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<title>31 August, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Case for Negotiating with Russia</strong> - Samuel Charap is asking Ukraine and its allies to consider how much worse the war could get. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/the-case-for-negotiating-with-russia">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires</strong> - With smuggled cell phones and a handful of accomplices, Arthur Lee Cofield, Jr., took money from large bank accounts and bought houses, cars, clothes, and gold. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/how-a-man-in-prison-stole-millions-from-billionaires">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trump Mug Shot’s Art-Historical Lineage</strong> - Assessing the forty-fifth President’s Georgia photo op in the context of Da Vinci, Warhol, and a rogues’ gallery of accused criminals. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-trump-mug-shots-art-historical-lineage">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Texas’s Dying Swimming Holes</strong> - Taking a dip in the summer was as central to the state’s identity as barbecue and Willie Nelson. Then came a population boom and climate change. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/texass-dying-swimming-holes">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hurricane Idalia’s Explosive Power Comes from Abnormally Hot Oceans</strong> - By burning fossil fuels, humans force the oceans to soak up the heat equivalent of a Hiroshima-size bomb, over and over again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/hurricane-idalias-explosive-power-comes-from-abnormally-hot-oceans">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The myths we tell ourselves about American farming</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A black-and-white photo of an old, weathered wooden barn standing alone with fields behind it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2s3H2N3HnpZ-gXW_pOJO3OrHMzg=/0x0:5167x3875/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597326/GettyImages_1280253651.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images/iStockphoto
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Agricultural exceptionalism,” explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j7iHrW">
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If you were to guess America’s biggest source of water pollution, chemical factories or oil refineries might come to mind. But it’s actually <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf">farms</a> — especially those raising cows, pigs, and chickens.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="boPVHo">
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The billions of animals farmed each year in the US for food generate nearly <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ib_2004_updfacfarmmaps-web2.pdf">2.5 billion pounds</a> of waste every day — around twice as much as people do — yet none of it is treated like human waste. It’s either stored in giant pits, piled high as enormous mounds on farms, or spread onto crop fields as fertilizer. And a lot of it washes away into rivers and streams, as does <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">synthetic fertilizer</a> from the farms growing corn and soy to feed all those animals.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2JeVTK">
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“These factory farms operate like sewerless cities,” said Tarah Heinzen, legal director of environmental nonprofit Food and Water Watch. Animal waste is “running off into waterways, it’s leaching into people’s drinking water, it’s harming wildlife, and threatening public health.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mGEvj8">
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Yet in practice, the Environmental Protection Agency appears to be largely fine with all that.
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</p>
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<div>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Along a stretch of sand beach backed by pine forests, hundreds of dead fish are washed up or floating at the shoreline." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jRzMVwcN5SPz3QQYh1B0f2lVUqQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884769/3a.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Rick Dove/Waterkeeper Alliance</cite>
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<figcaption>
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High levels of factory farm pollution can cause fish kills.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v7u1mf">
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When <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, it <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg816.pdf">explicitly directed</a> the EPA to regulate water pollution from “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or factory farms, among other businesses. But according to Food and Water Watch, fewer than one-third of the largest factory farms are actually regulated — and <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/citizens_cafo_cwa_petition.pdf">lightly</a>, at that.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N0QY3L">
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Earlier this month, the EPA told Food and Water Watch it’s going to stay that way. The EPA <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/08/epa-denies-water-quality-petition-for-cafos/">rejected</a> a 2017 joint <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/citizens_cafo_cwa_petition.pdf">petition</a> from the group and other environmental organizations, calling on the agency to better regulate factory farms under the Clean Water Act.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIGoYJ">
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The kind of regulatory evasion that allows for so much water pollution is just the latest example of what food industry reformers call “agricultural exceptionalism,” which lets the sector operate under a different set of rules than other parts of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>, leading to widespread abuse in the food system. It’s fueled by romanticized myths about farming that mask the original sins of American agriculture — most notably slavery and mass land expropriation from American Indians — and the modern-day issues of mass pollution, animal cruelty, and labor exploitation. And it’s come to affect virtually every part of how food gets from the farm to your table.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2rxYKz">
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Rather than regulate more factory farms for pollution, the EPA <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/08/epa-denies-water-quality-petition-for-cafos/">said</a> in its recent decision that it will set up a committee next year to further study the issue for 12 to 18 months. The agency denied an interview request for this story, but a spokesperson said in an email that “a comprehensive evaluation is essential before determining whether any regulatory revisions are necessary or appropriate.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o20RHG">
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The National Pork Producers Council <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/28924-epa-denies-activists-on-cafo-reform">celebrated the news</a>, saying in a statement, “We are grateful for the Biden administration’s continuous commitment and support of agriculture.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lv0cB">
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<a href="https://ppc.uiowa.edu/people/silvia-secchi">Silvia Secchi</a>, a natural resource economist at the University of Iowa, said the EPA’s plans for a lengthy evaluation amount to little more than a stall tactic. “We’ve been studying some of this stuff for decades,” she said. “We already know what needs to be done.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZG23Up">
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We’ve also been here before, she added, pointing to another landmark piece of environmental legislation: the Clean Air Act. In 2005, after <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.26-Petition-re-2005-Air-Consent-Agreement-1.pdf">years of industry noncompliance</a> with the law, the EPA under Republican President George W. Bush brokered a deal in secret with the pork industry, promising to hold off on regulating factory farms so long as they funded research into the issue. Nearly two decades later, no regulatory action has been taken. In the last five years, Congress and the EPA have exempted farms from <a href="https://thefern.org/2019/12/a-breathtaking-lack-of-oversight-for-air-emissions-from-animal-farms/">two other</a> critical <a href="https://www.vox.com/air-quality">air quality</a> laws, despite more deaths linked to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/10/farm-pollution-deaths/">air pollution from factory farms</a> than pollution from coal power plants.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9JezU">
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“It’s the tactic of the [agricultural] industry to slow walk everything — renegotiate, restudy, reevaluate the obvious,” Secchi said.
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</p>
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<h3 id="8cbLj9">
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Agricultural exceptionalism, explained
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZLKUC5">
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To understand why agriculture so often gets a free pass on commonsense regulation, we have to go back to the early 1900s. Back then, most workers across industries toiled for six days a week and often well over eight hours a day, including millions of children. President Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on shorter hours and higher pay, and in 1938, he signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law as part of the New Deal. It set rules for minimum wage, overtime pay, maximum workweeks, restrictions on child labor, and more.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N5NEOY">
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<a href="https://time.com/4376857/flsa-history/">Time</a> called it “the law that changed the American workplace,” and it did — except on farms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dyZS0w">
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“To obtain sufficient support for these reforms, President Roosevelt and his allies had to compromise with Southern congressmen,” Alexis Guild of the nonprofit Farmworker Justice wrote in a <a href="https://journals.law.harvard.edu/lpr/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2019/02/20180513-1_GuildFigueroa.pdf">2019 paper</a> with her former colleague Iris Figueroa. “These compromises included exclusions of farmworkers and domestic workers from the law’s protections, preserving the plantation system in the South — a system that rested on the subjugation of racial minorities.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H8RQ8T">
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The carveouts for agriculture in labor law set the tone for how farming would be regulated — or unregulated — for decades to come.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Two farm workers in an okra field in California in 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N6GxS0ENEibA2RLFqM_VevsXYm0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884746/GettyImages_1408569733.jpg"/> <cite>Mario Tama/Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Farm work is among the most dangerous occupations in the US, yet farm workers are exempted from many federal and state labor protections.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hapqBL">
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On top of exemptions from critical environmental and labor legislation, farms are also exempt from the Animal Welfare Act, leaving billions of animals raised for meat, eggs, and dairy — <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates">almost all</a> of whom are raised in terrible conditions on <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/9/12/23339898/global-meat-production-forecast-factory-farming-animal-welfare-human-progress">factory farms</a> — with virtually <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">no federal protections</a>. The federal law that’s meant to reduce animal suffering at slaughterhouses <a href="https://www.animallaw.info/intro/humane-methods-slaughter-act-hmsa">exempts</a> chickens and turkeys, which make up <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/animals-slaughtered-for-meat?country=~USA">98 percent</a> of land animals raised for food.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r8LJOB">
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The United States Department of Agriculture, the agency charged with the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164874/abolish-department-agriculture">paradoxical task</a> of both regulating and promoting agriculture, hasn’t been shy about its deference to industry. When asked in an interview on the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/secretary-of-agriculture-tom-vilsack-on-climate/id1623272960?i=1000581568321"><em>Climavores</em> podcast</a> why farms aren’t regulated to reduce pollution, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said there are simply too many farms to regulate, and that conservation efforts should be voluntary — and farms should be compensated for them (they are, <a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/new-ewg-analysis-74b-spent-two-usdas-biggest-conservation-programs-recent-years-very">handsomely</a>, with taxpayer dollars, while municipalities <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">spend billions</a> annually to clean up farm pollution).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0pDrHB">
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It’s not just the USDA and the EPA that often look the other way when problems arise in our food system. <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a>’s new hit documentary <a href="https://foodfix.co/poisoned-takes-netflix-by-storm/"><em>Poisoned</em></a> details how the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration’s lax food safety regulations lead to over a million consumers sickened annually, largely from <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/salmonella-chicken-usda-food-safety">tainted chicken</a> and <a href="https://foodfix.co/poisoned-takes-netflix-by-storm/">leafy greens</a> contaminated by livestock manure.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6rTxmF">
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<a href="https://civileats.com/2022/11/14/injured-and-invisible-1-few-protections-animal-agriculture-workers-cafos-dairy-migrants-injuries/">According to Civil Eats</a>, a nonprofit publication covering the US food system, nearly all animal agriculture operations are exempt from federal protections under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the agency doesn’t respond to 85 percent of worker fatalities on animal farms.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="epufGm">
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<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9874718/">US immigration law</a> ensures the agricultural sector has a steady supply of largely foreign-born, low-paid, and exploited — sometimes even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/25/us-farms-made-200m-human-smuggling-labor-trafficking-operation">enslaved</a> — workers. Meanwhile, the federal government gives ranchers <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing">155 million acres</a> of public land for cattle grazing at practically <a href="https://therevelator.org/cattle-public-lands/">no cost</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1WT30b">
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Agricultural exceptionalism trickles down to the state level, too. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">Most states</a> exempt livestock from anti-cruelty laws, and many states have passed “<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/11/18176551/ag-gag-laws-factory-farms-explained">ag-gag laws</a>,” which criminalize activists and journalists for simply recording what goes on at farms. Most state environmental agencies — including in progressive states like <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18082023/californias-top-methane-emitter-is-cattle-feedlot/">California</a> — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">don’t do much</a> to regulate farm pollution.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Long rows of chickens are kept in wire cages stacked on top of each other in a large barn with fluorescent lights overhead." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uj6jRntW-wp7DPCgqcFmSkg_kAo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884714/GettyImages_687564290.jpg"/> <cite>Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Chickens in cages at a conventional egg farm. Farmed animals are exempt from the federal Animal Welfare Act and most state anti-cruelty laws.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n5AO6C">
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All 50 states have so-called <a href="https://nationalaglawcenter.org/state-compilations/right-to-farm/">“right to farm” laws</a>, which prevent citizens from suing farms for nuisances like pollution and odor that degrade their quality of life. “The smell, you can’t hang your clothes out, you can’t do nothing in the yard,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23003487/north-carolina-hog-pork-bacon-farms-environmental-racism-black-residents-pollution-meat-industry">said</a> one North Carolina woman who lives a few hundred feet from a pig waste storage pit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5hRE7f">
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One corn and soybean farmer in Nebraska who lives near giant chicken farms <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23207301/costco-rotisserie-chicken-poultry-farming-inflation">described</a> the stench of manure and pits of decomposing birds as “the death smell” that “tries to get inside anything it can.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="U1Ic6n">
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How taxpayers enrich agribusiness
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aRtyY8">
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While the entire food sector benefits from agricultural exceptionalism, animal agriculture is especially privileged. Meat and dairy producers get far more subsidies than farmers growing more sustainable foods, like beans, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c9YC6r">
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A <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/pdf/S2590-3322(23)00347-0.pdf">recent analysis</a> from Stanford University researchers found that livestock farmers receive 800 times more public funding than non-animal farmers. “It’s clear that powerful vested interests have exerted political influence to maintain the animal-farming system status quo,” Eric Lambin, one of the study authors, <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2023/08/18/can-alternative-meat-compete/">said in a press release</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9QXQWl">
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This dates back much further than today’s industrialized, corporate-dominated food system. As Secchi notes, Congress passed <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act">the Homestead Act</a> in 1862, which handed over swathes of the Western US — after taking it from American Indians by <a href="https://usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eb6ca76e008543a89349ff2517db47e6#0">land seizures</a> and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/11/us-genocide-china-indigenous-peoples-day-columbus/">genocide</a> — to white settlers to farm the land, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act">especially cattle ranchers</a>. Ever since, federal dollars have freely flowed to the agricultural industry, in the form of crop insurance, direct payments, infrastructure and conservation programs, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/dining/animal-welfare-at-risk-in-experiments-for-meat-industry.html">R&D</a>, further entrenching an industry that has now worked its way into power at every level of government, making reforms near-impossible.
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</p>
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Farmers are heavily overrepresented in government, with 25 current members of the US House of Representatives, or their family members, having collected <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/03/25-current-members-house-collected-14-million-federal-farm-subsidies">millions of dollars</a> in agricultural subsidies. That’s almost 6 percent of the chamber, even though just about <a href="http://jaysonlusk.com/blog/2016/6/26/the-evolution-of-american-agriculture">1 percent</a> of Americans live on farms. The dynamic is the same at the <a href="https://stateline.org/2015/12/10/state-legislatures-have-fewer-farmers-lawyers-but-higher-education-level/">state level</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mh9rIv">
|
||
Local and state tax codes give <a href="https://policymatters.illinois.edu/the-taxation-of-agricultural-land-in-the-united-states/">special treatment</a> to farmers, taxing farmland at a <a href="https://farmlandaccess.org/propertytax/#overview">lower rate</a> than other kinds of land.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KYy69Z">
|
||
Like so many other sectors of the economy, there’s a revolving door between government and business. Vilsack served as President Barack Obama’s agriculture secretary for eight years before heading over to the US Dairy Export Council, where he served as CEO for a few years; in 2021, he returned to government, taking up his old post as agriculture secretary under President Joe Biden. In between, agricultural businessman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/politics/sonny-perdue-georgia.html">Sonny Perdue</a> served as <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Trump</a>’s agriculture secretary. State agriculture secretaries, from <a href="https://www.texasagriculture.gov/About/Commissioner-Miller#:~:text=An%20eighth%2Dgeneration%20farmer%20and,Department%20of%20Agriculture%20(TDA).">Texas</a> to <a href="https://nda.nebraska.gov/directorsoffice/index.html">Nebraska</a> to <a href="https://www.ncagr.gov/commissioner/">North Carolina</a>, are often farm owners as well. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/11/18/23458234/jim-pillen-governor-nebraska-pigs-pork-plant-based-meat-water-pollution-nitrates">Nebraska Gov.</a> Jim Pillen is a hog tycoon who’s been accused of air and water pollution since the 1990s, and has used the bully pulpit to attack <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-of-meat">plant-based meat</a> alternatives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="28O6vE">
|
||
Big Ag often argues its exceptional status is justified because farming is indeed exceptional, given the essential nature of its product: food. But Secchi argues this is the wrong way of thinking about it. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23254940">Since</a> the <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/FRB/pages/1920-1924/26396_1920-1924.pdf">early days</a> of American agriculture, farming has been a business like any other, focused on high output, which has led to excess supply and profitable exports around the world.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C04CfE">
|
||
And we don’t apply exceptionalist logic to any other industry. Energy production, for example, is highly polluting but essential to human flourishing, just like food, so we push to make our laws and economy limit the industry’s externalities and scale renewable forms of energy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2IDLZ">
|
||
Exemptions are granted to the agricultural industry not because we’ve ever really been at risk of famine, but because of the <a href="https://thecounter.org/sarah-mock-fails-to-prove-small-family-farms-are-the-future/">powerful myths</a> we tell ourselves about farming.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="51fP21">
|
||
Breaking out of agricultural exceptionalism
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9a3MIz">
|
||
There are fewer political messages as potent, or as bipartisan, as supporting farmers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WK0JGK">
|
||
“In politics, marketing, even literature and art, the presence of a farm or farmer signals authenticity, sincerity, patriotism, and a ‘real American’-ness that no other occupational group or industry can claim,” <a href="https://thecounter.org/sarah-mock-fails-to-prove-small-family-farms-are-the-future/">wrote</a> Sarah Mock, agriculture writer and author of <em>Farm (and Other F Words)</em>, in the Counter.<em> </em>“The problem with this myth, of course, is that it’s a myth.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rFyQun">
|
||
It harkens back to the Jeffersonian ideal of the US as “a nation of small farmer-landowners, each economically and politically independent,” making agriculture “the heart and soul of American democracy,” <a href="https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1596&context=facpubs">according</a> to a paper by William & Mary Law School professor Linda A. Malone.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oBVC96">
|
||
However, Jefferson’s vision never came to pass. Small farms have been squeezed out by big farms, due in part to <a href="https://thecounter.org/rural-trump-vote-democrat-farm-policy/">American farm policy</a> advocated for by the same elected officials who evoke the Jeffersonian ideal.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1t0cny">
|
||
What’s left is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22298043/meat-antitrust-biden-vilsack">highly consolidated</a> agricultural sector, with many farmers precariously <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23207301/costco-rotisserie-chicken-poultry-farming-inflation">employed as contractors</a> for corporations, and a radically <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/income-and-wealth-in-context/#:~:text=Farm%20operator%20households%20have%20more,household%20had%20%242%2C100%2C879%20in%20wealth.">uneven distribution</a> of farm wealth: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/06/black-farmers-soul-fire-farm-reparations-african-legacy-agriculture/">98 percent</a> of US farmland is white-owned, and the median commercial farm household had <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/income-and-wealth-in-context/#:~:text=Farm%20operator%20households%20have%20more,household%20had%20%242%2C100%2C879%20in%20wealth.">$3 million</a> in wealth in 2021, mostly in land and equipment, compared to the US median of <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/average-net-worth-by-age">$121,700.</a> <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/04/12/ag-census-is-it-a-farm-if-it-doesnt-sell-food/">One-fifth</a> of America’s 2 million farms don’t even sell food, serving more as <a href="https://civileats.com/2021/08/19/agriculture-reporter-sarah-mock-is-challenging-the-narrative-about-small-family-farms/">real estate investments</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A green tractor in a corn field in Lansing, Michigan, on August 12, 2021." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ouSTRb-18p07sRnzDM1Zij3vgkE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884719/GettyImages_1234653080.jpg"/> <cite>Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A tractor drives through corn fields at a farm in Michigan in 2021. Corn and soybean production, most of which is dedicated to ethanol and livestock feed, accounts for <a class="ql-link" href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/farming-and-farm-income/?topicId=90578734-a619-4b79-976f-8fa1ad27a0bd#:~:text=Corn%2C%20soybeans%20accounted%20for%20half,50.3%20percent)%20of%20the%20total." target="_blank">half</a> of all crop cash receipts.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pooA47">
|
||
Agricultural exceptionalism cuts across both major political parties, <a href="https://thecounter.org/rural-trump-vote-democrat-farm-policy/">according</a> to food policy expert Nathan Rosenberg and journalist Bryce Wilson Stucki. “While conservatives have consistently pushed more aggressive, pro-agribusiness policies,” they write, “liberals have often responded with pro-agribusiness policies of their own, even when that meant undermining their own natural allies: small and mid-sized farmers, farm workers, rural minority populations, and the small, independent businesses they support.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QCdHfZ">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23778399/media-ignores-climate-change-beef-meat-dairy">Journalists</a>, and even most environmental advocacy organizations, often reinforce agricultural exceptionalism, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LBo3Tb">
|
||
As a result, according to Secchi, criticizing the modern agricultural system can be politically marginalizing. “In America today, rural and farm are not the same thing, but they tend to be conflated with each other,” she said. “And so they say, ‘Oh, you’re against this, you’re against rural people.’ But it’s not true. Rural people are the first ones to suffer from the pollution, from the poor labor laws, from all the problems that this kind of agricultural system creates.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HCwpQP">
|
||
The myth of the small, humble family farm, paired with the political clout of <a href="https://sarah-k-mock.medium.com/the-average-farmer-in-the-u-s-7512d08f5206">millionaire farmers</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOcLyyVyb6o">lobbying might</a> of the trade associations that represent them, explains why it’s been so hard to reform the food system.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pz40Da">
|
||
Secchi argues that agricultural exceptionalism persists in part because we haven’t yet reckoned with the original sins of American agriculture: slave labor and land expropriation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wxQA8M">
|
||
“If you really want to go after the really core problems, you have to think about the fact that all this land is in private hands that maybe shouldn’t be in private hands,” Secchi said. “And all this unfettered pollution, [farmers] not paying the social costs, particularly of livestock production, requires you to think, ‘What is the alternative model?’ And the alternative model is a model in which we eat a lot less meat.” (Raising livestock requires far more <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-use-kcal-poore">land</a> and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/water-withdrawals-per-kg-poore">water</a> than growing plant-based foods — and produces far more pollution.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqOwee">
|
||
To get there, she said, farmland owners need to be taxed at a higher rate, and we need to do away with the American notion that people can do whatever they want on their private property: “What this change requires is limiting the ability of people who own land to create problems for the rest of us, in terms of the pollution they generate, the water they use … the way they treat their workers, the way they treat their neighbors — they can’t just pass on all these costs to the rest of us.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A large, almost rectangular, pond of brown, stagnant water borders a long, low-lying, and windowless building." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aA0bZcyln8c_AQIuEdvDXJVHTpw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884834/AP17206567753932__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Gerry Broome/AP</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A hog waste pond is seen adjacent to hog houses at a farm owned by Smithfield Foods in Farmville, North Carolina.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9fGRJ">
|
||
I was reminded of the tight grip Big Ag holds on the government during a recent trip to North Carolina, which has a notorious <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23003487/north-carolina-hog-pork-bacon-farms-environmental-racism-black-residents-pollution-meat-industry">hog pollution problem</a>. On a Sunday morning, I visited Raleigh’s sprawling weekend flea market on the state’s fairgrounds, which are owned and operated by the state’s agricultural department. There’s a giant banner hanging on one of the fairground buildings bearing a simple slogan that makes it clear where the state stands on farm regulation: “TRUST FARMERS.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UUbqnu">
|
||
Farmers, of course, shouldn’t be <em>distrusted</em>, though farming ought to be held to the same regulatory standards as any other profit-seeking endeavor — perhaps even higher standards, considering the far-reaching effects of its operations. That might give way to a more humane, sustainable food system, in which there are serious costs to pay for polluting waterways, poisoning the air, underpaying workers, and abusing animals — as there should be.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The conservative boycott playbook is kind of working</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A Bud Light sign is crossed out on the side of the road." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W4RZpHI6RCAWs0dvV3lJTTV1qYw=/232x0:4755x3392/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597151/1252072977.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A sign disparaging Bud Light beer is seen along a country road on April 21, 2023, in Arco, Idaho. | Natalie Behring/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
From Bud Light to Target, right-wing anger at “woke capitalism” is scaring corporate America.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rijl1p">
|
||
The general rule about consumer boycotts is that they <a href="https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2017/king-corporate-boycotts.html">rarely</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2017/02/07/when-do-consumer-boycotts-work">work</a>, at least in terms of taking a real bite out of a company’s bottom line.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fzmzFt">
|
||
Take some recent examples. Plenty of coffee drinkers still love their Keurigs, despite a handful of people <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16643884/sean-hannity-keurig-boycott">smashing their already-purchased machines</a> in 2017. In 2018, Nike <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/what-boycott-nike-sales-are-31-percent-kaepernick-campaign-n908251">got a sales boost</a> after angering some conservatives for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/9/4/17818148/nike-boycott-kaepernick">doing an ad campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick</a>. In 2020, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/12/21320954/goya-foods-unanue-boycott-cancel-culture-free-speech">calls among progressives for a boycott of Goya products</a> semi-backfired — the hullabaloo <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mksc.2022.1386?journalCode=mksc">actually resulted in a brief <em>bump</em></a> in the food company’s sales.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DtoQwc">
|
||
This year, though, the boycott outlook in the United States has been a little different. Conservative consumers, specifically, have been able to do some damage.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kk928x">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/4/12/23680135/bud-light-boycott-dylan-mulvaney-travis-tritt-trans">Bud Light</a>’s decision to embark on a small-scale marketing campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked vast outrage on the right this spring. It cost the company <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/business/anheuser-busch-revenue-bud-light-intl-hnk/index.html">millions of dollars in sales</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/8/4/23818909/modelo-bud-light-sales-ab-inbev-constellation-brands-dylan-mulvaney">ultimately contributed to Bud Light’s dethroning</a> as the most popular beer in the country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<div id="qLa7ix">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vevS3y">
|
||
Then, over the summer, conservatives <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/25/23737338/target-abprallen-pride-boycott-bud-light-trans-controversy-stock-price">took aim at Target and its annual Pride collection</a>. Many called for a boycott of the retailer, and some consumers took to going into Target stores to destroy displays and harass employees. Target’s earnings <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/08/Target-Corporation-Reports-Second-Quarter-Earnings#:~:text=Target%20Corporation%20(NYSE%3A%20TGT),percent%20from%20%240.39%20in%202022.">were down for the second quarter</a>. While the Pride backlash wasn’t the only or main issue in play, in an earnings call, a company executive cited “the strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment” as headwinds during the period. Target now says it’s going to “pause, adapt, and learn” so that its future approach to Pride “balances celebration, inclusivity, and broad-based appeal.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tZaUFT">
|
||
Neither brand is in dire straits, but they would probably much rather not be in this position.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="WJyCeA">
|
||
<q>Activists have a figurative gun, they want to keep hunting, and CEOs know it</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fMnKov">
|
||
Conservatives aren’t winning every battle with corporate America — I’m signed up for a service called “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/04/14/conservatives-plot-text-warning-woke-products">Woke Alerts</a>” that supposedly tells me every so-called <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy">woke</a> company I’m supposed to boycott, and it feels like it’s a little bit all of them. However, it does appear that they’re onto something on some fronts. They are managing to hit a few companies where it hurts at least somewhat — on their balance sheets — and are getting them to change their behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cvYZK1">
|
||
The energy on the right is having a chilling effect across corporate America. Activists have a figurative gun, they want to keep hunting, and CEOs know it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="F3mBuQ">
|
||
The right can’t stop, won’t stop (for now)
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="clghla">
|
||
There’s no concrete unified theory of why this recent string of right-wing outrage is hitting companies differently as of late, but it’s somewhat helpful to look at the boycotted brands themselves. For one thing, and not to be rude to Bud Light here, but it’s not the most awesome-tasting beer. More importantly, it’s really easy to swap out for another similarly not-most-awesome-tasting beer like Coors Light or Miller Lite, which is what many consumers seem to be doing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="951xnL">
|
||
“Bud Light seems like the most maximally substitutable beverage on Earth,” said Jerry Davis, a professor of management at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, though he did express surprise at what’s happened. “The Bud Light event really did take down the sales of America’s most popular beer, and I really can’t think of a comparable event in the past.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kzo3Ij">
|
||
There are likely a variety of factors in play here.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zRIUGG">
|
||
The right is energized and focused. While there have been calls for boycotts of other companies in recent months that have not been so successful (<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/29/18644354/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-donations-homophobia-dan-cathy">Chick-fil-A</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/5/16/23725262/miller-lite-woke-ad-shit-ilana-glazer-bud-light-boycott">Miller Lite</a>, etc.), activists have been able to get people to coalesce around a handful of specific actions and brands.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n9wRSw">
|
||
“Historically, boycotts haven’t worked. They’ve been too diffuse,” said Maurice Schweitzer, a Wharton professor who focuses on behavioral decision research, emotion, and negotiations. “I think what seems to have changed is that first of all it’s more focused, so it’s Bud Light and Target, it hasn’t been a lot of other companies, and the second thing that’s really different is that people are motivated and coordinated.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IuBRUz">
|
||
In May, influential right-wing commentator Matt Walsh was quite open about the strategy on the platform formerly known as <a href="https://www.vox.com/twitter">Twitter</a>. “We don’t need to [boycott every woke company],” <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1661438131365707798?lang=en">he wrote</a>. “Pick a few strategic targets. Make them pay dearly. That’s enough to make wokeness a lot less appealing to the corporate world. Stop trying to bring down the whole line of dominos at once. Start with one, and then the next.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b0hj5s">
|
||
The culture wars of the moment are likely a contributing factor here. Namely, conservatives are united around pushing back against transgender visibility and rights. It’s a hot-button issue and one there’s a lot of frenetic sentiment around within the GOP.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="Gz163r">
|
||
<q>“Conservatives at the moment are more unified as a group of politically active people than liberals are”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xAC8dZ">
|
||
“Conservatives at the moment are more unified as a group of politically active people than liberals are, especially on the trans issue,” said Brayden King, a professor of management and organizations at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqPz2Z">
|
||
That’s not to say liberals don’t care about trans rights, but they’re not as energized over it, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/08/transgender-issues-divide-republicans-and-democrats/">they’re not as in lockstep</a> as conservatives are. All the different groups and viewpoints in the Democrats’ big tent make it harder to organize, especially when <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>, a unifying force for the left, is no longer in the White House. “If he’s not there to fight against, it’s not clear to me what they all have in common,” King said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qIuoZX">
|
||
When Trump was elected, there was an effort to boycott and pressure companies with ties to him and his businesses as part of the <a href="https://www.racked.com/2016/11/14/13623970/grabyourwallet-trump-boycott">#GrabYourWallet campaign</a>. It’s not clear it did much financially to the companies targeted <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/02/03/a-grabyourwallet-effect-following-nordstrom-drop-ivanka-trump-line-disappears-from-neiman-marcus-website/?sh=bcb655729cab">except for Ivanka Trump </a>— it was a lot of companies to keep track of. However, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/17/17980962/sleeping-giants-twitter-grab-your-wallet">it did generate a lot of attention and publicity</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H2Lim7">
|
||
Part of this is the nature of the Republican Party, which historically has been a more monolithic group, and has become angrier in recent years. “Democrats and liberals tend to be less homogenous, less coordinated, less easy to identify with a single issue,” Schweitzer said. “Trump has changed the Republican Party in a very fundamental way to be much more about identity, much more about grievance, and it’s been very powerfully motivating.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qUTXww">
|
||
The environment makes it easier to get people wound up about Target’s Pride collection, for example, even though said collection has been around for years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0oRn8T">
|
||
Much of this has been put on overdrive by social media allowing people to coordinate in ways they haven’t been able to in the past. It’s fueled by the conservative media complex — and some <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-target-swimsuits-transgender-pride-collection-892500330955">misinformation</a>. There’s also an element of violence to this that is quite unique and disturbing. Target’s stated reasoning for pulling back on its Pride collection has, in part, been to protect the safety of its employees. “That’s something that you can’t really just wave away,” Davis said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZKT5r">
|
||
The intensity among right-leaning consumers isn’t just negative, with people turning away from brands. There is an additive element to it as well, adding to some bottom lines and not just taking away. The film <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23794355/sound-of-freedom-controversy-true-story-qanon"><em>Sound of Freedom</em></a>, which is about child sex trafficking, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23818719/july-box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-sound-of-freedom">has been a hit among conservative audiences</a> and raked in tens of millions of dollars as a result. Conservatives <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23842173/oliver-anthony-rich-men-controversy-morgan-wallen-jason-aldean-small-town-political">have also been able to drive controversial country songs</a>, such as Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” up the charts.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8vV7Oh">
|
||
To be sure, plenty of the efforts to appeal to conservative consumers are grifts, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23755227/target-bud-light-pride-conservative-boycott-anti-woke-lgbt">there’s not some vast economic ecosystem</a> for Republicans to cordon themselves off in. It’s not like everything’s been coming up roses for the American right as of late, politically, either. Republicans <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/11/14/23456270/midterm-elections-2022-results-questions-trump-inflation-democracy">underperformed</a> in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23357154/2022-midterm-elections-guide">2022 midterms</a>. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a>’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception">decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a><em> </em>has energized progressive (and moderate) voters, and multiple subsequent <a href="https://www.vox.com/abortion">abortion</a>-related <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23290714/kansas-abortion-referendum-primary-turnout-charts">referendums</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23444732/2022-midterm-elections-results-abortion-rights-nebraska-north-carolina">votes</a> have not gone the GOP’s way. That may be part of what’s motivating conservatives to look elsewhere to exercise their power, including to their wallets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="URNzN8">
|
||
On a broader level, this is indicative of the growing polarization and even tribalization of America. Conservative and progressive consumers don’t <em>want </em>to shop in the same places, or talk to each other or negotiate with each other or even acknowledge the other exists.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lUzBhA">
|
||
“The reality is increasingly there is a red market and a blue market,” said Geoffrey Kabaservice, a vice president at the Niskanen Center, a center-right think tank. “Ultimately here the subtext is America is a pretty divided country.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="xmXQMu">
|
||
This <em>is </em>a little novel, and companies don’t quite know what to do about it
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UnnxYn">
|
||
To a certain extent, progressives have already won the battle for corporate America’s soul. Companies <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/17/18139699/companies-nike-patagonia-dicks-politics-kaepernick-trump-ads">are expected to take a stand</a> on the issues of the day, whether that be race or immigration or climate, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22585831/starbucks-bathroom-privatization-government">some businesses have tried to step in</a> where government will not. The general line among experts goes that while many consumers don’t really actually shop their values — <a href="https://uncpressblog.com/2021/05/10/do-boycotts-work/">at least not for a sustained period of time</a> — <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5ceffa36-899a-4457-919f-b70902162f64">many employees do work their values</a>. A firm being viewed on the wrong side of history <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3067852/bosses-keep-up-with-your-employees-progressive-values-or-theyll-leave">can make it harder</a> for it to recruit and retain talent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="655d6u">
|
||
That’s led to a sort of equilibrium where many companies have become accustomed to being “woke.” The right uses it as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23638473/silicon-valley-bank-failure-fdic-republicans">derogatory and exaggerated term</a>, accusing companies of overstepping political bounds on even basic issues, such as embracing diversity and rejecting racism. But it’s true that corporations have taken a more liberal bent in recent years, because their customers, workers, and stakeholders expect it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KKtLlU">
|
||
Part of what’s made the consumer activism on the right so effective and so jarring is that it disturbs that equilibrium and is different, said Steven Teles, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. Companies have a protocol for dealing with liberals who are worried about <a href="https://www.vox.com/gun-violence-shootings">gun violence</a>. They don’t have a protocol for dealing with conservatives who like Bud Light. “The efficacy of this is probably highest when it’s a surprise,” he said. “There was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18259865/great-awokening-white-liberals-race-polling-trump-2020">a great awokening</a> equilibrium. But now the people on the other side of that have figured out the counter move.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7JriW6">
|
||
There may be a level of boycott burnout on the left as well. Progressives tend to talk a lot about shopping their values, which it turns out can be exhausting. <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23771693/amazon-walmart-ecommerce-shopping-antitrust-jason-del-rey">Amazon’s bad, so is Walmart</a>, and so is probably every retailer if you look closely enough. “There’s not boycott fatigue on the right,” Teles said. “Boycotts are probably easier to get people to engage in when they’re novel … also when there’s an easily available alternative.” (Again, Bud Light really is easy to switch out.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="89krTL">
|
||
Bud Light’s and Target’s handling of the backlash has been questionable. To put it plainly, both companies blinked. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns Bud Light, hasn’t stood by Mulvaney and has put out a bunch of wishy-washy <a href="https://www.anheuser-busch.com/newsroom/our-responsibility-to-america">statements</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/28/business/anheuser-busch-employee-ad-campaign/index.html">ads</a> that don’t really amount to anything clear or substantive. Target acted quite immediately to remove some merchandise altogether and move its Pride displays to the back of its stores. This isn’t to downplay the safety issue for employees, which is real. Still, it appears that the company was not as committed to the LGBTQ cause as it had professed in the past. The potential insincerity is something consumers across the political spectrum pick up on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9NSD3z">
|
||
“While both firms might have won over consumers who support LGBTQ causes, the gains might not have fully blunted the impact of the boycotts due to skepticism over these companies’ authenticity,” said Zhao Li, an NYU professor who specializes in strategic management and political economy, in an email. “To some extent, both Bud Light and Target seemed to have backed away from their initial stances following public backlash, and might have appeared inconsistent to consumers initially drawn to them for their advocacy on LGBTQ issues.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vZXVrN">
|
||
While progressives were turned off by the companies’ perceived cowardice, conservatives were energized. “That really emboldened people to lean in even harder,” Schweitzer said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5CsD9z">
|
||
That’s led them to keep seeking out targets and going for more. “There is an epidemic quality to this stuff,” Teles said. “It’s the old line ‘the appetite grows with the eating.’ Once people did that, they’re like, it was fun, and it seemed efficacious.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="0xc4ZP">
|
||
<q>“Bud Light is probably going to be the exception more than the rule”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UaWQf8">
|
||
There are some factors that make Bud Light and Target unique. “Whether it pays to engage in socio-political advocacy in a polarized society depends on various market variables, such as consumer stances, product substitutability, and competitors’ positions. Some of these variables do not look favorable for Bud Light and Target,” Li said. She pointed out that political activism <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022243720947682?journalCode=mrja">may work better as a marketing strategy</a> for smaller brands with little to lose and may be highly risky for established brands. Bud Light, specifically, has a more traditional consumer base, which likely contributed to their sense of betrayal at the company’s embrace of a transgender <a href="https://www.vox.com/influencers">influencer</a>. Other companies with more progressive consumers have not faced a similar backlash.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xrwGE0">
|
||
That doesn’t mean many firms aren’t worried. “Bud Light is probably going to be the exception more than the rule, but I think there will be [more] examples like this,” Kabaservice said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="tPO09y">
|
||
The ripple effects of conservative consumer activism are real
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hAYLwR">
|
||
If you are a CEO sitting in your office today contemplating how you’re going to approach political and cultural issues, the threat of conservative activists coming for you has to be in the back of your mind. As much as your employees, customers, and even perhaps personal politics may be pushing you to the left, there’s a risk that your firm could be next. Nobody wants to be the next Bud Light or Target or even <a href="https://www.vox.com/disney">Disney</a>, which <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/06/desantis-disney-culture-war-in-florida-is-not-hurting-business-yet.html">hasn’t seen a real hit to its business</a> since criticizing Florida’s “<a href="https://www.vox.com/23036009/disney-culture-war-desantis-florida-dont-say-gay">Don’t Say Gay” law</a> but also probably <a href="https://www.vox.com/23691467/ron-desantis-disney-what-you-need-to-know">would rather not be dealing with Ron DeSantis</a>. The company <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/19/us/southern-baptist-convention-calls-for-boycott-of-disney.html">already had to deal with the Christian Southern Baptists</a> calling for a boycott over being progressive on gay rights in the ’90s, a years-long effort that was unsuccessful because it turns out telling your kids they can’t go to “the happiest place on earth” over some cultural issue they don’t really care about is hard.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIvv2Z">
|
||
The nature of the modern market is that companies are supposed to focus on profits and delivering shareholder value. Most firms that profess to embrace progressive values do so because at the very least they think it won’t hurt their business and instead hope it will help. If the scenario shifts, so does their behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVNTyK">
|
||
Corporate executives have stopped talking as much about sustainability and diversity efforts in public forums. As the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/executives-quiet-their-sustainability-talk-on-earnings-calls-amid-growing-culture-war-3a358c1f">Wall Street Journal notes</a>, mentions of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22714761/esg-investing-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-401k">ESG</a> (environmental, social, and governance) and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) on earnings calls declined steeply between this year and last.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="CdJtnV">
|
||
<q>“Nobody wants to be the person the bear catches”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EdN2w8">
|
||
In June, Larry Fink, the CEO of investment firm BlackRock, said he had stopped using the term ESG because it had become too politicized. “It’s been entirely weaponized … by the far left and weaponized by the far right,” he said. He added that BlackRock was still committed to talking to companies about issues such as decarbonization and social concerns. Still, it’s a different tone from a guy who <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/17/16898496/blackrock-larry-fink">in 2018 declared</a> that “society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KhGTip">
|
||
Conservative activists aren’t winning the war against supposed wokeism in corporate America. If anything, they would likely say they’re the little guy here, fighting against the Woke Man. They are winning some battles, though, against some major companies along the margins, and they’re seemingly getting businesses to quiet down.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PsWTYI">
|
||
Companies pushing back against North Carolina’s transgender “bathroom bill” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html">cost the state billions of dollars</a> and ultimately helped lead to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/30/522009335/north-carolina-lawmakers-governor-announce-compromise-to-repeal-bathroom-bill#:~:text=North%20Carolina%20has%20repealed%20portions,certificate%2C%20member%20station%20WUNC%20reports.">portions of the law being scrapped</a> in 2017. There’s no such overt corporate effort against legislation <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/more-states-consider-bills-limiting-which-bathroom-trans-people-can-use">across various states</a> barring transgender people from using the bathroom they identify with today.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="keGrMB">
|
||
Companies are likely looking around at competitors seeing what they’re doing, where they’re speaking out and where they’re not, what they’re putting on their shelves and in their marketing campaigns. There’s safety in numbers, even in concentrated corporate America.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eQCs0K">
|
||
“The old joke is you don’t have to outrun the bear, you have to outrun the other guy who’s running from the bear. Nobody wants to be the person the bear catches,” Teles said. And the bear has been poked.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>There’s been a shift in how we think about climate change</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Climate protest signs “Act now” and “save our future” lying on the ground beside a megaphone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nCeEdR3AsDqYU1tOe5uJHCCm_hk=/0x0:7072x5304/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597017/GettyImages_1345174226.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
The driving psychological theory to explain how the public thinks about climate change is under revision. Climate change concern has moved from the periphery to the core. | Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A climate psychologist explains how we’ve moved beyond hope, anger, and complacency toward something more promising.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vRnUkz">
|
||
Our actions today will determine just how bad <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a> will become. But which emotions best drive a person to become politically active? Hope? Anger? Persevering through complacency? What if the fundamental challenge is actually our attention?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4PuYzV">
|
||
This last question gets at a particular theory in psychology that has undergone a revolution in the past few years. It’s a hypothesis called the “<a href="https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/4757/WIRE%20ClimateChange%20Perceptions%20Weber.pdf">finite pool of worry,</a>” coined in 2006 by Elke Weber, a psychologist and Princeton University professor. It states that people can only handle so many negative events at a time. So when public concern about one issue rises, another concern should fall. The theory gained attention after the 2008 financial crisis for explaining why heightened economic worries led the public to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-opinion/public-concern-about-environment-overshadowed-by-crisis-idUSBRE91R10220130228">tune out on climate</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TfcGOv">
|
||
But in the last few years, something wonkier has been going on. Polling did not find that concern about climate change shrank when the global Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, as theorists would have expected; it actually grew. According to researchers at Yale University and George Mason University, public understanding of the science that human activity is warming the planet increased in 2020, and has roughly <a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/americans-climate-views/">maintained</a> those levels since. The issue has especially risen in importance among Democratic voters, who overwhelmingly <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/climate-change-is-hitting-close-to-home-for-nearly-2-out-of-3-americans-poll-finds">view climate change as a major threat</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LJqzt">
|
||
Weber herself <a href="https://www.aaas.org/membership/member-spotlight/aaas-fellow-elke-weber-studies-decision-making-during-crises">recognized her theory</a> needed revising after studying the Covid effect, and so did other researchers studying other countries. One of these researchers is <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/lorraine-whitmarsh">Lorraine Whitmarsh</a>, an environmental psychologist at the University of Bath, who co-authored a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2018936118">paper</a> in 2021 that found “very little evidence” to support the hypothesis on the finite pool of worry for climate change.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TUJ9jx">
|
||
I asked Whitmarsh how they might now think about public views on climate change. Understanding what drives people to take action on climate change is a specialty of Whitmarsh’s, and we spoke about how the range of emotions people may experience influences behavior. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="sRPkZ7">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bcvD65">
|
||
The finite pool of worry made a lot of intuitive sense to explain why concern about climate change would change over time. When did it become clear there were cracks in the theory?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="HMIVD1">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VirQaS">
|
||
There was quite a lot of broader psychological research to support this idea that people can only worry about a limited number of things at one time — whatever is top of mind. There’s this cognitive bias called “the availability heuristic,” which means that I’m only going to be worried about something that occurred in the recent past.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IkrFWw">
|
||
Over the past 20 or 30 years, media coverage had a strong agenda-setting effect on the issue. Polling suggested concern about climate change would wax and wane with whatever was in the news media, and to some extent, people’s own experiences.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HtANh4">
|
||
We hypothesized that the pandemic logically should completely displace concern about climate change. It’s a massive crisis, everybody’s worried about it, so surely, we don’t have enough worry left for climate change. But we found throughout the polling that we did over the last few years, concern was either maintained or at various points even grew. It seemed like Covid was not displacing concern about climate change.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="6dJ1hK">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFegiU">
|
||
How should we interpret this?<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="mASvH6">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f6eRWU">
|
||
Now, climate change seems to be a core worry — it has moved from the periphery to the core.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ez0eso">
|
||
Climate change is reinforced regularly by what’s in the media and people’s direct experiences. I think the finite pool of worry theory needs a bit of nuance, distinguishing between core worries and peripheral worries.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="lYR4aX">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JoVlQR">
|
||
Your study on the finite pool of worry relied on a mix of social media and polling to determine how the public was feeling about climate change. Which method do you consider to be a more accurate reflection of public opinion?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="s7NK2L">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wvpVa">
|
||
Neither polling nor social media gives a complete view. Social surveys are self-reported, so they will be partly people wanting to promote this image that they are a good person. And there will be other relevant factors — what’s the temperature at the moment? What have people just said to me that will influence how you’re feeling at that point in time, and how are the questions asked? There are lots of factors that will mean you’re only getting a partial view of what people really think. And particularly if you’re interested in behavior, then it’s very limited because people will say they do things and there will often be that gap between what they say and what they do.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUlcuF">
|
||
Social media gives a different view, in that you’re seeing what people are actually saying without it being constructed by the researcher. In that sense, it’s more objective, but it’s a subset of people with usually very strong views, constructing a particular media for a particular audience. It’s a distorted view, but it’s one particular insight into what society’s thinking. But bringing them together is really valuable because while they’re limited in their own ways, together they can tell you something.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="HOxuJh">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bH3NxK">
|
||
If climate change has moved from a peripheral to a core issue for many people, wouldn’t repeat disasters cause more fatigue or complacency? Is there the risk that we adjust to heat, wildfires, and worse storms as the “new normal” and the climate crisis becomes easier to ignore?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="9z2yPS">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ntisYS">
|
||
The issue of habitation — the more that we experience something, the more we get used to it — is a competing idea to the availability heuristic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vrxBtS">
|
||
These extreme weather events are still periodic events. It seems unlikely in the near future that they would be so regular that we would completely habituate. We do have these fluctuations in people’s concerns, like when we’ve had some extreme weather events. During those moments, concern about climate change does seem to go up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="6VdfII">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mG8j7S">
|
||
So, what I’m hearing is rather than worrying about bumming people out, we should all be talking about climate change even more.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="KCyelD">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrKTfU">
|
||
There’s something called the “mere exposure effect,” that the more people see and hear something, the more it becomes relevant and something that they need to pay attention to. That’s why advertising works. To some extent, it’s just showing the same thing 1,000 times and when they are in a situation, they’ll be familiar with it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5JKcpI">
|
||
With climate change, we absolutely need to break the spiral of silence. We need to embed it much more in discussions so that people can see that this is something that isn’t going away. The climate crisis is not just relevant when there’s a drought or another extreme weather event; we need to have it on the agenda when we’re talking about energy issues and <a href="https://www.vox.com/air-quality">air quality</a> issues and everything else.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ejvGp6">
|
||
There’s also a big role for government here to really put climate change on the agenda and talk to the public so that there’s a societal dialogue happening about what are we going to do about climate change and showing people what they can do to be part of the solution.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="Ntwp3P">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVUzQ3">
|
||
Unfortunately, real solutions aren’t always accessible for people. So maybe they’re trying to grapple with burnout and a learned helplessness.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="fJVsrN">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFtw9z">
|
||
There’s a huge amount of research that shows just giving people information by itself does very little to change behavior. It might change people’s attitudes a bit. It might inform them, educate them, and motivate them to want to do something. But it often doesn’t actually turn into behavior change because there will be barriers like cost and convenience. Those barriers tend to be reduced by policy action like incentives and disincentives, regulations, as well as what businesses can do to make products attractive and cheaper.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CVcybx">
|
||
A lot of that is policy; it’s what governments can do. That might be making low-carbon options cheaper, for example, and making them more available. It might be changing social norms so low-carbon consumption is seen as aspirational as opposed to a sacrifice or deviant.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="AoPqhJ">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1wIDjB">
|
||
I’d like to hear your thoughts on a recent study published in the scientific journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378023001048"><em>Global Environmental Change</em></a><em> </em>that surveyed 2,000 Norwegian adults on how they felt about climate change. One of their findings was that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/21/anger-is-most-powerful-emotion-by-far-for-spurring-climate-action-study-finds">anger was the strongest emotion</a> associated with driving people to take part in a protest.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EyjSpG">
|
||
How important is anger in driving collective action?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="cbsrVH">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MpWGOw">
|
||
We know emotions are a really important driver of people’s behavior. But it is still true that while anger might motivate climate activism, which is one subset of behavior, we also need to engender some sense of hope and agency.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XAuJiE">
|
||
There’s a compelling example in trying to get people to reduce health risk behaviors such as smoking and having unsafe sex: What health psychologists found is that attempts to influence change can backfire when you talk about the risks but you don’t pair that with a message of what they can do about it. People will just ignore the bad news unless they’re given some sort of action strategy to tackle it. Really it’s more about self-efficacy — there is something you can do — than of hope.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RyQQ2k">
|
||
People will find it harder to tackle climate change than to protect their own health, so we absolutely need self-efficacy and a message of why you should care. Maybe making people angrier, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="XrNSmw">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PLvdjZ">
|
||
This made me think about hope. Because the study, among other research, found a lot of complacency among respondents. Perhaps many of us are actually too hopeful and not angry enough?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="p9rd8j">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1cMdyr">
|
||
I really think that’s the big question. Are people unrealistically hopeful? There’s talk of collective delusion, and obviously, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/1/8/22872066/dont-look-up-mckay-dicaprio-existential-risk-apocalypse"><em>Don’t Look Up</em></a> movie was more or less about being ridiculously, overly optimistic and ignoring this risk at our own peril.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kh05nJ">
|
||
If you talk to scientists, they are much more worried than the public. That suggests that people are perhaps unrealistically optimistic and that it’s not yet clear how much will have to change, how serious the risks are, and how quickly those risks are accelerating.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="w0JSGZ">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bDatUd">
|
||
The realization of those things could lead to fear. Could that be a good thing?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="1gzB5D">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zdMelN">
|
||
Fear often sits behind anxiety, and there’s been growing attention to climate anxiety. We don’t see that climate anxiety is really widespread among populations, but it is higher among younger people. Often it motivates action. What we found was that there is a positive relationship between climate anxiety and taking action to tackle climate change. Fear can be a motivator in the same way that we were just saying about anger.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="isIYiC">
|
||
Rebecca Leber
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8nyT4">
|
||
Do you have any advice for people who work and volunteer on climate who are dealing with intense emotions?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="RzpBTl">
|
||
Lorraine Whitmarsh
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJuwKI">
|
||
It can be really overwhelming to be thinking about this all the time. Obviously, there are things you can do like taking time out, but what’s very likely to help people is taking action to feel they’re making some progress. They’re taking back control. If you can do that with other people, then you’re more likely to feel that collectively you’re going to make a difference.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Meet Tamil Nadu’s bodybuilders who dedicate their lives to maintain a ripped physique</strong> - Tamil Nadu bodybuilders move to Chennai to pursue their dreams of a ripped physique, medals, fame, and a Government job</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Paris 2024 | After Budapest, how ready are Indian athletes for next year’s Olympics?</strong> - With the heartening efforts of javelin throwers, a national record in 3,000m steeplechase, and the men’s 4x400m relay team’s heroic run, Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal was the icing on the cake at the recently-concluded World Athletics Championships in Budapest</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Missing: singular Indian athletes</strong> - Big personalities and plain-speak have punctuated the international track and field of late. Yes, we have Neeraj Chopra, but where are the others?</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Asia Cup 2023 | After pummelling Nepal, Babar Azam says Pakistan are ready for India</strong> - Pakistan team arrived in Kandy ahead of electrifying clash against India on September 2</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australia thrashes South Africa by 111 runs in Durban T20</strong> - New Aussie captain Mitch Marsh led with a 22-ball fifty in an unbeaten 92, and was supported by Tim David’s 28-ball 64.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Eight injured in road mishap near Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PMK founder objects to Centre’s proposed amendment on mercy pleas</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Laying of bullet train track system begins in Surat</strong> - J-slab ballastless track system is being used for the first time in India: Ministry of Railways</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Karnataka likely to declare extent of drought on September 4</strong> - Cabinet sub-committee expected to recommend drought-hit areas; Agriculture Minister says up to 150 taluks experiencing dry spell</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nerves and patriotism in Moscow after 18 months of war</strong> - The BBC’s Will Vernon finds resignation, patriotism and nervousness on the streets of Moscow.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Five rail workers killed in Italy after being hit by train</strong> - They were hit by an empty train at a reported 160km/h (100mph) while repairing tracks near Turin.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Meloni’s partner Andrea Giambruno criticised for Italy rape remarks</strong> - Italian TV host Andrea Giambruno denies claims of victim blaming after a series of rape attacks.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Luis Rubiales’ mother discharged from hospital after going on hunger strike</strong> - The mother of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales is discharged from hospital having been admitted after going on hunger strike.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine gains on southern front could open way to Crimea, says Kyiv</strong> - Ukraine claims to have liberated the village of Robotyne, which could lead to a push towards Crimea.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dealmaster: Labor Day discounts on Steelcase chairs, LG OLED TVs, Lenovo laptops, and more</strong> - It’s a good time to buy a Steelcase office chair, which is now 15% off. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964238">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dog autism? 37% of US dog owners buy into anti-vaccine nonsense</strong> - For the bazillionth time, vaccines do not cause autism—and dog autism is not a thing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964573">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google removes fake Signal and Telegram apps hosted on Play</strong> - Before linking an account, be sure the app you’re using is legit. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964551">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Thorny AI ownership questions have Copyright Office seeking public input</strong> - Should AI-created works be copyrighted? US regulators want to know what you think. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964248">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The mechanical keyboard that runs on Game Boy cartridge shells</strong> - Cartridge-based microcontroller is easy to move from keyboard to keyboard. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964374">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A young newlywed couple wanted to join a church. The pastor told them, “We have special requirements for new parishioners. You must abstain from having sex for two weeks.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The couple agreed and came back at the end of two weeks. The pastor asked them, “Well, were you able to get through the two weeks without being intimate?” “Pastor, I’m afraid we were not able to go without sex for the two weeks,” the young man replied. “What happened?” inquired the pastor. “My wife was reaching for a can of corn on the top shelf and dropped it. When she bent over to pick it up, I was over come with lust and took advantage of her right there.” “You understand, of course, that this means you will not be welcome in our church,” stated the pastor. “That’s okay,” said the young man. “We’re not welcome at the grocery store anymore either.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165xmyp/a_young_newlywed_couple_wanted_to_join_a_church/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165xmyp/a_young_newlywed_couple_wanted_to_join_a_church/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three vampires were arguing about who’s the fastest.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The first said, “See that village? I can kill all of the people there in 5 minutes”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The other two agreed to time it and he sped off, coming back in 4 minutes covered in blood.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The second vampire said, “See that town over there? I can kill all the people there in 2 minutes.” and sped off, coming back in 1:58 seconds all covered in blood and a severed head in his hand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The third sped off without a word, appearing in a minute, all bloody and limping.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“See that rock over there?” he said, pointing to a boulder. The other two nodded.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well I didn’t.” replied the vampire.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Poopstorm_Creator"> /u/Poopstorm_Creator </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1660g18/three_vampires_were_arguing_about_whos_the_fastest/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1660g18/three_vampires_were_arguing_about_whos_the_fastest/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream parlor. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The boy licked his cone and replied: “Because the day I take the dollar the game is over!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/orgasmic2021"> /u/orgasmic2021 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165dd7s/a_young_boy_enters_a_barber_shop_and_the_barber/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165dd7s/a_young_boy_enters_a_barber_shop_and_the_barber/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job it was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about. The letter read: Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had £100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension cheque. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few pounds. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected £96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends. Christmas came and went.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read: Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was £4 missing. I think it must have been those cunts at the Post Office.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Centurianmacro"> /u/Centurianmacro </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165pruo/there_was_a_man_who_worked_for_the_post_office/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165pruo/there_was_a_man_who_worked_for_the_post_office/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Started dating a girl.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I thought she might be the one.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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But after looking through her wardrobe,
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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and finding a nurse’s outfit, a French maids outfit,
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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and a Police woman’s uniform,
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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I finally decided: If she can’t hold down a job, she’s not for me.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165rjkd/started_dating_a_girl/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165rjkd/started_dating_a_girl/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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</ul>
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