They Also Serve, Who Shill

In what's now post-massacre routine, the Noise Machine went into high gear, reassuring the audience that mass murder should be blamed on anything other than guns. And as it suggests enemies to blame, this encouragement for paranoids to stock up an ammo is less than subtle.

With the lunatic segment so well served, why shouldn't the industry try some seemingly gentler PR—say, on the NPR fans? Ergo: Malcolm Gladwell, on today's Morning Edition.

Here, Gladwell's spuriously "scientific" talking point was that—

The first person who throws the rock is a lot more radical than a hundredth person. By the time the riot has attracted a hundred people, you don't have to be nearly as much of a daredevil or a hothead or committed or any of those things to want to engage in a riot.

...

The first half-dozen or so cases [of school shooters, beginning in the 1990s] are kids who are profoundly psychotic, deeply traumatized or, in the case of someone like Eric Harris at Columbine, are kind of textbook psychopaths. Now 20 years into the epidemic, the kinds of boys - it's all boys - who are attracted to this are no longer as profoundly troubled or - you know, as the early ones were. We're replicating Granovetter's theory of riots. The hundredth person is not nearly as much of a committed radical as the first person in. And that's a terrifying conclusion if that's what we're seeing.

I found the segment incoherent, but Gladwell was touting his latest piece in the New Yorker, where he no doubt aimed to overwhelm objection by expounding on the theme at more stupefying length.

Gladwell is so entrenched, by Establishment embrace and by his book sales, that it's hard to find much public critique. There's this, which notes that social scientists have objected to Gladwell's use of their work, complaining of "the writer's penchant for reporting correlations as causations."

Certainly, it could be at most correlative for the psychology of people joining a riot in progress to have any relation to the mental workings of an emotionally isolated person who decides to enter a school and start firing. But, it serves as a change of subject: from guns, to something abstract and purportedly Scientific.

If, for that matter, social science was anything to Gladwell other than material to mine for great profit, he could examine what social context might tend to produce these enraged loners. And, perhaps even look at Family; now that would seem a good topic of inquiry, considering some of the parents who have encouraged their sons' "interests." In the case of this most recent massacre—

According to multiple reports, the shooter's mother boasted online about her arsenal and feared that gun ownership would soon be restricted.

"When the mood strikes," Harper reportedly wrote on Facebook, "I sling an AR, Tek-9 or AK over my shoulder, or holster a Glock 21 (not 22), or one of my other handguns, like the Sig Sauer P226, and walk out the door." "Shotguns," she said, "are a little too cumbersome to open carry."

According to officials, the Harper family moved from Torrance, California to Winchester, Oregon, in 2013. "I moved from So. Calif. to Oregon, from Southern Crime-a-mania to open carry," Harper noted in that same Facebook post advocating for open carry laws.

Harper, a registered nurse who shared an apartment with her son, spoke "openly about her love of guns," according to one of her patients.

But to examine this sort of thing is certainly not what Gladwell is about. The most thorough critique of his career has been Yasha Levine's. Unsurprisingly, Gladwell got his start in a right-wing pundit mill, from whence he was thrust into prominence. Along the way up, says Levine—

... Gladwell has shilled for Big Tobacco, Pharma and defended Enron-style financial fraud, all while earning hundreds of thousands of dollars as a corporate speaker, sometimes from the same companies and industries that he covers as a journalist.

Malcolm Gladwell is a one-man branding and distribution pipeline for valuable corporate messages, constructed on the public's gullibility in trusting his probity and intellectual honesty in the pages of America's most important weekly magazine, The New Yorker, and other highly prominent media outlets.

Presumably, the New Yorker, NPR, and Gladwell's many other forums will be a source of new PR work, on behalf of yet another industry with no regard for human life.

Bad Medicine

When guns can never be the problem the subject will be changed to anything else.

Steve M. runs down Ben Carson's lunatic statements, from "I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away," to his suggestion that kindergarten teachers be armed.

Insane these may be, but proclaiming them is mere SOP for GOP vote-getting.

Another change of subject, from real to paranoid fantasy: the narrative that the latest school shooter was out to persecute Christians.

With this perfect marketing move...

... He looked ever so pleased with himself. The Noise Machine was pleased, too, using the photo op to boost Carson's popularity.

Next up: gun control enabled the Holocaust. Even if the usual media had never before deigned to take note, Carson was simply parroting established right-wing mythology.

After the bravado of Carson's fantasy heroism ("I would not just stand there and let him shoot me"), this was particularly telling—

In an interview with Urban View host Karen Hunter Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson recounted a story about being held up at gunpoint at a Popeyes.

"Guy comes in, puts the gun to my ribs and I just said, 'I believe that you want the guy behind the counter,'" Carson recalled.

Sociopaths of a feather... Carson's self-satisfaction reminiscent of nothing so much as Mitt Romney's citing Seamus on the car roof as proof of his executive ability.

The Only Amendment That Matters

Just over a month ago, the year to date reckoning was an average of one mass shooting a day.

Figure in the October 1 body count.

Charles Pierce...

After this new massacre, one couldn't exactly say "nothing will happen". Certainly nothing constructive, just the inevitable: that in the days following the classroom rampage GOP candidates would hop anew on the gun-love bandwagon. It's been a big winner for Trump and for Carson.

As Digby writes in Salon, "... the extremist strategies of the NRA have overtaken Republican politics"—

... the recent emergence of the Tea Party right and the intransigent "Freedom Caucus"in the House evinces an anarchistic spirit that even Gingrich couldn't have imagined. (And he has quite an imagination.) No this slash-and-burn style was modeled elsewhere, by an ultra-successful right-wing institution which continues to flex its muscle today: the NRA.

The NRA had once been a sportsman and safety organization, which took a turn toward the political back in the '70s, just as the conservative movement was gaining steam. By the '90s it had transformed itself into a potent political institution which perversely thrived when it was attacked, and built its clout by never giving an inch. Ever.

If Only She Could Be Cloned

It's hard for women in politics—or, in pretty much anything public—to avoid being seen as shrill (or, whatever). Given that atmosphere, Elizabeth Warren never fails to impress with her calmness and talent for explaining things to an average person, without talking down. If her abilities are not entirely rare, they seldom make an appearance in our public life.

There were her questions at this July hearing.

Add this example of Sen. Warren's ability to bring up taboo and get to truths.

The influx of trolls to Pierce's comment thread is testimony to the fear her effectiveness inspires in the wingers.

Moved

Someday, I may be a little less buried under it all. Until then, it's dig out just enough to get dressed and to the office weekdays.

Not that it seems I'm missing much elsewhere; as Driftglass has noticed, what can be ordered on the media menu is Trump, Trump, Trump, or Trump.

A Company; A Staff; A Leader

NYT article causes a small stir. After which the Times prints this, noting Jeff Bezos' response to employees. The followup is also a reminder of one career move—from a position of prestige, to proximity to serious power—

Amazon spokesmen declined to comment further on Monday. Jay Carney, Amazon's chief spokesman, appeared on "CBS This Morning" to defend the company, which is based in Seattle. "This is an incredibly compelling place to work," he said.

Yes, the NYT can offer an exposé, but any news is likely to be just in the details, when we're talking about a corporate behemoth operating under its particular version of messianic capitalism. As usual, we see holy writ; here, called the Leadership Principles. (Never mind how directly that translates into German). There are fourteen bullet points, as these organizations always do aim for exceeding Ten.

It all serves as justification for the company to conduct (in the words of the Times' headline writer) "an experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers." Why, then, should it be surprising if those in positions of authority behave as in the Times' examples—

A woman who had thyroid cancer was given a low performance rating after she returned from treatment. She says her manager explained that while she was out, her peers were accomplishing a great deal. Another employee who miscarried twins left for a business trip the day after she had surgery. "I'm sorry, the work is still going to need to get done" she said her boss told her. "From where you are in life, trying to start a family, I don't know if this is the right place for you."

A woman who had breast cancer was told that she was put on a "performance improvement plan" — Amazon code for "you're in danger of being fired" — because "difficulties" in her "personal life" had interfered with fulfilling her work goals. Their accounts echoed others from workers who had suffered health crises and felt they had also been judged harshly instead of being given time to recover.

A former human resources executive said she was required to put a woman who had recently returned after undergoing serious surgery, and another who had just had a stillborn child, on performance improvement plans, accounts that were corroborated by a co-worker still at Amazon. "What kind of company do we want to be?" the executive recalled asking her bosses.

The mother of the stillborn child soon left Amazon. "I had just experienced the most devastating event in my life," the woman recalled via email, only to be told her performance would be monitored "to make sure my focus stayed on my job."

Or is it surprising that workers would be pitted against each other, with the company's "Anytime Feedback Tool" used to sabotage peers. Or is it surprising if this environment exists—

In interviews, 40-year-old men were convinced Amazon would replace them with 30-year-olds who could put in more hours, and 30-year-olds were sure that the company preferred to hire 20-somethings who would outwork them. After Max Shipley, a father of two young children, left this spring, he wondered if Amazon would "bring in college kids who have fewer commitments, who are single, who have more time to focus on work." Mr. Shipley is 25.

But regard for workers is a trivial distraction from the pursuit of greatness. After all, an eager world of consumers awaits fulfillment of 'really practical need'—

"A customer was able to get an Elsa doll that they could not find in all of New York City, and they had it delivered to their house in 23 minutes," said Ms. Landry, who was authorized by the company to speak, still sounding exhilarated months later about providing "Frozen" dolls in record time.

That becomes possible, she and others said, when everyone follows the dictates of the leadership principles. "We're trying to create those moments for customers where we're solving a really practical need," Ms. Landry said, "n this way that feels really futuristic and magical."

Julian Bond, 1940 - 2015

The loss is of someone who had vision.

[Rep. John] LEWIS: People respected him because of what he stood for. He came out against the war in Vietnam, so - became one of the first leaders to speak up and speak out against the war in Vietnam. And the Georgia legislature challenged his seating, and it went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. But he never gave up, never became bitter or hostile. He kept the faith, and the Supreme Court ordered the state legislature to seat him.

...
...Julian must be remembered as one who inspired another generation of young people to stand up, to speak up and speak out. He traveled all over America, speaking on college campuses, but also to large groups of - for peace, for nonviolence and for protecting the environment. One of his latest - probably the last thing that he wrote - it was about including the gay, lesbian, transgender communities as part of the civil rights legislation of 1964. He supported that effort.

More remembrances here,of his life and most recent work.