Beyond the Palewall (7)

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall' is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

   Another dreary day as we begin the new year and I have been reading rather than writing. This means I will be copying again rather than creating, but the result for you is higher quality content. The first of the two items relates to the "culture wars", so you may wish to skip to the second which is about Northern Ontario. A slight warning, however, there are also skirmishes up there. 

1. Day of Epiphany
   A note appeared at the top of my screen informing me that today is such a day and when I read two stories about the same subject, I thought that some might be having one, an epiphany, that is. The articles are about the situation at Harvard and the departure of the president, Claudine Gay. The one in the Globe & Mail by Adrian Morrow offers a basic overview and this quotation which suggests the squabble is about larger issues:

“This really isn’t about plagiarism and antisemitism – although those issues are real and they are serious – what’s really going on is a conversation about race and diversity and anger on the right wing against the direction that elite universities have taken,” said Derek Penslar, a history professor and director of Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies.

Later, one of the consequences of the dispute is noted:

"Billionaire donors held back their contributions. Chief among them was Bill Ackman, who alleged Dr. Gay got her job because of her race. Mr. Ackman and other opponents of DEI said Dr. Gay’s publication record of 11 articles in two decades was too thin for the job she held."

   The article in the National Post, is much longer (two full pages) and it is authored by the Mr. Ackman quoted right above. The large issue to him is DEI and one might conclude from it that perhaps we are witnessing a "Christine Gay Moment", somewhat like the "George Floyd" one. Here is a small portion of what he wrote:

"I came to learn that the root cause of antisemitism at Harvard was an ideology that had been promulgated on campus, an oppressor/oppressed framework, that provided the intellectual bulwark behind the protests, helping to generate anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech and harassment.

Then I did more research. The more I learned, the more concerned I became, and the more ignorant I realized I had been about DEI, a powerful movement that has not only pervaded Harvard, but the educational system at large. I came to understand that diversity, equity and inclusion was not what I had naively thought these words meant.

I have always believed that diversity is an important feature of a successful organization, but by diversity I mean diversity in its broadest form: diversity of viewpoints, politics, ethnicity, race, age, religion, experience, socioeconomic background, sexual identity, gender, one’s upbringing and more.

What I learned, however, was that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form, but rather DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology."

He is a Harvard guy, by the way, and here is his answer to the question he raised, "What should happen?" His answer, in addition to Gay, all members of the Harvard board should also resign.

"The ODEIB should be shut down, and the staff should be terminated. The ODEIB has already taken down much of the ideology and strategies that were on its website when I and others raised concerns about how the office operates and who it does and does not represent. Taking down portions of the website does not address the fundamentally flawed and racist ideology of this office, and calls into further question the ODEIB’s legitimacy. [Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.]

   Some Canadian readers may be experiencing an "Epiphany Moment" after reading that. Although "DEI" is still being nurtured here and HR departments expanded, the enthusiasm south of here has been replaced by outrage and DEI departments are being dismantled. The Chronicle of Higher Education even created a tool to keep a record of state legislative efforts to restrict or shut down DEI programs and there are many of them. Last month, a legislative proposal was introduced in the House "that would strip colleges of federal funding if they require employees, students or applicants to write diversity, equity and inclusion statements." (At some universities, faculty members and job candidates are required to write diversity statements as part of the promotion or hiring process.)

  Perhaps the most important part of that article is the link to another Ivy League university, the University of Pennsylvania, whose president also was forced to resign. The link is to, "A Vision For a New Future of the University of Pennsylvania", which is a proposed new constitution for that university and it is supported by over 1,700 university faculty. If you go through the list, you will see some names from Canadian universities.

   If one assumes that the fervour in favour of DEI initiatives at Canadian universities subsides and student protests continue, those on the northern campuses might benefit from having a look at Penn's "A Vision For a New Future...". As well, a document written almost 60 years ago at the University of Chicago, "The Kalven Report", is useful. In both, to put it simply, it is suggested that the universities remain neutral and speech free. If you borrow from them, do so carefully. 

2. Ring of Fire
  I will now have to keep this short. If the phrase above rings a bell, it probably was in relationship to a Johnny Cash song, not the area well north of Thunder Bay. That Ring encircles a lot of minerals, the extraction of which is, or may, be problematic. Perhaps not for the Ontario government which "has thrown its weight behind the Ring of Fire, and has committed to paying roughly half of the at least $2-billion that is needed to fund the roads. Premier Doug Ford has even said that he’s willing to “jump on a bulldozer,” if that’s what it will take to get construction underway." There are other Nations up that way, however, and "One big concern raised by environmentalists about development in the Ring of Fire is that pollution may destroy fish habitats in the rivers around Marten Falls, and disturb carbon-storing peat that is ubiquitous in this part of northern Ontario." An added complication: although it was remembered this time to consult with the Nations up there, they disagree about whether the resources should be developed or the Ring of Fire extinguished. All of this information should be read as it originally appears in:
"In Remote Ontario, Marten Falls First Nation Hopes to Move Past More Than 100 Years of Subjugation, As It Opens the Doorr to Critical Minerals Development and an All-Season Road That Will Change Their LIves," Niall McGee, G&M, Dec. 31, 2023. [Some of those among the Neskantaga Nation, don't agree.]

A portion of boreal forest in northern Quebec

   Here is another piece which should be read with the one above. While one often sees articles against old-growth logging out west, those about tree removal north of us are rarer. Now a study from down-under has raised some issues. This article is based on that study:

   "Canada’s Logging Industry Devours Forests Crucial to Fighting Climate Change: A study finds that logging has inflicted severe damage to the vast boreal forests in Ontario and Quebec, two of the country’s main commercial logging regions," Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai, New York Times, Jan. 4, 2024.

"Canada has long promoted itself globally as a model for protecting one of the country’s most vital natural resources: the world’s largest swath of boreal forest, which is crucial to fighting climate change.

But a new study using nearly half a century of data from the provinces of Ontario and Quebec — two of the country’s main commercial logging regions — reveals that harvesting trees has inflicted severe damage on the boreal forest that will be difficult to reverse.

Researchers led by a group from Griffith University in Australia found that since 1976 logging in the two provinces has caused the removal of 35.4 million acres of boreal forest, an area roughly the size of New York State.

While nearly 56 million acres of well-established trees at least a century old remain in the region, logging has shattered this forest, leaving behind a patchwork of isolated stands of trees that has created a landscape less able to support wildlife, according to the study. And it has made the land more susceptible to wildfire, scientists say."

The Study:

   "Assessing the Cumulative Impacts of Forest Management on Forest Age Structure Development and Woodland Caribou Habitat in Boreal Landscapes: A Case Study from Two Canadian Provinces," Brendan Mackey et al.

Land 2024, 13(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13010006.

The Bonus:

For information about Canada's "Maple League Universities."

For a Canadian example of perhaps over zealous DEI training.

Sober Hypochondria

 

  I was feeling bad enough about not "staying dry" for even a few days in January when these headlines began pouring from various media sources. You will have seen them as well: "It's Time to Put Cancer Warning Labels on Alcohol, Experts Say;" Canada's New Guidelines For Alcohol Say 'No Amount' Is Healthy;" "Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health" and "Yes, Even if it's a Bloody Caesar With Extra Celery: Why Even Just a Little Alcohol is a Risk." Sobering news indeed, especially since we would have to be less prideful about having invented the "Bloody Caesar."

  Readers of MM will know that I tend to be contrarian, and many of them are likely to be drinkers, so they will not be surprised if I take the side of the imbibers on this issue, and are likely to be pleased, as well, if they are drinkers themselves. Apart from arguing that, while alcohol may be bad for us, it does make us feel better, I will provide an article that you may have overlooked because of all those others which tended to be on the front page. 

   It would be unfortunate if all of this negative publicity forced the L.C.B.O. stores to return to the establishments they once were, or if we were to lose their magazine. I recall what they were like and a description was recently provided, so I don't have to come up with one:
  "Looking back, I’m struck by how Canada’s approach to alcohol and cigarettes has almost reversed since I was a student back in the late 1970s.
  At that time, I worked part-time in the last of what the Liquor Control Board of Ontario called conventional stores. Back then, the L.C.B.O. took the “control” part of its name seriously. Its older stores did everything possible to make people avoid them. Aside from some dusty display bottles of selected wines, all of the merchandise was hidden away behind a counter. Customers had to search out what they wanted to buy on lists of everything in the store that were behind glass panels, and write down the product’s name, brand number (Mateus rosé was 1086 B) and price. Then shoppers passed their slips to a cashier who, after receiving payment, turned it over to a clerk like me who fetched and bagged the goods.
   I must confess that my colleagues and I were sometimes less than friendly. We were also repeatedly reminded not to give recommendations or advice to customers — they were strictly on their own.
   But, conversely, smoking in offices and shops, including L.C.B.O. stores, was rampant at that time. Cigarette makers sponsored sports and cultural events, and their ads and products dominated corner stores and even some pharmacies.
  Now it’s cigarettes that are hidden away in stores behind blank cabinets, and they come in generic, government-mandated packaging with gruesome photos of tobacco’s health effects. All forms of advertising by the tobacco advertising are a distant memory."

An Alternative Account

 The article that was buried under all of the temperance ones is a temperate one arguing that the suggestions offered by the  sermonizers need to be subjected to some scrutiny. It is found in the Globe and Mail, which is more expensive than MM, so you may not have seen it. The author of it will, I hope, forgive me for reproducing portions of it. He is a professor at Brock University and the article is found here: "Canada's Drastic New Alcohol Guidelines Demand a Closer Look," Globe and Mail, Jan. 20, 2023. You should have a closer look and not rely on my snippets.

   Professor Malleck begins by noting that he is not a generally a critic of public health measures, but that he is "wary of generalized recommendations of behaviour change based upon narrowly selected evidence from a cohort that sounds increasingly like the 19th-century temperance movement." He also raises some issues about the 6,000 studies that were used, and notes as well: 

"Often, too, these kinds of studies involve looking at a broad cohort of people and seeing if those with a certain condition were more likely to have been drinkers. If researchers are only looking for drinking as a factor, it can be easy to miss other potential contributors. We don’t know, for instance, whether they spent their time drinking in smoky bars or restaurants (back when that was allowed), or did so while eating less healthy foods; these factors are often marginalized when alcohol becomes the focus."

"The CCSA also presents the relative risk, rather than the absolute risk, of developing the various conditions. According to its data, consuming three and a half drinks a day increases your risk of developing larynx cancer by nearly 100 per cent, which sounds shocking, and is presented in a table with scary red shading. But larynx cancer, which is mostly related to smoking, was diagnosed in roughly 0.0197 per cent of Canadians in 2022. Many of the other cancers the CCSA associates with alcohol also have low incidence rates. And everyone has a different level of risk for various conditions, based on factors including lifestyle and genetics."

  He also hints that perhaps one should consider that the results provided by the CCSA, might be like the ones about alcohol we would expect if they were coming from MADD.

"We should also consider researcher perspective. The CCSA is focused on harm-first, which is less a criticism than a fact: Although its name emphasizes “substance use and addiction,” its focus is on the negative side of “use.” Its job is to look for harm in the name of health. Through this lens, potential benefits don’t track."

And indeed, the CCSA made its recommendations without consideration of the potential (and well-documented) positive effects of alcohol on the lives of individuals, nor the potential harms caused by excessive and patronizing recommendations in the name of “for your own good” science.

These are important considerations, because human research on a population level (as compared with studies where all complicating factors are controlled in a lab, something you can’t do with long-term human research for legal and ethical reasons) is a point of contention among scholars. Although the CCSA does mention, near the end of the report, the considerable limitations to its conclusions, they do not seem to affect the urgency or excessiveness of its recommendations.

There is more, but because of copyright restrictions, I will just note his conclusion:

"Without considering the potential dangers of such advice, and the potential benefits around moderate drinking, the CCSA recommendations seem worse than useless. They’re reckless."

If the prohibitionists have their way, we may all have to head to the new cannabis dispensaries.

Sources:
Here is the report, "Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health," by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. 

Here is an article about the new guidelines: "Canada's New Alcohol Guidelines Advise Fewer Drinks," Wency Leung, Globe and Mail, Jan. 17, 2023.

The description of what it was like to buy alcohol in Ontario in the 1970s, is by Ian Austen, a Canadian reporter for the New York Times. It is in his "Canada Letter" - "Pushing Alcohol While Health Experts Say Risk-Free Drinking is a Risk," Jan. 21.

Year-End CanCon

    There are rumours that Bill C-11 may allow for the manipulation of algorithms so that searches done in Canada will yield more CanCon. Although some people and companies are upset about that prospect, I thought I had better throw in some Canadian items to satisfy the CRTC. As well, the attempt to make CanCon more discoverable may benefit Mulcahy's Miscellany which has yet to find more than a few readers from anywhere. Since I did recently offer a couple of posts about B.C., I will focus on the East Coast. 

Anne of Green Gables

   Every year for almost the last sixty of them (excluding the last couple of pandemic ones), one has been able to go to P.E.I. and watch "Anne of Green Gables - The Musical" in Charlottetown. Many tourists visited the Island for that purpose and then travelled on to Cavendish. A lot of them came all the way from Japan. When it was announced recently that the play would only be offered every second year, there were many complaints and they are still coming in. One couple from Vero Beach, FL., who have a summer home on P.E.I. wrote: “Anne represents the essence of P.E.I. to us and put P.E.I. on the global map,” the couple wrote. “Big mistake, folks.”

  I learned of this from this article in the NYT, Dec.3, 2022 by Ian Austen: "After Half a Century, Prince Edward Island's Musical Tradition Takes a Break." For Canadian content and the complaints see issues of Saltwire, starting with this one: "Commentary: Decision About Anne of Green Gables - The Musical, Based on Money, Alix MacLean, Nov. 29, 2022. 

  A Lucy Maud Montgomery industry is well-established on the Island and you can learn about it here at the L.M. Montgomery Institute. I have mentioned before in Mulcahy's Miscellany that entire journals dedicated to single authors are published and you can add to the list the, Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies. You can read issues by clicking on the link and this one explains why Anne is popular in Japan: "Red Hair in a Global World: A Japanese History of Anne of Green Gables and Prince Edward Island." For additional examples of such journals see my "Single Author Journals."