I am most grateful—I think—to Ethics Bob Stone for bringing this story to my attention. It gives me hope, it really does, that we are quickly arriving at the point where the George Floyd Ethics Train Wreck will be revealed to all as being driven and enabled by people so silly and stupid, that there will be an ear-splitting slapping sound across the land, as Americans of sense and perspective bring their palms to their foreheads in the humbling realization that they have been taking seriously the blathering of fools and ignoramuses.
And with a ripple of embarrassed laughter, the suddenly enlightened will immediately begin going about life as they once did, devoid of self-flagellating guilt for believing in a land and a system where people are, or should be, judged by their talents, enterprise, accomplishments and the content of their character, and not, whether black, Black, white or other hues and shades, the color of their skin, their ancestors, or what their ancestors did or didn’t do. Thereafter this period of unrestrained hate and statue-toppling, the cancel culture, fear, groveling, virtue-signaling and grandstanding will come to be known as “The Great Stupid,” and we will collectively wonder, as with the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 17th Century and Disco, how the Hell something so mad could have happened, and for so long.
In Australia, Saputo Dairy announced yesterday that it was renaming its famous cheese following a “careful and diligent review” of the situation. “At Saputo, one of our basic principles as an organization is to treat people with respect and without discrimination and we will not condone behaviour that goes against this,” the statement said. The cheese in question is Coon cheese, named, quite properly, after its creator, American cheesemaker Edward William Coon, who developed a cheese with a unique taste due to his patented ripening process.
CNN informs us that the name “Coon cheese” has been under attack for decades, mostly due to indigenous activist Steven Hagan, who, like the D.C. employee who got a manager fired for using the perfectly benign word “niggardly,” meaning cheap, and the women who accused Hallmark of being racist for a card referring to “Black Holes,” which they, having the scientific knowledge of the average 4-year-old, took to mean “Black Ho’s,” and like the activists who want to rename Lynchburg, Virginia (or ban the term “linchpin”), or those who insist the phrase “chink in the armor” insults Asians, can’t distinguish a genuine slur from a homophone, which, incidentally, is not an anti-gay slur.
Many English words look and sound alike, and thus those of us with the brains God gave a wheel of cheddar understand that we must assess meaning by context and the clear intent of the users, not sounds. We also do not react as if something that we know, or should know, is a slur when it is not. This whole area is covered in the Ethics Alarms Niggardly Principles, described here and referenced frequently in various posts.
The statement by Saputo Dairy goes on to say, “We believe we all share in the responsibility to eliminate racism in all its forms and we feel this is an important step we must take to uphold this commitment.” That’s nice, but it is a non-sequitur, and irrelevant to Coon cheese. The name “Coon cheese” is not racist, nor does it advance racism, and the fact that an irresponsible activist, or many people who need to learn what they are talking about before they make fools of themselves, don’t make a man’s name “racist” because they say so or think so.
If Coon cheese is racist, so is Davy Crockett’s coonskin cap, the three varieties of the AKC breed the Coonhound ( Black and Tan Coonhound, Treeing Walker Coonhound, and the Redbone Coonhound), and D.C. institution Koons Autos, from which I bought my second car. This is, in a word, stupid. The complaint is stupid, and the dairy dishonoring the inventor of the cheese is being inexcusably stupid in order to show the world how “woke” it is.
This episode is so stupid, and so typical of so much of what has occurred over the past two months, that I believe eventually The Great Stupid must collapse of its own stupid weight.
Ethics Alarms 
I am glad you have hope. I don’t. It used to be sex sells but with MeToo only stupid sells. They also used to say any publicity is good publicity but now it is any outrage is good outrage. As long as this crap helps people make money it will continue.
It won’t be the nuclear age that brings on our destruction it will be the (false) information age.
I take a somewhat different tack than, for example Chris, just above. Though I agree that your optimism is badly-founded, I am more curious to investigate why you have such a narcotic optimism. And I must suggest that you hold to this optimism and misplaced faith because the alternative — seeing things accurately and truly and also understanding the *trajectory* of the present social, political and economic trends in America — will lead to into a crisis. The crisis will involve, as I suggest, actually seeing things as they are now, not as they once were or *should have been*. Instead of the narcotic optimistic overlay and imposition you will have to see that the choice your generation made — is making — has produced and contributes to the destructive descent. You (pl) more often than not refuse to see this. It is your will that does this: a will not to see.
Now here is the other part of this, and this analysis applies, largely, to the entire blog (‘birds of a feather flock together’): you refuse to see what is really happening because of a stubborn will to hold to the false-views, and the false-idealism, that supports it. Because you refuse to see the truth you render your self non-useful in building an alternative to the inevitable destructive current. And this is why I often say *you* are like a boat without an anchor. You are held within a current — this bizarre and sickly ‘American Progressivism’ with its profound roots in a developed economic system, in globalism, in the perverse purveyance of destructive sexual practices, in the selling through mass propaganda of *quantity* over *quality*, and in an array of *lies* about it self and your selfs — and are forced to serve these processes which have so little to do with the Founding Principles which are at this point, I must add, empty shells. All of this has a causal chain, a step-by-step of how it occurred. It can be seen and described but it requires, I suggest, a cooperative will.
I think this flies in the face of the fact that there are people invested in an ideology that will not allow a ‘return’ to status quo ante. These people are entrenched within systems that have an interest in seeing the present processes continue. It seems to me that they are quite capable, and committed to, a fight to the death. I recognize that this would be the ideological position of a committed Marxist — the overthrow of the ‘oppressive bourgeois order’ — but I have less certainly about the commitment of, say, the New York Intellectual Establishment. Are they really Marxists? Do they really work toward a socialist revolution? Or is this only pseudo- or neo-Marxism? It is hard to say.
But the Old Order will not return. And then so much depends on what other crises present themself, and this no one can foresee. Systemic forces — this must be recognized and it must be basic to our interpretation of the present — may be in some disarray at this juncture, but only they have the persevering power and the sustaining power to direct society toward its new ends. If what I say here is true then this leads to another *suggestion*: that we are in a sort-of-war now: a battle between Titanic powers over what particular destiny will become the destiny we live in. One might have reason to believe in and have faith in a *popular will* but it is not popular will that decides things, though it certainly has influence.
I take contradictory tack here because there is more to be gained through it. Most of you seem to me (excuse me putting it like this) rather ‘drunk’. Your ideas about the present are intoxicated by all manner of projected view. Yet when your view is challenged — fairly, directly and honestly, and with reasoned argument — you do two things: a) react violently against *the bringer of bad news* or b) go silent.
So, what’s it going to be on this go-round? 🙂
I’m increasingly inclined towards making the effort to decipher your comments, under the general impression that they are often misunderstood and too quickly dismissed. Still, though I would be harder to financially or socially destroy than most, I tend to fall into your category “b)” . Perhaps that will change.
Meanwhile, what do you think about the TV series (from the movie) Snowpiercer? 😉
You are obviously entering a blessèd state if you feel inclined to read my posts. A sort of beatitude.
As I have said many times . . . soon I will begin my World Mission.
If the movie Snowpiercer is any good I will get it. I do not watch TeeVee. I watch YouTube and through it comprehend the World!
Alizia Tyler wrote, “I watch YouTube and through it comprehend the World!”
After reading many thousands of words that have oozed out of Alizia’s fingertips over the last 5 years I think that statement is signature significant.
OK, but I am just now getting into Twitter where the real truths are!
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
You’ll go into character withdrawals using Twitter.
Jack wrote, “This episode is so stupid, and so typical of so much of what has occurred over the past two months, that I believe eventually The Great Stupid must collapse of its own stupid weight.”
I’ve been harping over the stupid people infecting society for over a year. Never underestimate the collective power of stupid people en masse because there are currently hordes of anti-social “stupid” people stomping civility into submission! Yes, stupid people have learned where their power over society resides and they’re exerting that power as we speak and the results are quite evident.
The seeds that were sown were plainly visible if we as a society had cared enough to pay attention. The behaviors we’re seeing in our streets were predictable and maybe even preventable, but the overall apathy of the population as a whole has enabled it. Choices have consequences, apathy is an enabling choice.
I keep on saying it and I won’t stop; the irrational social justice warriors have already won the battle of the minds across the metropolitan areas of the United States, their controlling damn near all the college campuses and infiltrating everything in society with their irrational poison. Their are being elected to local governments, school boards, and congress and this is just one more small example that piles on the evidence to prove my argument. It’s a verifiable pattern; it’s happening over and Over and OVER again and it will not stop until there is a HUGE public blow up and the shit really hits the fan because some company or University or municipality doesn’t bow to the social justice army of irrational lunatics.
If we don’t want to live under rules created by stupid people then we need to set aside our apathy for society and politics, stand up for intelligent truths and do something about what’s happening!
When these stupid, irrational, brainwashed, participation trophy earning snowflakes are doing and saying things that are idiotic, tell them so, and do it loudly so you can inspire the rational majority into joining you in the chorus.
Don’t you hate it when you make edits to your comment before posting an then blindly forget to go back and check and fix the grammar errors that were created by your edits. ARRGH!!!
Steve Witherspoon writes:I’ve been harping over the stupid people infecting society for over a year. Never underestimate the collective power of stupid people en masse because there are currently hordes of anti-social “stupid” people stomping civility into submission! Yes, stupid people have learned where their power over society resides and they’re exerting that power as we speak and the results are quite evident.
This is a misleading analysis. It is misleading to say what is happening happens because people are *stupid*. It misses the point and really quite widely. To resort to saying to anyone *You are stupid!* is no argument at all. It will not influence them. They will react against it.
The present manifestations have to do with the application of a Marxist ideology into many specific areas. The deliberate and reasoned attack on religion and Christianity. The break-down and break-apart of certain solidities in the social structure. An attack on the traditional man-woman relationship as the core of society. Giving credence and power to alternative forms of relationship and asserting that they are the same or *equal*. Creating new values that posit that sexual deviancy is ‘good’ or ‘normal’. Creating narratives in which all hierarchies be they social, economic, academic, knowledge-based, or social, are seen as invalid, oppressive, corrupt.
But there is another aspect here, almost impossible for you to recognize and admit, and this has has to do with specific errors and specific abuses and mis-directions chosen by the plutocratic elite class which has been identified as *Republican*. As a symbol allow me to choose Ronald Reagan. So many different and un-wise choices, but not the least to have been to have uprooted the industries that supported a huge middle-class and to have relocated them in a Communist region (!) thus devastating a working American base and loaning power to a vile Communist régime. Boy, that was sure a smart move, eh? AND WHO DID THIS? These were not just ‘mistakes’ but rather hugely immoral misdeeds by a class of sociopathic people. It is a special sort of cruelty and lack of concern.
These occurrences demonstrate that there are factions within America that are not ‘Democrat’ that have no social concern. They see America as their *investment portfolio* and they are abusive and to put it in Marxist terms: oppressive. Their activities have contributed to break-downs on many levels. Yet *here* you only wish to blame the Democrats. You fail to see your self and your contribution to the end-products of today: the construction of destructive eventualities.
I find it *curious* that you-plural quote and seem to support MLK and harrass the present radical operatives because they seem to break with his intentions or his plan. But that man was a Marxist in the precise sense who used Christianity as a cover for his activism. When I say a Marxist I do not mean it as an easy slur. He was a Marxist and he surrounded him self with people infused with these disruptive Alinsky-like tactics and motivations. But he has become your-plural hero. You fail to even make the connection between what he contributed to — in that time-frame — and the evolution of those processes into the present.
I can go on & on & on & on with this substantial and rationally presented critique, but my question to you is: WHO IS REALLY STUPID HERE? You have no interpretive substance. You do not understand, on any level, what is going on and why. You will not make the effort to understand. And you are no part, at any level, of a solution. You are part of the problem.
So, who is stupid Steve? Your answer is required.
Alizia Tyler wrote, “Your answer is required.”
Nope, I’m not going down your rabbit hole.
Well, maybe next time then . . .
Two things occurred to me.
What if — just what if as a theoretical! — you are actually deep down into the Rabbit’s Hole and I am there, on the outside of it, and up in the light of day, trying to *reach you*. I admit this is sort of a Matrix-like idea but you know I have referred to Plato’s Cave before (and so did Heidegger whose essay on it I must read again).
The notion of being a *victim* to false interpretations of reality to which we get wedded is an important one. It has many different ramifications!
So instead of me capturing you with sly rhetoric, and entrapping you in my ‘matrix’, what if I present to you verbal equations that you can use to extract your self and come up into the light? Hmmmmmmm?
Something to be thought profoundly about . . . 😍
Here is the second item:
What if — this is another theoretical — it is not a Rabbit’s Hole I am down in, but a Fox Burrow? What if instead of a rabbit-like victimization I call for a Fox-like awareness that must transcend the rôle of mere prey?
Really, this changes everything . . .
Wait, it’s not you that feed me but rather me who feeds you! You are turning this all around!
I must oppose this core injustice!
According to a guy on Quora, the population of Australia that is from Sub-Saharan Africa is approximately 0.7%
I’m from the American South. Until reading this, I’d never heard of “Coon cheese.” Do black people even eat Coon cheese? Are they aware of its existence? Are black people from Cornwall upset about it? I’ve never heard of chitlins or grits or fried chicken being served with coon cheese. So preposterous. I think this company is creating a controversy immediately prior to — Ta Dah! — fixing it.
By the way, my nominee for best Jack Marshal sentence of the year…
Thereafter this period of unrestrained hate and statue-toppling, the cancel culture, fear, groveling, virtue-signaling and grandstanding will come to be known as “The Great Stupid,” and we will collectively wonder, as with the Dutch Tulip Mania of the 17th Century and Disco, how the Hell something so mad could have happened, and for so long.
… the apex of which couples Tulips with Disco.
Now I get to correct one of YOUR typos..it’s two Ls in Marshall!
Hah. yeah. Well. You know, the spelling question crossed my mind but I didn’t check. Dumb. Almost all my comments contain typos.
typos..it’s two
You would not believe, or maybe you would, how often I am asked, “One L or two?” As far as I can tell, there is no Marshall surname with only one L.
Not surprised. Wasn’t the Greek ‘Marshalis?’ Here’s to source of the confusion, I bet: There’s only one L in Marshal! But there’s no I in team.
“the” not “to'” Hah!
The Greek side is “Coulouris.” The other side is the Marshall side.
I’ve had Coon Cheese and bought Coon cheese. It’s great.
Mrs. OB and I eat a lot of cheese. Never had Coon Cheese. I’ll order some on line.
Interweb research revealed this:
“For those of you who have never seen Coon brand Cheese, Coon cheese is a sharp cheddar cheese made in Australia. A different process in cheese making is used to make Coon cheeses. You can find Coon cheeses in some Winn Dixie stores, but it is very hard to find. The closest product we have around here is Black Label Kraft cheeses. If you can’t find Coon or Black Label Kraft cheeses and want to make this recipe, buy the sharpest cheddar cheese you can find.”
I’ll stick with the various cheddars we can get at Safeway or online from Vermont. No Winn-Dixies out here in the Southwest. Even growing up in the South, we were a Grand Union family. The Grand Union was a couple of short blocks from our house. No Winn-Dixies within bicycling distance.
A collective forehead slap like this, perhaps?
First of all, I have had Coon cheese and it is very good, if you like very sharp cheddar.
Next Concerning the description of events of the past two months as “stupid,” I must respectfully disagree. As tempting as it might be to dismiss these events and their instigators as stupid -or even maddening- it minimizes the gravity of the situation in which we now find ourselves and the extent to which the events of the last few months have accelerated our ride down the path toward choosing between socialism or civil war. Although some stupid people, and no doubt some mad people, are certainly involved, their strings are being pulled by people who are deadly serious and who have capitalized on circumstances that have advanced their timetable for destroying America by years, if not decades. America and the values of Western Civilization have been subjected to the “death of a thousand cuts” since the 1930s at least, and many would (and do) argue that the turning point began around 1861. The current “freakout” has provided just the impetus needed for the forces of destruction to foment and spread hatred of America far and wide. Democrat politicians seem content to ride the tiger for now, either hoping to keep a leash on it or otherwise avoid being eaten eventually. Republican leadership generally looks like a poorly organized goat-roping. I hope I am wrong but I fear I am right.
My optimism is all but gone. While I will do whatever I can within my sphere of influence to prevent the unraveling of America, I am realistic enough to see that my primary responsibility is to explore all options for preserving my family’s and my community’s future and well-being. The national outlook is bleak.
I’m waiting for the poor coonhound to be targeted. The coonhound was developed for the hunting of raccoons, as well as feral pigs, boars, bears and mountain lions. But, that’s not going to stop the SJWs.
I grew up around coonhounds and coon hunters. One of my uncles was an avid coon hunter during my youth and raised several champion coonhounds. His sons, my cousins, still raise and train a few dogs even though age and health issues have forced them to curtail hunting substantially. About three miles from my house is the local coon hunters’ clubhouse. Most of the members of the club are my neighbors and friends. This time of year, the club is mostly for family social gatherings. Our coon hunting season is from September through February, and then many area hunts begin and end with a gathering at the club house. On still fall evenings I can sit on my back deck and hear the dogs working on the area ridges and down into the hollows of our valley until their prey is treed. Whether they are Black and Tan, Redbone, Bluetick, Plott, Leopard or Treeing Walker, coonhounds are noble, hard working (and hardheaded) dogs that are still a fixture in my part of the South. No political correctness required.
I wonder when the counterparts of cheese companies will be pressured to change the name for their own products, which is offensive to people of pallor. That is, it would be if people of pallor were conditioned through abuse to see everything as a sinister attack on them, personally. The most insidious aspect of mental and emotional abuse is that the victim will perpetuate their own suffering unless they make a sustained effort to heal with the guidance of people they can trust.
(Is it okay for me to say “sinister”? Am I offending any
leftieschiral preference minorities here?) Humor aside, sinistral humans have been cruelly oppressed in modern history, and they even have some awareness groups, but as far as I can tell they don’t seem to have a shared culture of victimization large enough or strong enough for politicians to pander to.On a different point, I didn’t even know the word “coon” was sometimes used as a racial slur (and not just slang for “raccoon”) until I saw the movie Wild Wild West. Leave it to humans to create and perpetuate random nonsense words for the sole purpose of declaring their blanket contempt for an entire ethnic group. I cannot respect such immaturity. The least they could do is describe what they consider to be a flaw in people’s behavior and why. It’s at least more constructive than putting a label of pure negativity on others.
On further research, I’m not even sure what to make of the origin of this slur. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon#Etymology.
From the article: “In the 1830s, the United States Whig Party used the raccoon as an emblem, causing them to be pejoratively known as “coons” by their political opponents, who saw them as too sympathetic to African-Americans. Soon after that the term became an ethnic slur…”
So… if I adopt a symbol and want to help a group of humans, and then some other humans who hate that group start basing insults on my symbol, does my symbol suddenly become a symbol of hate that I can’t use anymore? At some point we need to invoke “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” or humans are going to erase the meaning of everything and replace it with “good” or “bad” (or “ungood”).
It seems to me that the best path is to exercise the skill of identifying how much of what a person says is signal and how much is noise, and to make a brief display of pushing aside the noise before responding directly to the signal. (I find the phrase “be that as it may” is a good tool for pushing aside noise.)
Senator Chris Coons (D-CT) will have to go, so that could be a plus. If the process could encompass banishing the work of Jeff Koons, as well (why not?!), the whole idea might actually be worth some consideration.