Hate Studies

  Vituperation is in vogue, everyone is angry and hatred is everywhere. A recent article bore the subtitle "To Stop Hate We Have to Understand It" and just today Paul Krugman asked "Why Such Hatred?" The question was raised in response to the Republicans' suggestion that the unemployment benefits currently in place would be extended "Over our dead bodies." I am not sure why people are so hostile and the animosity palpable. But, to answer the question "Why Such Hatred?" I can at least direct you to the places and sources where you can learn about the subject. If your children are about to go off to a university, perhaps you should suggest that they major in Hate rather than the Humanities. They are already likely to be more interested in studying feelings than thoughts.

One of the places in Ontario offering such a subject is Ontario Tech's Centre on Hate Bias and Extremism. Just today it was announced that the Centre will receive funding, ironically enough, from a major vendor of hate - Facebook. Here is the source and more are provided below.

"Facebook Partners With Ontario University on 'Global Network' to Counter Rise in Online Hate'" Elizabeth Thompson · CBC News · Posted: Jul 28, 2020 Faced with a rising tide of online hate and advertiser boycotts, Facebook Canada will announce today that it is teaming up with Ontario Tech University's Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism to create what it calls the Global Network Against Hate. The network, which is to receive $500,000 from Facebook over five years, is being tasked with spotting emerging trends in online extremism and developing strategies, policies and tools to counter them. The move comes as experts like Barbara Perry, director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, warn that the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming U.S. election campaign are likely to drive a wave of online hate postings in Canada and elsewhere over the coming months — hate that could spill over to the offline world.

Places to Major in Hate

International Network for Hate Studies (INHS)

   This is the place to begin. Apart from the useful links, one can learn about "Anti-Hate Initiatives" and the "Online Library" covers subjects ranging from "Age and Hate Crime" to "Weight Bias (?).

The Gonzaga Institute for Hate Studies

Bard Center for the Study of Hate 

Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism

Centre on Hate Bias and Extremism 

We have all witnessed the dramatic increase in hate-motivated crimes across Canada and the multiple forms of extremism on the rise globally. Now is the time to pursue a more inclusive and equitable future for all, and Ontario Tech University is leading the charge.

There are more, for example: Centre for Hate Studies, University of Leicester and the Hate and Hostility Research Group, University of Limerick.

You can also consider majoring in the related field of "Peace and Conflict Studies". For such programs see "Peace and Conflict Studies in Canada."

Sources:

   You will find plenty in the Online Library provided by INHS above. There are Wikipedia entries for Hate Studies and Hatred.

   For an article about Gonzaga see:

"Why Do We Hate? Academics Seek Answer in New Field," Nicholas K. Geranios

This is an AP article and a version is found in “In A World Plagued by Hate, New Field of Study Sets Out to Ask Why,” Nicholas K. Geranios, Globe and Mail, Nov. 19, 2009.

   For a Canadian article see:

"Is the Time Right for a Field of Hate Studies? A single interdisciplinary field would bring new insights and understanding to this very human reality, say proponents, but others aren’t sure it’s necessary," Maggie Ma, University Affairs, Aug. 17, 2011. The article is available here. 

   The question by Krugman was raised in: "The Cult of Selfishness is Killing America, New York Times, July 28, 2020.

For a book: 

In his biting new critique of partisan media, Hate Inc., he puts the progressive cable news channel[MSNBC] in the same dishonorable category as Fox News. Despite their obvious political differences, he argues, both have made the news a consumer product designed “not just to make you mad, but keep you mad, whipped up in a state of devotional anger.”

For Hate Maps see:

the Southern Poverty Law Center or 

the Anti Defamation League

For Hate Symbols: 

The ADL also produces a Hate Symbols Database where you can learn about such things as 14 Words - "14 Words is a reference to the popular white supremacist slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

This is the ADL "Pyramid of Hate"

The Pyramid of Hate illustrates the prevalence of bias, hate and oppression in our society. It is organized in escalating levels of attitudes and behavior that grow in complexity from bottom to top. Like a pyramid, the upper levels are supported by the lower levels.

 

The Bright Side

   Not all the news is bad during this time of the Great Flu. As someone who specializes in the contrarian, I thought I would provide you with a few good bits.

   One does not have to read the following article since the very good news is obvious in the headline: "Corporate Insiders Pocket $1 Billion in Rush For Coronavirus Vaccine," David Gelles and Jesse Drucker, New York Times, July 25, 2020.

  Jeff Bezos also continues to do well and you don't need to be concerned about his ex-wife. This was found on Bloomberg News:

Jeff Bezos added $13 billion to his net worth on Monday, the largest single-day jump for an individual since the Bloomberg Billionaires Index was created in 2012.

Bezos, Amazon’s 56-year-old founder and the world’s richest person, has seen his fortune swell $74 billion in 2020 to $189.3 billion, despite the U.S. entering its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. He’s now personally worth more than the market valuation of giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Nike Inc. and McDonald’s Corp.

and

Mackenzie Bezos, his ex-wife, gained $4.6 billion Monday and is now the 13th-richest person in the world.

   If you are among the fortunate ones and are healthy, but still worried about the coming of the fall and the prospect that we might have to remain hunkered down, there are options like these:

   The marketing folks at Hilton Head are suggesting you can rent a home there and your kids can "Go Back to School Island Style."

   If you would rather be locked down this winter somewhere really warm, consider Barbados. 

Here are some related headlines:

Out of Office: Barbardos Prime Minister Welcomes Remote Workers: Proposes 12-Month Visa.

Working From Home Can Soon Mean Working in Barbados For Up To A Year.

The Bonus:

   Additional good news: The NHL resumes play on August 1, and you can watch the Kentucky Derby on Sept.5 and view The Masters in November. [the normal dates for these events were altered due to Covid.]

   So there; things aren't so bad.

   

Entomophagy

Cricket Farming

   The fancy word I used to get your attention has to do with the eating of insects. That is our subject for today. I raise it because I read a good related article yesterday in the London Free Press. The article also actually contained some good news and it was good in that it was done by one of the last surviving local reporters. 

   Norman De Bono (the reporter) revealed that, London will become home to the world’s largest indoor cricket farm with Aspire Food Group opening a 100,000-square-foot plant here that will act as a launch pad to bring bugs, as food, to the North American market....At the plant, crickets will be hatched and grown on-site and will become a tasteless, odourless protein powder that will be sold as a food additive, and will also be used to make protein bars. I do think that attracting such a company is a good thing  and I am glad that London seems to be focussing on the food sector as an area for economic development, even as the city continues to expand onto good agricultural land. If we can't grow food, perhaps we can at least process and manufacture some.

   I will provide more information below about the raising of crickets for food. There is, for example, another cricket farm in Norwood, Ontario and you can already buy their cricket powder at local grocery stores. I know all of this because I did some investigative reporting of my own. I did so because I was aware of a use for a major by-product of cricket raising and I wanted to see if it was mentioned. It was not, but I am sure these new food entrepreneurs must be aware of the potential profit to be made from the poop of crickets.

Kricket Krap

   The hobby of my last father-in-law was raising tomatoes. Starting them from seeds under lights in the basement in the early Canadian spring, he nurtured them through the summer and talked about them throughout the entire year. It was for that reason that I gave him as a present some high grade organic fertilizer. This stocking stuffer came in the form of a package of cricket crap from Georgia. Perhaps the choice of such a gift explains why I had more than one father-in-law. In any case, that is why I noticed the article about the new London cricket farm.

   Although I did not find any mention of cricket crap in any of the current articles I did learn that the company in Georgia which provided my father-in-law with Kricket Krap back at the end of the last century is still producing it in this one. If you are interested in crickets as food or as the producers of fertilizer read on.

Sources:

   The article about the local cricket business: "Edible Insects: London's Agri-Food Sector Lands Unique Factory," Norman De Bono, London Free Press, July 21, 2020. 

   The website of the Aspire Food Group is here.  The company also has an operation in Austin, Texas and for some additional information about the company see: 

"How To Breed a Tasty Cricket," Phil McCausland, The Atlantic, Sept, 24, 2015. and

"This Giant Automated Cricket Farm is Designed to Make Bugs a Mainstream Source of Protein," Adele Peters, Fast Company, Aug. 17, 2018.

   The other Ontario cricket producer is Entomo Farms. For additional information see: "Bugs As Livestock? A Canadian Insect Farm is Taking Cricket Powder Mainstream," CBC, Mar. 9, 2018 and "Family of Cricket Farmers Tries Not To Take Their Work Home," Donovan Vincent, Toronto Star," Mar. 31, 2018.

   To buy your own cricket poop go to Bricko Farms in Augusta, Georgia.  Articles about Kricket Krap were circulated by Knight-Ridder back in 1991. See: "Jiminy Cricket! Droppings Make Great Fertilizer," Baltimore Sun, Nov. 3, 1991 and "They Call It What It Is and Sales Haven't Been the Same Since," Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 6, 1991.

   Wikipedia has an entry for Entomophagy and a good piece about it was produced by the folks at University of California, Riverside: Entomophagy (Eating Insects). 

   To grow your own, buy: Cricket Breeding Made Easy or Cricket Farming: The Ultimate DIY Guide. 

The Bonus: 

   Think you would never eat insects - you already are:

However, many westerners unwittingly eat insects or insect parts every day without knowing about it!! It has been estimated that the average American eats about two pounds of dead insects and insect parts a year. These bugs are in vegetables, rice, beer, pasta, spinach and broccoli. The US Food and Drug Administration has allowable insect parts per certain food types. For example, beer which is made from hops, can contain up to 2,500 aphids per 10 grams of hops!!! (From the UC Riverside piece noted above.) 

 

The Old Philosopher

Encouraging Words For The Discouraged

  We live in troubled times and even those who have been only marginally inconvenienced by the current pandemic are depressed by it. I have been searching for words of solace to offer, but found none which were satisfactory among the writings of real philosophers and positive psychologists. Then I recalled some from the past which are heard on a 45 RPM and which were delivered regularly by the “Old Philosopher” via AM radio stations back in the mid-1950s.

Eddie Lawrence

  Eddie (the Old Philosopher) was really a comedian and his record made it to the Billboard Top 40. If you lived during those less troubled times, you will probably remember it unfondly. It was one of those novelty tunes, like The Purple People Eater, which was played too many times on the few radio stations and it would never have been chosen for the last dance.

   Still, it is worth listening to today and I will provide a link to it below. It begins slowly with soft music and a short list of lamentations offered by Lawrence who sounds “sort of like a crying Jolson.” Then the chorus provides a loud Sousa-like tune with the following words which I present here for those of you who heard them too many times and don’t want to listen to them again. 

      Lift your head up high! Take a walk in the sun with that dignity and stick-to-it-iveness and you’ll show the world, you’ll show them where to get off. You’ll never give up, never give up, never give up - that ship!

Hang in there.

Sources:

There is a Wikipedia entry for Eddie Lawrence.

He died 2014 and an obituary is found in the NYT. That is where I found the Jolson quote. See:

“Eddie Lawrence Dies at 95: Comedy’s ‘Old Philosopher” - “Encouraging Words For Life’s Predicaments From A Character on Records and TV,” William Yardley, New York Times, Mar. 31, 2014.

The song can be heard here - The Merry Old Philosopher. 

The Bonus Stuff:

   The motif of the song was used to promote a number of products. According to the obituary, John Lennon got Lawrence to produce one to promote a record by Harry Nilsson. Here is how the pitch began:

   “Hiya pussy cat: You say you opened up a bicycle wash and the first six customers drowned, and they picked you up in the wax museum for trying to score with Marie Antoinette? Is that what's got you down pussy cat?...Ta da…. Well rise up, get yourself Harry Nilsson’s new record, “Pussy Cats” produced by John Lennon.”

Angela Madsen (R.I.P.)

      This post is interesting and should be inspirational. It is not about me. Even though we are living during the time of the Great Flu, many of us probably do too much whining (or whinging or even whingeing) about problems or issues that result in inconveniences that are often very minor ones. My toe hurts, for example, and it is raining, but this is not about me.

   It is about Angela Madsen and she was the one who is interesting and can inspire us to be a little tougher. I write ‘was’ because I only learned about her in her recent obituary. She died at the age of 60, alone in the Pacific where she had been rowing for about 60 days. Her legs didn't work. She had no breasts.

   The obituary begins this way and only gets worse:

Angela Madsen was a healthy young Marine who was playing basketball when she suffered a serious back injury in 1981. When she had back surgery a dozen years later, at 33, she woke up paralyzed from the waist down. She lost her job, her partner cleaned out her bank account and left her, and for a time she lived on the streets, sleeping in her wheelchair in front of Disneyland.

In case you can’t get behind the firewall I will itemize some of the other difficulties she faced and provide additional sources. She got pregnant while still a junior in high school. Apart from the injury and the botched surgery and the paraplegia, she broke a leg and some ribs in a car accident. She fell from her wheelchair onto the tracks of the San Francisco, subway, injuring her brain, but “even cancer and a double mastectomy did not slow her down.”

  None of those things slowed her down. Apart from the Pacific she also rowed across the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans and around the United Kingdom. She also won gold medals as a Paralympian in rowing and other medals in events such as throwing a javelin and putting a shot. In short, she is worth reading about and we should all complain less and do more.

Sources:

   The obituary: "Angela Madsen, Paralympian Rower, Dies on Solo Pacific Voyage at 60, Katharine Q. Seelye, New York Times, June 30, 2020.

   See also: "Paralympian Angela Madsen Found Dead While Trying to Row From California to Hawaii, " Allen Kim, CNN, June 26, and  “Paralympic Rowing Star Dies During Solo Crossing of Pacific, "Tom Lutz, The Guardian, June 24, 2020.

   Apparently Madsen went overboard in an attempt to fix a problem as a typhoon approached. She was found attached to her boat. Details are provided at the website The Row of Life and on Explorersweb.com - "What Happened to Angela Madsen?".

  This was not her first problem at sea. In one account a huge container ship almost resulted in her drowning during a rescue attempt. There are several YouTube accounts about her. She is typically poised and well-spoken. See, for example, the interview with Jennifer Longdon - "Angela Madsen: Rowing Against the Wind."

The Bonus

   Another tough woman without legs is also in the news these days. Senator Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) lost hers during the Iraq War as a pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter. She also was not slowed down and became a U.S. Senator and mother - the first to give birth while serving in the Senate. 

   She was attacked by Tucker Carlson on Fox News, apparently for hating America. I gather her husband doesn't know that since he is also an Iraq War veteran.

See: "Tammy Duckworth Confronts Nativist Smears From Tucker Carlson," Reid J. Epstein," New York Times, July 8, 2020.

  For more about Senator Duckworth see the Wikipedia entry and her Senate biography. 

Brock's Monument

Statues Again

    In an attempt to ignore, and avoid commenting upon, the continuous contemporary kerfuffles over things like words and statues, I grabbed from the shelf a copy of Dicken’s American Notes for General Circulation. It is the “Cheap Edition” published in 1850 and it was withdrawn and discarded by the Library in which I used to work.  Even in a book originally published over 175 years ago, however, the subject of statues and the destruction of them could not be avoided. 

    After travelling through the States, Dickens detours to Canada on his way home. Upon reaching the Niagara Peninsula he sees the huge statue of General Brock, which had been partially destroyed for political reasons. Here is his description which includes his opinion of what should be done.

From American Notes:

   On the most conspicuous of these heights stood a monument erected by the Provincial legislature in memory of General Brock, who was slain in a battle with the American Forces, after having won the victory. Some vagabond, supposed to be a fellow of the name of Lett, who is now, or who lately was, in prison as a felon, blew up this monument two years ago, and it is now a melancholy ruin, with a long fragment of iron railing hanging dejectedly from its top, and waving to and fro like a wild ivy branch or broken vine stem. It is of much higher importance than it may seem, that this statue should be repaired at the public cost, as it ought to have been long ago. Firstly, because it is beneath the dignity of England to allow a memorial raised in honour of one of her defenders, to remain in this condition, on the very spot where he died. Secondly, because the sight of it in its present state, and the recollection of the unpunished outrage which brought it to this pass, is not very likely to soothe down border feelings among English subjects here, or compose their border quarrels and dislikes.

   General Brock died in the Battle of Queenston Heights during the War of 1812. The monument to him was blown apart in 1840, most likely by Benjamin Lett who hated the British and Brock was a British General. The monument was replaced in the 1850s.

    Generally, General Brock has been regarded as a hero and there are towns and streets named after him. There is another statue of him not far from Niagara on the campus of Brock University. Now, however, sentiments are shifting and his statue and the things named to honour him, may soon be scrutinized by those who wish to erase all the horrible things in history. 

Sources:

   There are Wikipedia entries for Isaac Brock, Brock's Monument and Benjamin Lett.

American Notes is available electronically over the Internet and is an enjoyable read. 

   The picture above is provided by Niagara Tourism and for now the monument is still standing.

The Bonus Stuff:

   The issue of potentially problematic university names was touched upon in my prescient, but unread year-end post back in 2017. I did not include Brock University, but I did mention some other Canadian ones and several in the U.S. In answer to the question I posed - "Do Larger Problems Loom?" I suggested that these universities might consider setting up a "New Name Committee".

The larger issue relates to the complete university not just the structures on the campus. What if the name applied to the entire university is tainted? I feel that it is my duty to alert you to some possible problems. In short, you would short the following colleges and universities if they were stocks or securities. The alphabetical list by institution includes the name of the person along with the alleged ‘crime’. 

Alcorn State (James L. He was a Confederate. Alcorn is largely black!)

Austin Peay  (Austin Peay. Like Jefferson, fathered a black child.)

Clemson ( Thomas Green. Married Calhoun’s daughter - see Yale above.)

Drake (Francis Marion. Killed a few Pawnees.)

Duke ( James Buchanan. Tobacco.)

Furman (Richard. The slave thing.)

George Mason (George Mason. The slave thing. See my related post - ASSOL)

Hofstra (William S. Lumber business - open to the charge of despoliation.)

Lamar ( Mirabeau Buonaparte. Slave trader AND Cherokee/Comanche killer.)

Marshall (John. His papers are online at the UVA. Find the problem yourself.)

Rice (William Marsh. Guy was a capitalist and died a rather messy death.)

Stanford (Leland Jr. The son of a robber baron.)

Tulane (Paul. Confederate donor.)

Vanderbilt (Cornelius. Rich - “unmannered brute.”)

Yale (Elihu. Corruption charges. Elis may become as rare as Jeffs.)

    Many colleges in the U.S. were founded by religious leaders and those named for such figures may be assumed to be safe from onomastic scrutiny (Wesleyan, for example) or maybe not (Oral Roberts). Otherwise if you are sending your sons or daughters off to college and you want them to have a ‘safe space’ , then perhaps you should consider a plainly-named land-grant university like the University of Iowa where the students are also likely to be less flighty. 

    As far as Canada goes, less work is required if you are trying to choose or avoid a university because of its name. Select one with a geographically-based name like ‘Toronto’, or  ‘Western’ which could exist anywhere and is surely not offensive. You could simply avoid any college that is named for a person unless she is Emily Carr. In the east, for example, I would not choose Dalhousie without thoroughly vetting the Earl. In the far west the choice is easy.  Go to UBC. It is clear that you should avoid Simon Fraser which will likely be attacked in the near future for reasons that are obvious. 

 

     I know I said I would keep this short, but I have failed and am still going. But, as an aside to the aside above I can’t help but wonder about what happened to Sir George Williams University in Montreal. Was it erased because Sir George was guilty of something? I recall a riot there and the takeover of the Henry F. Hall building. Was it because of the name of the building? I seem to remember that it had something to do with racism (see Ryerson above). I will leave it to you to sort this all out while I move on. 

The entire lengthy post is found here