There are not one but two versions of Bleak House playing on Amazon currently. Some authorities believe that the Dickens Novel is the best of all the Dickens novels. I strongly recommend that you read the novel and then watch one of the film adaptions.
Bleak House is in the public domain and can be found at Project Gutenberg at the following location:
This is one of the Dicken’s novels I haven’t read. So, I journeyed on the Internet to Wikipedia for a synopsis, and they provided not just a good but a very good and lengthy one. So, I will probably see one of them, maybe both.
But as a Business Ethics writer something caught my attention. The novel is in large part about a very, very long legal battle over an inheritance. And he based the story on a real case, Thellusson v Woodford, a very significant case about the accumulation of value during the life of a trust.
It took its sweet time but pressure developed on policy makers to fix the law at the basis of the novel. And if you know anything about the law, you know reform both in Great Britain and the United States proceeds at a snail’s pace. But change happened and it was propelled by a novel, a piece of literature, a book of significance.
We shouldn’t be surprised that literature can have legal impact. Literature changes many things. The novels of Jane Austen made it clear that the intellect and observations of women were far more significant than the science of that era held possible.
Perhaps, today and now, one of my kind readers is creating an essay, a short story, maybe even a novel, that will result in a changed and improved America.
No Black Lives Matter T-shirts and no Kamala Harris coffee mugs demands Director General of the BBC.
(From the children’s book, The Wonder Clock.)
So, what the BBC is apparently going for is a silent, reserved stance in which it is understood in some subconscious, perhaps in a meditative spiritual way opposed to racism.
It would seem that overt statements affirming racial equality are offensive, and we all know how easy authority figures in Great Britain are offended by any mention of the nation’s racist past. We don’t want to ruffle feathers or suggest that tolerance is an important value just a quiet, low priority one.
Racism is like Voldemort. It must not be spoken of.
Let me quote from the article.
The BBC director general also said his “number one priority” was “trying to navigate a course where you are impartial” and that required “elements of diversity”, adding that “socioeconomic diversity” was something that “hadn’t been talked about enough”.
He added: “It is absolutely a big battle, and I’m getting questions: ‘Why are you giving a voice to Reform?’, ‘Why are you doing this?’ We’re not giving a voice, we’re covering – covering what people are interested in, covering the reality of what people feel.”
Perhaps I’m mistaken but what I take from this is that he expects the BBC to do the stenography thing and have no view as to the right or wrong of an issue, to suspend their moral judgments.
This is an abhorrent environment to create in a news service because it puts outright evil and monstrous people on the same reporting plane as the righteous and good. Imagine covering the statements coming out of the Third Reich as substantial and normal as the statements of the democracies opposing them.
All he is asking is for reporters to suspend their critical judgment. If that isn’t wrong, nothing is.
Neutrality in the face of evil is also a decision and it is the wrong one.
In these terrible times, calls for respect and good behavior seem almost surprising. We are literally being drenched in Administration insults and lies.
And yet, the Milwaukee Brewers issue a statement sublime in its simple call for human decency and good public behavior.
Someday, we may have public servants, even Presidents, whose first response to an opponent isn’t a slur or an obscenity. Someday, decency, eloquence and tolerance may once again become factors in public discourse.
But not now.
Let us hope and pray for better days to come.
James Alan Pilant
Here is the story and the public statement put out by the sports team.
“The Brewers expect all persons attending games to be respectful of each other, and we do not condone in any way offensive statements fans make to each other about race, gender, or national origin. Our priority is to ensure that all in attendance have a safe and enjoyable experience at the ballpark.”
(I just liked the picture. It is hard to find a non-copyrighted picture of an airport or the controversial video. JP.)
When you think of Oklahoma, it is common to believe the State a hotbed of Trump sympathizers. Yet, that does not appear at least in this single case to be true.
Risking the wrath of the Trump Administration has frightened law firms, colleges, universities, multi-national corporations and a literal horde of Republican politicians of which Oklahoma has many, and yet Oklahoma airports are standing up in defiance.
It gives you some faith in humankind to find courage and a backbone even in Oklahoma where right wing politics and reactionary Baptists rule.
As a business ethics issue, the airports are looking at possible liability under the Hatch Act for presenting a partisan video. That is very wise. The current administration will not last forever and these kinds of violations can be punished for some years.
So, while certainly decisions requiring courage, there is also a question of legal liability.
A reflection.
When I was a young man, I spoke to a number of Republicans running for office and from time to time voted for them. At no time, did I suspect that they did not have my best interests in mind and I was right about them. They loved the United States and they valued my vote and my interest in their campaign. They were good and fine human human beings.
I miss those days.
The News Story this column (blog post) is based on.
Here is the link to the news story about the airport’s decisions to not air the video. I have also included a brief quote.
This week, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem distributed a video to be played in airport security lines, across the country, blaming Democrats for travel delays during the shutdown.
“We will continue to do all that we can to avoid delays that will impact your travel,” Noem says in the video. “And our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”
Some experts say the video violates the Hatch Act, a federal law banning executive officials from using their titles for partisan activities. It also bans the use of federal resources to help or harm individual political parties.
Along with dozens of airports across the country, Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City is not displaying the video.
Two Million More People Participated than the Last One
(A great day for American Patriotism!)
Today was the day of days, when American came together to voice their discontent with our increasingly corrupt and incompetent government. I can’t convey in words how proud and hopeful today’s events make me.
Will Americans be able to stop the march to a fascist state that is quite some distance along? I don’t know. But the marchers today put a marker down that obedience and compliance are unlikely if the oppression continues. Americans are putting this administration on notice that they will not sit idly by while our liberties are trampled on.
Let the work go forth that we are patriotic Americans, the bedrock of the nation and we stand together.
What is particularly striking about these demonstrations, these marchers, is the disparity between the message they are sending and the text messages sent between Young Republicans that were exposed just a few days ago.
We see on the streets a sea of patriots and believers in American democracy while in the chat rooms of the future leaders of the Republican Party, the denizens laugh about gas chambers, joke about killing and raping their enemies, ridicule minorities and praise the Third Reich.
You tell me which one of these is the future of the United States, an excited committed group of patriots or the dregs of a once proud political party drifting into a sort of happy fascism? I know which one I want.
And if you want to claim that a group of Young Republicans who had to be 18 to 40 years of age to be on those chats were just a bunch of naive kids, I’ve got swampland in Florida or I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, whichever appeals to your lack of judgment.
In the last few days we’ve seen two different Americas. If God is kind, we will follow the righteous and good path.
Here is the latest news about the march and the participation.
Organizers for the event said that nearly 7 million Americans around the country attended ― two million more than the first “No Kings” protest in June.
“With more than 2,700 lawful and peaceful protests across all 50 states, today’s mobilization was 14 times larger than both of President Trump’s presidential inaugurations combined, marking a historic moment of unity and resistance,” a statement from ‘No Kings’ organizers said. “From rural communities to major metropolitan centers, the message was clear: America will not be ruled by fear, force, or one man’s power grab.”
And in case you’re curious about what the Young Republicans posted, here is a link to the original article and a bit of text.
Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
The Anti-Defamation League, one of the most prominent Jewish advocacy and anti-hate organizations in the US, removed over a thousand pages of extremism research from its site on Tuesday night following online backlash from rightwing influencers and Elon Musk.
The ADL’s now-deleted “glossary of extremism” contained over a thousand entries that gave background information on groups and ideologies connected to racist, antisemitic and otherwise hateful incidents. Its pages on neo-Nazi groups, militias and antisemitic conspiracies now redirect to the landing page for its extremism research.
Musk and prominent rightwing accounts on X had targeted the ADL in recent days over the glossary, which included an entry on slain far right activist Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. Musk also attacked the group for its page on Christian Identity, responding to posts on X that falsely conflated that extremist movement with Christians as a whole. In reality, the term refers to a movement which believes in a racial holy war against Jews and other minorities.
(A vanishing species, an American with courage standing up for what he believes.)
Seeing this kind of cowardice and moral bankruptcy is painful.
This is a case of massive organizational failure. What are they supposed to be doing if not discouraging defamation? Should they change their name? How about “On Rare Occasions We Oppose Lies and Misleading Information?” I have to admit this isn’t very catchy. But since they gave up on that anti-defamation stuff, what’s left?
Since the rise of Donald Trump, we have seen more and more of this institutional cowardice and a complete lack of a moral and ethical backbone. Universities, Businesses, Law Firms and Media Companies rushing to pay money and give up their principles for a little safety and a little relief.
We see it again and again. The bully shows up, demands the lunch money, and he gets it. What happened to American courage and honor?
I really don’t get it. Wasn’t the ADL supposed to call out these people instead of cravenly surrendering?
How do they live without honor, decency or courage?
It must be a bleak existence to surrender up your basic principles in the face of the every people you were supposed to be keeping an eye on.
Every true American should be sickened by this pitiful display. What cowards!
Research finds that Inequality creates a toxic environment.
MRI scans of thousands of children found that those living in areas of higher inequality had measurable changes to the brain and it is believed that these changes may have long term effects on mental health.
This should be front page news.
I am not surprised with the results or the fact that this is not a major story. As a society we talk about children as important but when it comes to money and effort, we demonstrate a lack of concern. .
If you live in a society where basic unfairness is part of the life you lead, you are harmed. The study showed that children from different social classes, that is, the winners and losers, suffered just the same.
The old simple Biblical principle that doing evil and having evil done to you damages the soul.
Yes, it does.
What are we going to do about it. The standard playbook used by Big Tobacco and currently by the fossil fuels industry will be applied as it always is when social change threatens the established order. And so, the result will be —
Nothing.
The Right Wing media machine will spend tens of thousands of words explaining the results away. They are quite likely to produce several made up studies in which they decisively prove that inequality is good for everybody. They will endlessly discuss avoiding a culture of “dependence,” which is a scurrilous way of describing having people fed. There will be several hundred thousand bots posting derogatory attacks on the specific researches and on academics in general. And there will have to be some death threats to round out the mix. After all, the cruelty is the point.
After these attacks, politicians, public figures and regular people will consider the topic controversial and have “doubts.” that these doubts are cleverly manufactured by evil and well paid advocates will be irrelevant.
(It is possible by careful planning using God’s gift of intelligence to create great and wonderful things.)
Now, what would intelligent thinking and capable human beings do with this research?
Now, that is interesting. Obviously, we need more studies of children in societies with different levels of inequality. We also need to see if there are variations that can be achieved by different methods pf parenting and education.
We have information that leads us to see brain changes in children. So, what can we do and what are we doing now that has an effect on this process.
In other word, we as a society and a people take significant research and use it to improve our way of life.
That is what is supposed to happen.
But right now, the intelligent and cultured are under attack by an increasingly unhinged band of goons who are determined to impose their lack of breeding and intelligence on all of us.
We will see whether or not they succeed.
Here is the Guardian article explaining and linking to the research – along with a short quote.
A study of more than 10,000 young people in the US discovered altered brain development in children from wealthy and lower-income families in areas with higher rates of inequality, which were also associated with poorer mental health.
The data was gathered from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study and published in the journal Nature Mental Health.
Researchers at King’s College London, Harvard University, and the University of York then measured inequality within a particular US state by scoring how evenly income is measured. States with higher levels of inequality included New York, Connecticut, California and Florida, while Utah, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont were more equal.
This article was written by Tobi Thomas for the Guardian.
New discoveries and new information appear in modern civilization from time to time.
It is a wonderful thing.
As a species, we continue to learn and develop an enormous body of knowledge that if used to think critically and carefully will result in a continued advancement of our common culture.
Sometimes, there is so much evil nonsense and fascism about that it seems like all is lost and that may yet happen. The images of the 1930’s of book burnings and exultant crowds marching in the streets celebrating the massive evil of their leader seem like a rehearsal for America today. And I know that some of us wonder if the death camps and the crematoria cannot be far behind.
But at the moment, there are still signs of science and progress. Here is a link to the story and a short quote.
Prof Chris Stringer, an anthropologist and research leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “This changes a lot of thinking because it suggests that by 1m years ago our ancestors had already split into distinct groups, pointing to a much earlier and more complex human evolutionary split than previously believed. It more or less doubles the time of origin of Homo sapiens.”
I found this article online at the Sojourner’s web site. It is called: Can Poems Push Christians to Stop the Suffering in Gaza? The article is written by Ryan Duncan.
The article discusses a book of poetry and its author and what this use of art does. You might say, when we read this we are discussing the power of language and in particular, the power of poetic language.
Below is a link to the story and a short but effective quote.
After reading Forest of Noise, it becomes apparent why Abu Toha’s public appearances are often marked by moments of sorrow and anger. In one MSNBC interview following his Pulitzer win, Abu Toha fell into a tense back-and-forth with journalist Catherine Rampell when she pointed to some of his social media posts and suggested he was questioning the status of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
“I’ve never denied anyone’s suffering,” Abu Toha remarked sharply, “I know that everyone is suffering, Israelis and Palestinians, but why are our sufferings not acknowledged? Why are we called terrorists? Why are we called prisoners of war while the Israelis who were kidnapped from Israel are named hostages? Does this give them more humanity, because they are Israeli, while my loved ones are being named prisoners and they are tortured?”
Why indeed.
It’s a pretty piece of writing and I hope you read the whole article.
Now for my take on this.
We live in a period in the United States where words have been weaponized. Our current regime’s leader will reach thirty thousand documented lies in just a week or so. In addition, he has made insults a standard part of his particular brand. He likes “Low IQ,” “Communist,” Marxist”, etc. His pitiful flock hangs on every insult, every lie and every appeal to their lowest and most base instincts like hogs wallowing in mud and excrement squealing in delight.
But words don’t have to be evil and wretched to have power. How about these:
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
“By sun and candle-light” is a very pretty little phrase. Words can exalt. Words can heal. And yes, words can heal and guide us.
Let’s try some healing works from history. This is Lincoln’s first inaugural address.
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Good words. Our current’s regime’s leader is incapable of forming those kinds of sentences, of attempting to unite the American people in love and common purpose.
But we can work to make this a united and great nation in spite of our lack of competent, intelligent and spiritual leadership. We can find our own words. America is full of great words and great thoughts.
Try these:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
Even before this current set of horrors we must endure end and even before our suffering is assuaged, we can still find the great and healing words here in America, in many ways more of a dream and an aspiration.
Let us remember what we are as a nation in our highest and strongest longing.
When my son, Jake, was a little boy, we often watched movies and shows together and talked about the moral and ethical implications. We started very early. I remember when he was five asking him if it mattered if the jackals or the lions fed on the animals in “The Lion King.”
American Heroes.
A few days ago, I saw some clips from the mini-series (I believe it is an ITV production.) “Hornblower.” I am a big fan of C.S. Forester. When I was a teenager, I read all of the Hornblower stories. I have to admit as a very young person, their lessons of leadership and the importance of enduring injustice and unfairness were generally lost on me. That is one reason I think it is important to watch these programs with your children. The series is brilliant in its exposition of the moral choices confronting the young Hornblower and the choices that he made.
So, I asked Jake (now 31) what he got out of the series when we watched it so many years ago. Surprisingly he didn’t recall it that well. He told me that he felt that the most important ethical teachings he absorbed were from Star Trek. In particular, he talked about “The Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine.” But then the conversation turned to the one program that we both found abundant lessons from: “Babylon Five.”
Jaks, specifically mentioned Londo Mallori’s descent into evil and eventual redemption in death as one lesson in morality that he had never forgotten. I have to agree that the show delivered up a healthy dose of moral lessons and the hard, cold difficulties inherent in doing what is right. I could write a dozen articles easily about its teachings.
And so, I have decided to encourage my kind readers to spend at least one night a week watching a program with moral implications with their children. And not just that, from time to time, I will talk about specific recommendations that I want to make and suggestions about what moral lessons can be drawn from specific programming.
Let us begin with my strong recommendations for “Star Trek, the Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine,” and “Babylon Five” as well as “Hornblower.”
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