseph and Sara Bosco” (removing the titles) is
better still, so it doesn’t look like my surname is “Joseph.” And, if we remove the
title, <i>then</i> they can justifiably shorten my name and write “Joe and Sara
Bosco.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>And come to think of it, since they are really writing for
my wife, they should put her name first: “Sara and Joe Bosco.” We never get
cards like that; the “tradition” (aka patriarchy) of putting the male first is
strong. It is hard to actually get angry at people who follow tradition; they
probably worry that if they change the order they might offend me. (As a result,
they offend my wife!)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>It is time to update these traditions, and to address cards
with a bit more thought.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-69836202691637880822020-11-17T23:24:00.010-06:002020-11-18T20:33:57.179-06:00"Among Us" and Family<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CyAGI1vP87xhewVJqN254GDsrtYSMDXDkiUGxHzUGvdFG6kWwDdJTcjERveOWNt8Sbf1RuCHiMnAiPdNMRWCBc6JVJtKge7iDKkfRHm6JHfgSqYVpMOpOGZBbHuy96ExTJ13Ow/s643/AmongUsHomeScreen2018.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="643" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CyAGI1vP87xhewVJqN254GDsrtYSMDXDkiUGxHzUGvdFG6kWwDdJTcjERveOWNt8Sbf1RuCHiMnAiPdNMRWCBc6JVJtKge7iDKkfRHm6JHfgSqYVpMOpOGZBbHuy96ExTJ13Ow/s320/AmongUsHomeScreen2018.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of the game</td></tr></tbody></table>The multiplayer online game “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_Us" target="_blank">Among Us</a>” has become a hit with my adult children and their cousins. In this time of pandemic, when nobody can go out (at least those who understand the risk and those who do not want to spread the virus don’t go out), they are meeting up online to play a game that requires bluffing and arguing. Basically, the game has up to 10 players, and one or two of the players are randomly assigned by the computer to be “imposters,” meaning saboteurs and assassins who murder “crewmates” on a spaceship. Crewmates do not know who the “imposters” are; they have to guess and vote them off the spaceship before being killed in order to win. At any time, any player can call a meeting to vote on identifying the imposters. Players move about the spaceship completing tasks (like repairing the spaceship) in silence and only discuss who they think is an imposter during timed meetings. The original game only has texting, but my children use the VoIP <a href="https://discord.com/" target="_blank">Discord</a>, and only unmute when there is a meeting. (This is to prevent a crewmate revealing the murderer when they are killed, by exclaiming something like, “Oh Anna, how could you!?”) <p></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/mnpjpdhUNjY" target="_blank">Here is a 4-minute video introduction to the game</a>. When I first watched this, I was totally confused. But the game is very popular now, and even got additional attention because AOC has been playing (<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/19/21523878/aoc-twitch-stream-among-us-pokimane" target="_blank">see here</a>). </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoGc8MoQYpClZVi5Z8RFcTSqgx5e9cxcxzY238PE646sgHU7ueeXemp435UragLM1Alz9CoLWf1C9MQ5JZl1nzxHLMFCszhCwYn6HjGfcKebhW3rRx__vL57AN_F-3t3GuOqX5w/s2048/YangGang1999+%25282%2529.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1860" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoGc8MoQYpClZVi5Z8RFcTSqgx5e9cxcxzY238PE646sgHU7ueeXemp435UragLM1Alz9CoLWf1C9MQ5JZl1nzxHLMFCszhCwYn6HjGfcKebhW3rRx__vL57AN_F-3t3GuOqX5w/s320/YangGang1999+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2000 New Year t-shirt<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>What is interesting about the game is not only that my children have been playing two or three times per week for the last month or so, but that they play with their cousins who are spread coast to coast and did not grow up together, and not with other high school or college friends. They play with cousins related through my wife’s parents. My mother-in-law’s sister happened to marry my father-in-law’s brother, so the “cousins” are actually all the grandchildren of two Yang brothers who married two Hsu sisters. They are called the South Bend Yangs and Urbana Yangs, in reference to where they grew up. This is the original “Yang Gang,” a term the family has been using at least since we had a reunion for the turn of the millenium in December 1999. <br /><p></p><p>These “cousins” (which includes both first cousins and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/h16hfv/who_is_my_third_cousin_once_removed_cousins_chart/" target="_blank">second cousins</a>) range in age from 36 to 16 and are spread out across the country, from Maine to Seattle, San Francisco to Columbus, OH, and in Omaha, Chicago and Kalamazoo. All of us in my generation are amazed that these cousins, who really only get together about once a year, are choosing to play this game together, and not just once, but regularly.</p><p>To understand how this has happened, and why we are so happy to see this, we need to step back and talk about “family.”</p><p>When I was doing my first fieldwork in Taiwan in the mid-1980s, many Taiwanese would say to me, “We Chinese value family, not like you Americans.” This used to irk me, because not only did I think family was important in the US, but conservative politicians had been claiming that Americans needed to return to “family values,” which seemed like something no one could be opposed to. I think pretty much every culture claims to value “the family,” though what they mean by “family” will vary by culture. In my father’s Italian-American family in Detroit, the eight siblings met at a lake where they owned 13 acres with some cabins. In the 1950s and ‘60s, my uncles and aunts brought all their families to the lake every weekend during summers. After my grandmother died in 1959 and the next generation started having children of their own and moving to different suburbs, the lake was used less often, but clearly family was important for them too.</p><p>There are certainly differences between cultures, and even within one culture, there are differences between families. In part, this depends on individual personalities, but it also depends on peoples’ expectations of what a family should be like. Still, these individuals’ expectations are themselves shaped by culture. I remember a Taiwanese-American student complaining that though her relatives in Taiwan claimed they valued family, they never ate dinner together. Of course, they ran a restaurant, which made eating together rather difficult! And eating together, while valued in the US, is not the only way a family stays together. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXDNHOsG0vsyWAhiTcoWgb0QxlHsfu29IWHslNlZBVHOjgEMgoLkLUVhjOGesrMCJV0-UlQXFed3w_RBg34TDjcHtDJ78BYjbzUANu8pjqZPoxFyoA-qAU5G1nOOp89QI7g8OAZw/s2048/YangGang2006+%25282%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXDNHOsG0vsyWAhiTcoWgb0QxlHsfu29IWHslNlZBVHOjgEMgoLkLUVhjOGesrMCJV0-UlQXFed3w_RBg34TDjcHtDJ78BYjbzUANu8pjqZPoxFyoA-qAU5G1nOOp89QI7g8OAZw/w200-h150/YangGang2006+%25282%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The logo of the 2006 shirt<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>When I was just starting to date my now-wife back in high school, I phoned her to ask her on a date. I remember hearing her ask her mother, saying, “Mom, can I go to a movie with Joe this Saturday?” And I heard her mother say no, because her older sister was coming back home from college for the weekend. My “potential date” then said to me, “No, I can’t go.” This excuse sounded made-up, the equivalent of “I’ll be busy washing my hair.” If she really wanted to go, I would have expected her to say, “I’ll have to call you back.” Then she could have argued with her mother. I assumed she did not want to go out with me. But to my surprise, my potential date still seemed quite friendly when we met in class the next day, leaving me confused (which is actually the perpetual state of most teenage boys). It turned out that in the Yang family, the kids were expected to be home when older siblings were visiting.<p></p><p>This emphasis on the siblings spending time together with family took many forms. It included eating dinner together and visiting friends as a family, parents and kids together. Another instance I remember is that a few months after we got married, we went to visit my wife’s older sister and her husband in their new home in Maine. My wife’s brother and his wife also went up from Boston, and the younger sister, who was also working in New York City, came up too. That is already fairly remarkable; four siblings making a point of getting together for a long weekend. But more notable was that the parents paid for the 5th and youngest sibling, who was a high school senior, to fly from Indiana to Maine for the mini-reunion. We had fun together, but I don’t think we did anything special (except the food, I imagine; the Yangs always emphasize food); I remember we played “Trivial Pursuits,” which was a new game then. But the point was being together, creating memories and camaraderie together.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicX6hsT5Kgylk6O6ZcE-WOOgSobMuFyEtsYlDtKXrkDoC182mmxwE77GZRiGPcSZw-GGpeS0QMcqgcigvkbtqdospnMKU-1NFUYOMjtfIAXY_ZcsqwTxqLHPLn6zrGwWd3o_gnSQ/s2048/YangGang2002.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicX6hsT5Kgylk6O6ZcE-WOOgSobMuFyEtsYlDtKXrkDoC182mmxwE77GZRiGPcSZw-GGpeS0QMcqgcigvkbtqdospnMKU-1NFUYOMjtfIAXY_ZcsqwTxqLHPLn6zrGwWd3o_gnSQ/w150-h200/YangGang2002.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 2002 t-shirt<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The Yang family has emphasized getting together and having reunions for a long time. Well before Andrew Yang used the term “<a href="https://www.etsy.com/market/yang_gang" target="_blank">Yang Gang</a>,” the South Bend Yang family were making t-shirts for their annual Yang Gang Reunions. It all started with nearly annual weddings in the 80s and early 90s, and once there were children and busy work schedules, more deliberate destination reunions were planned. Many have been in large houses, where groups could go off and have fun during the day and return for a big family dinner and games in the evenings. The entire “Yang Gang” today includes my wife and her four siblings, a spouse or partner for each, plus 15 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren, plus the 17 Urbana Yangs, for a total of 43 people. My in-laws subsidized the reunions to make sure everyone could come.<p></p><p>These reunions are the foundation upon which the players for the “Among Us” games are selected. The reunions created relationships and sympathies that now have a life of their own, and develop further through the game.</p><p>Sadly, there has not been a 2020 reunion. Even the memorial for my father-in-law who died (not of Covid) in July had to be held online via Zoom. A full memorial, and reunion, has to wait for the end of the pandemic. But it is heartwarming to see the cousins use the internet to maintain and strengthen their bonds. Yes, it is only a game. But it is from simple things like this that social relationships are made.</p><p>Today is my mother-in-law’s 90th birthday. Two days ago, we celebrated via a Zoom party with over 100 participants in about 60 Zoom windows. It was organized by her children and grandchildren. This led me to think about how unusual her family is, in solidarity and closeness. Cousins visit and assist each other, and look forward to family reunions. And it comes from decisions she made over the years, from not letting her daughter go on dates when her sister was in town, to sending her youngest son to Maine to be with his older siblings for a weekend, and to subsidizing family reunions. And as a result, her grandchildren play “Among Us,” among family.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22953916.post-57560288447373386002020-11-05T11:47:00.004-06:002020-11-05T17:14:35.505-06:00Election day as a poll worker<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrtTGgcTh1ICAPk1sAF3FFKuXvbiL0MU0aE8qNHCr_vZXuJ62IUon4CsE42QOgPQcpJ3I8-NYP3lkXlKZeMxApSgjtffKL1kERiAtteRaNojva1tacLHduYzTG-kMq-RgkSvBGQ/s1127/Ballot+top.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1127" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyrtTGgcTh1ICAPk1sAF3FFKuXvbiL0MU0aE8qNHCr_vZXuJ62IUon4CsE42QOgPQcpJ3I8-NYP3lkXlKZeMxApSgjtffKL1kERiAtteRaNojva1tacLHduYzTG-kMq-RgkSvBGQ/w400-h288/Ballot+top.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br />I spent election day as a St Louis County poll worker, in
a mostly white working-class district of what people call “South County.” There
are many aspects of this election that depress me, but the kindness and
civility of everyone involved gives me hope.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because of the pandemic, I was not initially eager to serve
(I’m close the age category considered at high risk but don’t have any other
medical issues), but <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/08/trump-election-poll-watching-427008" target="_blank">when Trump called for 50,000 poll watchers</a>, I felt the
need to respond. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the US, only poll officials are allowed to stay in the
voting area, so Trump’s call seemed ridiculous, but since there was a shortage
of poll workers this year (which led to the number of county polling places
being reduced from almost 400 to about 230), I decided to volunteer. I say
“volunteer,” but I should note that I will get paid $225 for my work. But no
one in my polling place did it for the money. We were seven election officials
who worked in three bipartisan teams of two (with one extra Democrat rotating in other positions as people rested) and four nonpartisan “safety coordinators” helping with lines and disinfecting.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjYW8kJCYbtIFZdfWM6mgudqT6Av6rCRwYlVbwETYN33GORoKGmEZcstGfa62LSZQSQQ5s7try0xZy3QA6nU3KFw1QbhzDkEnWM4XBkVLgk9BlBiFg3HU0df_axUnpRM85gda8w/s1107/poll+before+opening20201103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicjYW8kJCYbtIFZdfWM6mgudqT6Av6rCRwYlVbwETYN33GORoKGmEZcstGfa62LSZQSQQ5s7try0xZy3QA6nU3KFw1QbhzDkEnWM4XBkVLgk9BlBiFg3HU0df_axUnpRM85gda8w/s320/poll+before+opening20201103.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polling place before opening<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The day was very long; I had to report at the polling place,
which was an elementary school gym, at 5:00 am, and the polls opened at 6:00
am. We were there until 7:00 pm. We were supposed to have an hour lunch-break,
but that was impossible; it would have put too much of a burden on the
colleagues left to work. I took a 30 minute lunch break in my car, and that was
the only time I was seated all day.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My job was “Safety Coordinator II,” which meant that I was
responsible for wiping down the voting areas after each voter left. I did that
for 13 hours. It was exhausting. We were given only two containers of 300
wipes, so we had to use the wipes on multiple voting areas before getting a new
one. The containers claimed the wipes “kill 99.9% of bacteria” but did not say
anything about viruses, nor did it say it had over 70% alcohol. The
ingredients did list many types of alcohol, but it also listed “aqua,” which is
just a fancy (Italian) word for “water,” so I’m not so sure that all our wiping was
more than theatre.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9kMJLWlqw3_w8au2pWL3iNRz8-xuH2TT43mxaDP4AbIc9cV7gzsR8hoYb_KhufCgO3QujqSlBhTJ8bJOFY0UEt9x5TOQ5ham23itaaW_9mCkidVCU4hkON1VA1OfMPtVE_9ayg/s1107/voting+desk_20201104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9kMJLWlqw3_w8au2pWL3iNRz8-xuH2TT43mxaDP4AbIc9cV7gzsR8hoYb_KhufCgO3QujqSlBhTJ8bJOFY0UEt9x5TOQ5ham23itaaW_9mCkidVCU4hkON1VA1OfMPtVE_9ayg/s320/voting+desk_20201104.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I was not told what to wipe, so I decided to wipe
the desk surface and the parts of the chair that people likely touched,
especially the top of the backrest and front of the seat. The other Safety Coordinator II was a young woman, and she
wiped seats, but I stopped doing that when I realized it took too much of the
wipe’s moisture. Many people seemed reassured that we wiped the voting area and
thanked us for doing it. But a small number of people refused to sit down; some
just leaned over the table and filled out their ballot, and one woman just
stood next to a table we had set up as extra voting space. When I said to her
“You can sit at that table,” she replied angrily, “I’m not sitting down! No one
should be sitting down.” I’m not quite sure what their theory of infection was,
but I assumed people’s clothes and underwear served as masks of sorts that
would prevent any virus from infecting them from below.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One awkward detail I learned is that some people sweat when
they sit, and leave a wet mark on metal chairs. This is especially common with
heavier people, but not the heaviest people.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wore a surgical mask all day (and changed mask at my lunch
break), and wore nitrile gloves all day as well. The gloves were bright orange,
which was convenient because they helped me motion to voters to help them find
empty seats. But I do wonder if, as I leaned over to wipe the seats and the
desks, did I inhale virus being spread by an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic
Covid-19 patient? I guess I’ll know within 14 days.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhM8IsEkWqS9ob-ZomdsPL6dZiiYZi1FlIBHky2IxRIz1I1vNXXKVtkPIRdfKNL9st8VzMIb8chqIhIe3SUTfKX1rRj5Ec0iIyEQzqpkzfHbfgtlZDXB70K311vcGNAuEJEORgQ/s830/face+covering+required_20201103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="622" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhM8IsEkWqS9ob-ZomdsPL6dZiiYZi1FlIBHky2IxRIz1I1vNXXKVtkPIRdfKNL9st8VzMIb8chqIhIe3SUTfKX1rRj5Ec0iIyEQzqpkzfHbfgtlZDXB70K311vcGNAuEJEORgQ/s320/face+covering+required_20201103.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster on face covering<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Everyone was required to wear a mask in line and in the
voting area. It was the job of “Safety Coordinator I” (not me) to make sure
everyone wore a mask and stayed 6 ft apart in line. They also handed out the
pens to voters. The pens had a stylus at one end to sign for a ballot on an
iPad, and a black ballpoint at the other end for filling out the ballot. We
told voters they could “keep the pen as a souvenir” but the pen did not have
any writing on it. This was an improvement on the August primary, because it
meant we did not have to wipe and reuse pens.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The voting process is interestingly baroque. There are three
stations that operate simultaneously to process each voter. Each station has
two poll workers, one Democrat and one Republican, and their equipment includes
an iPad, which displays the voter’s address and allows him/her to sign for the
ballot, and a printer that prints out the double-sided ballot on 14-inch paper.
Each voter needs to produce an ID or the sample ballot flyer mailed to their
address, and this gets scanned. Both officials need to approve on the iPad and
actually initial the printed ballot. These two officials have to work right
next to each other; even wearing a mask, there is no “social distancing,” and
after 13 hours together, I would be surprised if an infected person did not
pass the infection to their partner.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVQfRnUaAtnbe-eIe8mwcWZJnhBJNaevdYzTTWFErQKjJdDTOJAfaQRLe-2TtHeVrfWAd7dX131-LBlGTW-sGn6dHqv7TJPVA3FUH86gkk7pZ7odKEeT8N114r6YiSN2opIBKZQQ/s1131/ballot+side+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1131" data-original-width="636" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVQfRnUaAtnbe-eIe8mwcWZJnhBJNaevdYzTTWFErQKjJdDTOJAfaQRLe-2TtHeVrfWAd7dX131-LBlGTW-sGn6dHqv7TJPVA3FUH86gkk7pZ7odKEeT8N114r6YiSN2opIBKZQQ/w225-h400/ballot+side+1.PNG" width="225" /></a></div>The voter then takes their ballot and finds a space to fill
it out. The spaces are just tables with cardboard partitions for privacy. The
process of filling out the ballot would be much faster if voters were given
wide markers, but they have to fill a box with a normal pen, and since there
are around 25 items to vote on, it will take 6 minutes even if the voter only
takes 15 seconds to fill in each box. (As an aside: one voter did not
understand me when I said “fill in the box”; she insisted she had done so with
an X, and then corrected me, saying, “Oh, you mean I have to shade in the box.” She made me feel like English was not my native language! I <a href="https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/shade+in#" target="_blank">see now that “to darken some bounded area” is the second meaning of “shade in.”</a>) If a voter needs to look up information, it will take longer. Missouri does
not have a box that allows one to vote the straight party ticket; one man
commented to me that it would be better if we did. And they do not provide or
allow markers. It Taiwan and Hong Kong, voters have an ink-stamp in the voting
booth and the just stamp a check mark in a large square. That makes voting a
lot faster. It is interesting, though, because ballots there are much shorter;
they do not vote on the vast number of offices, judges, and propositions that
we vote for in Missouri.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjIi2d4z1mYthpgK3gU5TvUemAaQVjADqR7_vrG8TKF5qyNgpH3IZVpWTxZXam62akMv0ZUQp_PCb4v5goQBZzNLemXPV8zxbqWk6L9Iu6zVb_a5wysPmmc1PIQyXg6eXDaAD3w/s830/Voting+instructions_20201104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="622" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjIi2d4z1mYthpgK3gU5TvUemAaQVjADqR7_vrG8TKF5qyNgpH3IZVpWTxZXam62akMv0ZUQp_PCb4v5goQBZzNLemXPV8zxbqWk6L9Iu6zVb_a5wysPmmc1PIQyXg6eXDaAD3w/s320/Voting+instructions_20201104.jpg" /></a></div>After the voter has finished making their selections, they
take the ballot to a machine they call “the Verity,” which refers to a company
that makes the ballot machines. It can scan the ballot no matter what side you
insert first. After about 6 seconds, it either confirms the ballot was read
correctly, or spits it back out and tells you that there is some error.
Sometimes voters accidentally mark a second candidate, or they fail to notice
the choices on the back side of the ballot (this happens to a surprising number,
maybe 10 percent). Since the back side of the ballot includes only questions
about retaining judges and constitutional amendments, many voters have no
opinion and so either purposely left it blank or decided to approve the ballot
in the Verity machine even though leaving it blank was actually an oversight. (You can see a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2rrP58ofQ" target="_blank">video from the manufacturer here</a> or below) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kx2rrP58ofQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="Kx2rrP58ofQ"></iframe></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One big advantage of the voting system in St Louis County is
that if the voter makes a mistake filling out the ballot, they can be issued a
new ballot. The ballot with the mistake is taken back and marked “SPOILED,” and
the voter can try again. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, if your stamp mark is outside
the box, the ballot is spoiled, and they cannot give you a new ballot because
the ballots come pre-printed and are limited to the number of registered voters
(to prevent ballot stuffing). One family must have spent about 40 minutes in
the polling place, as one member made repeated mistakes and had to get a new
ballot twice, for a total of three ballots.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the past, voters put the ballot in a folder, and the
folder was presented to the machine to preserve secrecy. Now, the poll
workers who run the Verity machines can see who you voted for as you put the
ballot into the feeder. Most people held the top and bottom of the ballot
together so other people could not see who they voted for. But as a poll worker, and
one who was near the voters as they filled out their ballots and put them in
the Verity machine, I noticed that it is very difficult to see the ballot
and identify who they voted for. It is still quite private, even if voters
flash their ballot around.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All the ballots are collected in boxes under the Verity
machine, and at the end of the night, they were removed, put into a neat stack,
and put in an orange bag for a supervisor to deliver to a drop-off point, along
with the disk drives in the Verity machines that include the totals for each
race. These totals can be easily uploaded, which is why the results of the
election were known just hours later. I was a bit surprised that we had all the
ballots scattered across two tables as six of us created a neat pile, but with
bi-partisan judges present, there could not be any hanky-panky. Plus, the paper
ballots were only back up in case of a recount or technical malfunction.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhMcDQWAOpVMFZBidgwko_yaU2fGiK9baRh8-omxKA3rVsgYYB8IABW_JvYhcdnsq-keOKaShro5v__F6FZBXkjsqXWEM7vLBsIo4nBvfDyN5jFInB_b5gtZ6wHUDcsYC3Nxbk6g/s425/I+voted+today.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="425" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhMcDQWAOpVMFZBidgwko_yaU2fGiK9baRh8-omxKA3rVsgYYB8IABW_JvYhcdnsq-keOKaShro5v__F6FZBXkjsqXWEM7vLBsIo4nBvfDyN5jFInB_b5gtZ6wHUDcsYC3Nxbk6g/w200-h195/I+voted+today.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The Verity is next to the exit, and voters left at that
point, with their stylus/pen as a souvenir (though many chose to leave it next
to the Verity machine). All voters got an “I voted today” sticker.<br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Everything went smoothly, but there were a few issues. In
the morning, I suddenly saw an attractive woman in line; I was so tired, it did
not immediately occur to me that she seemed “attractive” because I could
actually see her face. She had apparently worn a mask on in line outside the
building, where the Safety Coordinator I was checking, but later took it off. A
supervisor went over to talk to her, and then a Republican poll worker escorted
her out of the gym without incident. I’m not sure what he told her, but the
rule is very clear that voters were not allowed in the polling area unless they
were wearing a mask. Alternative arrangements had been made at the Board of
Elections office in Saint Ann; persons not wearing a mask could vote in an outdoor tent.
The woman had waited close to an hour in line, but still preferred to leave
rather than wear a mask. Another woman came in with only a clear face shield; that should not have been allowed, but no one said anything to her. I estimate that about a quarter of voters were not wearing the mask properly, either leaking too much around the nose or not tucked under the chin, and one person wore a mask that looked more like a screen because I could see his mouth through it. None of this was commented upon.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As soon as the polls closed at 7:00 pm, two of the four
Republican poll workers took off their masks; not only were they putting all
their fellow workers at risk, but I’m pretty sure that was against the county mask
mandate. Everyone else kept their masks on, so that I will never recognize my
fellow workers because I did not see them without a mask. It is also
interesting that a few years ago, Republicans passed a “Voter ID Law” that
requires voters to produce a photo ID, but no one checked the photograph, and no one
had to take off their mask to prove who they were. A Middle Eastern woman all
dressed in black, with her hair covered in a black chador and wearing a black
mask, almost looked like she was wearing a burqa.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was probably overly cautious, but I made sure I did not
wear any red or blue clothing; I wore a yellow oxford shirt and grey sweater.
Voters were not allowed to wear any partisan clothing or other items, like a
“Make America Great Again” hat. I did get the impression some people may have
worn Cardinals hats because they were red like MAGA hats, because they also
often wore a T-shirt with an American flag on it, but not everyone with a
Cardinals hat voted Republican. One woman wore a T-shirt that said “Why be
racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic when you could just be quiet.” Another
had a T-shirt with an American flag on it and the words, “Just honor it.” Not
much doubt about their politics. One Black woman had a mask with the words
“Black Lives Matter” stitched on the side, and a supervisor—herself a person of
color—told the woman to lower the mask a bit so the writing would not be visible.
The supervisor told me later she was not sure if BLM was allowed, but did not
want any controversy or complaints. This same supervisor had told me earlier
that other people in line had said they were uncomfortable with the woman not
wearing a mask, though I did not see anyone complain or make comments.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnaN5vq7fOHdGFVZ6nYqWMBNZe72FxwOmQKbfzWSFerBQCQRjr9F5hvsE0c2LdTRjJA7t3NVP5n6SY74QfooYr22MXAuDzluy2RHhccIrqJIk7y718nkDJIVEEnFlu8Zum8QADg/s1107/the+line_20201103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnaN5vq7fOHdGFVZ6nYqWMBNZe72FxwOmQKbfzWSFerBQCQRjr9F5hvsE0c2LdTRjJA7t3NVP5n6SY74QfooYr22MXAuDzluy2RHhccIrqJIk7y718nkDJIVEEnFlu8Zum8QADg/s320/the+line_20201103.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the line outside the school at 1:00 pm<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Our line was 150 persons long at the start of the day, and
shortened to about 75 over lunchtime, but got longer again after lunch, to
almost 200. We processed about 150 voters per hour. Finally, at 6:10 pm, there was no line. We continued to process
a few people who came in, but they did not have to wait in line. This year,
voters could vote at any polling station, and did not have to go to the one in
their district. There was also a new app this year that told voters how
long the lines were at each polling place, and some late voters were coming
from a nearby library, where the line was still very long. One woman told me
she had been in our line in the morning but realized she did not have time to
wait because she had to go to work, so she came back after 6:00 when she got
off work.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have two final take-aways from the experience. First is
the realization that a huge number of voters have no idea what they are doing. They probably know how they want to vote for president, but are increasingly unsure as they go down the ballot. The district I was in had some immigrants and
non-native English speakers. Some were like an Arab man who sheepishly told me
that this was his first election and he wanted to know what to do. He was
well-dressed, seemed educated, and spoke fairly good English, though he had to
translate for his wife who seemed to know no English. They seemed to know how
they wanted to vote but were not familiar with the ballot layout and voting
system. A family of four Asians, perhaps Burmese, had to have their ballots
re-printed multiple times because they made mistakes. One man had chosen
multiple candidates for each office, and we had trouble explaining to him that
he had to choose one for each office. Several immigrants had trouble with this.
While immigrants were more likely to have major errors and require help,
plenty of native-born people were confused and/or did not fill out the whole
ballot. One man in his 30s asked me if the constitutional amendment “to extend
the two term restriction that currently applies to the Governor and Treasurer
to the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, Auditor and the Attorney General”
meant that they would also have a limit or if it removed the limit.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiGZRkv2PGE_Ylr8FXLwXqcL0fOeGYdYrNGua-fVUJ_88DnQ1Iy1xpRkyJ4x-WoK0syFmh554TRXShMAiOLD9nabxU7jr3_YEu3nDheogzzEJkHGEXmA22z0JHW5T6-EnKLq0E4g/s607/Const+Amendm+3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="351" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiGZRkv2PGE_Ylr8FXLwXqcL0fOeGYdYrNGua-fVUJ_88DnQ1Iy1xpRkyJ4x-WoK0syFmh554TRXShMAiOLD9nabxU7jr3_YEu3nDheogzzEJkHGEXmA22z0JHW5T6-EnKLq0E4g/s320/Const+Amendm+3.PNG" /></a></div>One older lady read the proposal for Constitutional
Amendment No. 3 and asked me if I could help her decide, because her note said
to vote against it but it seemed to make sense to her. She herself added, “You
probably aren’t allowed to tell me, right?” to which I agreed. That
Constitutional Amendment passed by 51% to 49%. It was pushed by the Republican
Party to undo an anti-gerrymandering reform proposal passed by 63% of voters
two years ago. This amendment was purposely phrased in such a manner to be
deceptive, because the first clause bans gifts from paid lobbyists to
legislators (which is already heavily limited) and “reduces legislative
campaign limits” but does so insignificantly. The main clause is the third,
which reversed the reforms passed in 2018. In addition, I found out today, the
day after the election, that this amendment also removes children and the
undocumented population from the population for each district, giving more
power to rural areas (where the population is much older than in cities and
where there are few undocumented workers). Commentators note that this further
cements the Republican Party’s structural advantage in the Missouri
legislature.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You might say that this is clever political maneuvering by
the Republicans, which is a valid point. But with so many races to vote on, it
is hard to focus attention on these propositions and amendments. Americans are
used to accepting the results of elections, even when so many of the
voters are uninformed. As I mentioned, many people did not even bother to vote
on the second page of the ballot, and these important amendments are at the
very end of the ballot. In a close vote like this one, 51%-49%, with many voters confused, the result is essentially random. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This reminds me of E.E. Evans-Pritchard’s discussion of how
the Azande made important decisions. When they needed to schedule an important
trip or venture, they would consult an oracle. Their most famous oracle is
called a poison oracle, because <i>benge</i>, a poison made from plants, was
force-fed to a young chicken, and a question is posed to the oracle: “If this
is a good time for the venture, kill the chicken” or “...spare the chicken.”
The result told them what to do. Evans-Pritchard is famous for arguing that as
a way of deciding things, it is as good as any other. We, as modern Westerners,
see this as absurd because whether or not the chicken dies is random, affected
by the amount of poison fed to the chicken, the poison’s concentration, the
health and strength of the chicken, etc. But I’m sure that many in China are
looking at our elections and thinking our results are just as irrational and
random as the “poison oracle.” All we can say in our defense is to quote
Churchill: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The level of ignorance among voters is a bit depressing, but
another aspect of the experience is more uplifting. Quite a few people thanked
us for volunteering, and one woman told us that she would order six pizzas for
us, and sure enough, 30 minutes later, a Domino’s deliveryman brought us six
pizzas. I was struck by how uniformly polite everyone was, with nearly everyone
saying “Thank you,” as we pointed to empty seats for them or wiped areas. The
Democrats and Republicans checking IDs and printing ballots and running the
Verity machines never had any arguments or disagreements. Even late in the day, they were cheerful and polite to all voters. We knew who was of
what party because we needed to make sure there was someone from each party at
each machine, but someone coming in and watching would not have known who belonged
to what party. No politics was discussed at all, even obliquely. No one said anything about the
outcomes, or even that this election was close or nerve-wracking. I had two conversations
with workers where the topic of what we would do the day after came up, and no
one talked about staying up late to following the results. The civility and
courtesy of the whole process made recent talk of possible violence and even
civil war seem ludicrous. This was not only “Midwest nice”; it was also
democracy in action.</p>JBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03946582287245753651noreply@blogger.com1