Why CEOs lack courage is a good question to begin with. I'm not aware of many (or any?) successful boycotts or mass resignations around woke issues. What is so serious about angry twitter mobs that could distract a CEO from focusing solely on the business?
My theory: CEOs care deeply about the opinions of the fellow elites they rub elbows with. I dub this the "cocktail party effect." Woke virtue signaling has somehow become a status symbol among the elites and they look down upon others who don't do the same (actually doing anything about such issues is not required).
And how did such values become fashionable? My theory is they help address an underlying guilt about just how bifurcated our society has become via extreme inequality etc. A lot of elites probably have some awareness that they haven't done anything remarkable to amass such wealth.
"Shellenberger constantly argues that try to help the homeless by giving them stuff and asking for nothing in return is bad for them and bad for society."
Yes, this needs to be said more often. We have this worst-of-both-worlds scenario where the guy living on the street is conceived of in may people's minds as a victim, and thus is free to do as he pleases, while society (ie, the rest of us) have an obligation to him for having made him a victim or something like that. We have to finance half a dozen city and state agencies to make sure he has adequate food, shelter, clothing, transportation, emergency medical care, opportunities to enter rehab, counseling, public housing, etc. Enormous sums of money are spent trying to reach and/or help these people, and if you question the utility or wisdom of this, we'll, you're a social darwinist or something even worse. I'm not against having a social safety net, but when these benefits/social services/handouts exist with no obligations on the part of recipients, the reality is the public is just financing deviant, self-destructive lifestyles on the part of drug addicts and the mentally ill. Boo.
Today's Commentary podcast with Wil Reilly was very good
Bari Weiss will be on the podcast Friday
https://www.commentary.org/john-podhoretz/wokeness-and-orwell/
Another good one today - and, by good I mean disturbing - on Woke Medicine
https://www.commentary.org/noah-rothman/first-do-no-harm-3/
Why CEOs lack courage is a good question to begin with. I'm not aware of many (or any?) successful boycotts or mass resignations around woke issues. What is so serious about angry twitter mobs that could distract a CEO from focusing solely on the business?
My theory: CEOs care deeply about the opinions of the fellow elites they rub elbows with. I dub this the "cocktail party effect." Woke virtue signaling has somehow become a status symbol among the elites and they look down upon others who don't do the same (actually doing anything about such issues is not required).
And how did such values become fashionable? My theory is they help address an underlying guilt about just how bifurcated our society has become via extreme inequality etc. A lot of elites probably have some awareness that they haven't done anything remarkable to amass such wealth.
"Shellenberger constantly argues that try to help the homeless by giving them stuff and asking for nothing in return is bad for them and bad for society."
Yes, this needs to be said more often. We have this worst-of-both-worlds scenario where the guy living on the street is conceived of in may people's minds as a victim, and thus is free to do as he pleases, while society (ie, the rest of us) have an obligation to him for having made him a victim or something like that. We have to finance half a dozen city and state agencies to make sure he has adequate food, shelter, clothing, transportation, emergency medical care, opportunities to enter rehab, counseling, public housing, etc. Enormous sums of money are spent trying to reach and/or help these people, and if you question the utility or wisdom of this, we'll, you're a social darwinist or something even worse. I'm not against having a social safety net, but when these benefits/social services/handouts exist with no obligations on the part of recipients, the reality is the public is just financing deviant, self-destructive lifestyles on the part of drug addicts and the mentally ill. Boo.