Category Archives: Gender Politics

Western Comics Getting Gutted By Manga and Webtoons

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I grew up with the likes of Batman, so it kinda saddens me to see how things are going for the Dark Knight, and his compatriots in western comic books. But at the same time, I don’t want to see Batman succeed for the wrong reasons. And with DC and Marvel comics having become full-on woke rags, it’s pretty much necessary for those comic companies to tumble, if it means that they’ll learn a few things as it happens.

If you’ve been following along, you already know that manga has been killing the hell out of western comics. As I’ve already covered, manga sales in the year 2020 were three times that of DC and Marvel sales combined. As pointed out by Deb Aoki on Twitter, EuropeComics has posted a graph which visualizes just how much hell is being killed out of western comics:

To further highlight the mayhem:

The first four publishers on that list are manga publishers, and each one of them outsells both Marvel and DC combined, with Marvel and DC placing numbers 7 and 8 behind Korean webtoon publishers.

It looks like no one is buying western comic books anymore, and I wonder why?

Oh yeah, that’s right. It’s because Marvel and DC have gone full-on woke, with DC having started a yearly publication starring characters whose sexual preferences are the most front-facing aspects of their personalities.

Did DC really publish this with the expectation that anyone reading it would feel like they’re being taken seriously?

Now, I get it. Your boomer parents and grandparents grew up with Hanna Barbara bullshit like Hong Kong Phooey, and would therefore feel threatened by anything from across the ocean that might challenge them, which has a lot to do with why they’re among the few left who are currently providing Marvel and DC as much support as they have. I also get that they grew up in an age where it was rare for cartoons to be made for anyone besides children. Even so, the idea that children don’t deserve better products just because they’re children is just an excuse to produce inferior products, which in turn conditions children into becoming adults willing to settle for mediocrity.

Seriously.

I read manga because manga takes me seriously enough to present me with entertainment without beating me over the head with the blunt end of whatever misguided moral that the publisher wanted to push, as though they couldn’t trust me to think for myself.

If the story is about a golden-haired dude battling it out with a galactic tyrant on an exploding planet, the comic doesn’t need to do anything to further justify itself. If some cook is facing off against his dad because of some deep-seated grudge, we don’t need a PSA telling us not to pick on people who like buttsecks. If some deranged scientist performs horrific vivisections just to enhance his capacity to explore come caverns, he’s plainly the bad guy, it’s not necessary to make him a Nazi, as well.

If western comic book heroes are to succeed again at some point in the future, they’re going to have to go back to being, you know, heroes. It’s going to take a whole lot of swallowing to down all the pride needed for Batman and the Avengers to come back up from where they currently are.

But in the time it takes for them to do it, I’ve got plenty of other things to read.

Feminist Turns Tables on Men, and Men Loved It

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The following cartoon was brought to us by Twitter user Fight the Patriarchy. The feminist apparently got the idea that she could take the language that men direct towards women, which feminists find annoying, and turn matters around by showing a cartoon with women directing similar compliments towards men:

  • Heard it,
  • Heard it, except just towards me,
  • Heard a variant thereof,
  • Heartwarming, but still makes me glad I’m no longer a cashier.

Sorry, I got distracted with some fond memories.

The above comic was posted to social media with the idea that it would pwn teh pAtRiArChY, but something different happened. The idea of being complimented like that was something that men loved.

And really, who wouldn’t?

It would seem as though the answer to that question would be feminists, whose distrust of other people is so extreme that they assume a subtle sexual proposition in mere small talk.

Even if such a proposition were present, where’s the controversy? Just like men, women have the capacity to express disinterest at any point in any interaction, and to do so is a trivial social inconvenience.

When one person complains about an experience as a person of one gender, it seems to be the tendency of people to assume that there must always be an equivalent experience for the other gender.

But that’s not always the case, because men and women are different. Many of those differences are obvious, such as the fact that women can get pregnant, and when that happens, they spend nine months giving of their energy and nutrients to help develop the life that’s growing inside them. This being the case, women have a tendency to proceed with more caution in the courtship process, considering that the outcome would be a significant investment of their time and energy.

Though, from what I’ve seen, women have a tendency to take initiative. But I understand that not everyone has had the same experiences as me.

Men and women are different. And those differences should be understood and embraced as beneficial for society, rather than a reason to complain about oppression and play the victim, as the tendency of certain people is.

But even with those differences, I think society would be better still if a certain subculture, feminists specifically, were to learn a few things about taking compliments without assuming ulterior motives. But considering that the typical feminist is characterized by a distrust of those they perceive to be in the outgroup, they’re well set up to surpass expectations.

The “Mouse Utopia” Experiment That Fooled Your Parents and Grandparents

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Dr. John Calhoun, pictured inside the Universe 25 enclosure.

Even with good intentions, what’s stupid is still stupid. So it is when one attempts to thwart a perceived oncoming crisis, but ends up doing more harm than good.

Decades ago, researcher John Calhoun set out to conduct a set of experiments which involved confining rats to enclosures, and observing them as they are continually provided with ample food, safety from predators, and allowing their populations to grow without interference.

The most famous of these enclosures was called “Universe 25”, which was notable for its capacity for housing upwards of 5000 mice. As the experiment progressed, the mice descended into antisocial and violent behavior, and the colony ended up failing when the females failed to care for their young.

This research came to be of particular public interest, as it came at a time when Malthusianism, the idea that the earth was nearing its limit for its ability to support humanity’s growing population, was widely accepted. In light of this, it’s easy to see why Calhoun’s experiments were interpreted to mean that consequences similar to what befell Universe 25 might also befall humanity, if humanity’s numbers were to continue to grow unchecked.

But there was a problem. Calhoun’s experiments did not concern limited resources, nor did it concern overpopulation.

The purpose of the experiments was to observe behavioral sink in rats who were not able to escape one another’s company at any time. This becomes evident when considering the fact that the colony did not want for anything to eat or drink at any time during the experiment, as it was all provided by Calhoun. What’s more, the Universe 25 enclosure came nowhere close to capacity at the point when the colony failed.

Nonetheless, the consensus was that the experiments gave us a glimpse into the future of humanity if humanity’s numbers were to continue to grow without check, further feeding into the Malthusianism that was popular at the time. In a sense, the Universe 25 experiment came to be the “mouse utopia” experiment which fooled your parents and grandparents.

As a case study concerning the National Socialists of Germany may prove, when any misconception becomes popular enough, tragedy is a potential outcome. While Malthusianism may have already been popular in the decades preceding Calhoun’s experiments, a popular misconception regarding them may have played a huge role in the movement’s further popularity. And, wouldn’t you know it, it was the following decade that saw the production of the now popular Jaffe memo.

That’s not to say that there’s no value to be found in Calhoun’s experiments. But to find that value, one would have to look at them in terms of the data that they actually provided. And if there is carryover between the observed behavior of rats made to live in close proximity and human beings, there is a concern which is applicable to today, rather than in a hypothetical future time when human population is far greater. After all, large numbers of humans live in close proximity, today.

The fact is, there is noticeable behavioral sink in rats who are made to live in close proximity, unable to escape one another’s company. Among what’s concerning is that the males in the experiment tended to become hyper-aggressive, often fighting each other, even when there’s apparently nothing at stake. They also tended to become hyper-sexual, with homosexuality becoming rampant.

The behavior of the females also became concerning. The females tended to become more masculine in their behavior, also becoming more aggressive and hyper-sexual. As matters continued, most of them failed to care for their own young, many of them abandoning their young, leaving them to die. And yes, we’re still talking about rats.

Also of interest was the emergence of a special category of male. These were referred to as the “beautiful ones”, because they avoided other rats (and thus fighting), and they devoted their time to self-grooming. Any time they fed, they avoided other rats, often by waiting until many of them were sleeping. These rats were so psychologically damaged that they refused to mate, even after being removed from the enclosure and placed in the company of ideal females.

I’ve been avoiding direct comparisons until now, but I’d like to indulge by pointing out the obvious similarities between these so-called “beautiful ones” and humanity’s MGTOW and Herbivore Men movements. If you’ve never heard of them, they largely boil down to being groups of men who have foregone relationships with women, often over bad experiences.

As large numbers of humans live in close proximity, it’s easy to see a certain disregard for one’s fellow man. Those who manage large numbers of humans tend to see less value in them as individuals, instead viewing them as statistics, and numbers to be managed. There is an Asian saying: “A frog at the bottom of a well knows nothing of the ocean.” Indeed, a limited perspective can lead one into making wrong assumptions, even as far as to interpret disparate data as supporting their own preconceived notions. Get out of cities.

Former Loudoun County Superintendent and School Official Have Been Indicted

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Remember just last year, when Loudoun County school officials waved off criticism of a transsexual school policy by insisting that no sexual assaults by such individuals had taken place in their public schools, all while covering up a couple such sexual assaults by the same offender? (Pepperidge Farm remembers!)

The incident brought to national attention the downsides of opening to transgenders the public restrooms of their choosing, parents concerned with the safety of their children began to fight back, and the pendulum finally began to swing the other way.

Just yesterday, indictments against two school officials concerning the incident were unsealed, and one of those indicted was former superintendent Scott Ziegler, who was fired over the incident just last week.

The indictments against Ziegler read as charges of typical left-wing abuses of power:

  • misdemeanor false publication,
  • misdemeanor prohibited conduct, and
  • misdemeanor penalizing an employee for a court appearance.

Retaliating against an employee for a court appearance is a classic abuse of power. And in this case, it sets a particularly bad example, considering the charges relate to a cover-up of sexual assaults. Many people who have been sexually abused are afraid to report it to the proper authorities, because they are made to believe that they might face retaliation. When I was in college, a student complained about a sexual offense committed against him by another student, but school officials regarded the complainer with suspicion. Let’s not kid ourselves here, schools can do a hell of a lot better in this regard.

The felony indictment was against the school spokesman Wayde Byard, which was for felony perjury. Related point of advice: The government may be lying to us all the time, but if you lie to them, they’ll make you pay!

While people are cheering over Ziegler’s termination, his termination was classified as being “without cause”, making him eligible for a year’s pay (about $300,000). Once again, a member of the ol’ boys club gets his golden parachute.

The crime that the school officials attempted to cover up was when a boy in a dress forced himself upon an actual female student. While the act of covering up the crime did more than enough to endanger other students, the offender got off apparently scot-free, giving him the opportunity to victimize yet another woman in a vulnerable situation by abusing the school’s lax restroom safety policies.

Which is exactly what he did. If he wasn’t punished the first time, who would be surprised when he commits the exact same act of violence a second time?

The fact is, those who are out of touch with reality when it comes to their own biological sex are more likely to commit a sexual faux-pas (to put it mildly). And that’s giving the offender the benefit of the doubt. There are certainly many predatory individuals out there who would gladly don a dress and welcome themselves to the women’s restrooms, taking advantage of relaxed policies that previously existed for the safety of women and girls, so that they can take advantage of them when they are in a vulnerable situation. In a sense, they’re kind of like the wolf who wanted to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but instead of acting out of hunger, the predators in question want to act out their sexual fantasies.

It should be understood without saying, but in the culture war, don’t get on the same side as perverts, groomers, and sexual predators. Those are the people against whom the backlash will be the strongest when the pendulum swings the other way, which is already beginning to happen.

Bulbagarden Founder Posits Theory That New Gym Leader Is Trans and Non-Binary, Gets Debunked Less Than 24 Hours Later

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It seems like with every new major media release, someone from the questionable sexuality community will come forward with speculation (often stated as fact and foregone conclusion) that a character depicted represents their favorite flavor of sexuality.

As Bounding Into Comics points out, this time around, the speculator is Liam Pomfret, the founder of Bulbagarden, who posits his theory that the newly-revealed gym leader in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Iono, is non-binary and transgender.

Here is the promo video featuring Iono:

Upon what is Liam basing his theory? The initially ambiguous use of pronouns, and her choice of hair dye:

Image from Bounding Into Comics

One would expect the use of such flimsy inferences from an undiagnosed schizophrenic who believes that their TV is communicating secret messages specifically for them, not a Doctor of Philosophy. Our education system is fucked, isn’t it?

Because he was tripping over himself to find trans representation in a Japanese game marketed towards anyone in the family, he looked at the soft blue and pink hair (kinda looks lavender to me) and immediately thought of the trans kid flag, rather than the recurring red/blue coloration of Pokémon’s flagship games, Scarlet and Violet included.

Less than 24 hours later, Nintendo dropped supplemental promotional material concerning Iono. It’s the kind of thing that looks like it would have been released simultaneously with the promotional video that originally featured Iono, so maybe it was hastily thrown together after the fact.

The promo specifies Iono as having the feminine pronoun of “her”. Iono is female. Because we’ve already established that speculation is fun, maybe Nintendo threw this out there because they knew what Liam Pomfret was saying, and were all like “Nope. We’re not having that.”

If “Bulbagarden” sounds familiar, then you’ve been following along back when I pointed out how inappropriate it was that they used their Pokémon fan platform to soapbox about an immigration policy that they blamed on Trump (the problem was actually Obama’s fault, and Trump resolved the matter through an executive order).

This was Bulbagarden’s forum header at the time:

Fucking creepy.

And a fantastic opportunity to warn parents out there that there are some predatory actors in fan communities who use their positions in their respective communities to pressure younger members. Oftentimes, their activities involve performing “favors” over video chat. Of course, there are many ways that bad people can take advantage of children online.

That PSA aside, it can also be pointed out that there is a certain obsession with pointing to Japan’s status as a relatively advanced, orderly, and peaceful society. Oftentimes, someone on the radical left will attempt to glom onto a form of Japanese media, in a sad attempt to make the case that the Japanese are actually just like them.

What these attempts overlook is how Japan as a society got to be as advanced as it is. Japan is a heavily structured and stratified society that favors family, career, merit, and respect. To further reduce that, Japan is conservative. In fact, it’s one of the most conservative societies in the world.

Sometimes, a weeaboo pops up who thinks of Japan as being their kind of society, probably because they got ideas as to what it’s like from anime and manga. The fact is, Japan is a society of norms. If you move to Japan, you’re expected to conform to the norms. If you don’t want to, then you don’t belong in Japan. It’s as simple as that.

Red light districts aside, Japan is an advanced, peaceful, and orderly society. If your thinking is different from theirs, that might have a lot to do with it.

Iono is pretty far from the first character from Japanese media to have gotten this kind of attention. It wasn’t long ago that Shiver from Splatoon 3 came under scrutiny as possibly non-binary, but it turned out she was female. Nanachi from Made In Abyss is a frequent target of this, because author Akihito Tsukushi prefers to leave Nanachi’s sex as unknown. Or, more famously, there’s Bridget from Guilty Gear, who is male.

That’s not to say that there are no “non-binary” characters in Japanese media. However, such characters are seldom portrayed as sympathetic. But why would they, when there is something obviously wrong with their thinking?

Iono is merely a character in a work of fiction. She’s just made up, therefore nothing about her has any bearing on the reality of any matter. It doesn’t matter whether she represents anything, except maybe in the deluded thinking of those who lack the ability to parse reality without the assistance of a fictional construct. If this describes you, then you need to seek help. And get over yourself, while you’re at it.

Microsoft Drops NPC Update With New Pride Flag (seizure warning)

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Here it is, the new pride flag, according to Microstiff:

I can only imagine the headaches that this new design will cause. An ocular migraine doesn’t look this intense.

What’s more, this new flag looks like a logistical nightmare. Can you imagine all the colors that would have to be used to print these flags, which could end up outside the porches of homes that we tell our children to avoid all across America? Then there’s all the flags that would be rejected by reason of smudging the colors, which would have a high potential of occurring with all the different colors used.

The flag reminds me of Ancient Greece. Not just for the debauchery it represents, but for how similarly the Greeks handled idolatry. They wanted to ensure that they honored every god that they knew. And with how heavily pantheistic they were, they knew a lot of them. It got to the point that some of their cities were so packed with statues, that cities like Athens were said to have more gods than men.

Eventually, people just decided to set up pedestals with plaques that read, “To the unknown god”, in the hopes that, in so doing, they’d honor any god that they may have forgotten to build a statue for.

Perhaps we’re just months away from seeing a new pride flag that just says, “To the unknown sexuality”.

Webcomic Review: Momlife Comics

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At first, I wasn’t going to comment on these. One-panel comics aren’t usually worth talking about, and these seemed little more than the meanderings of a woman who is bitter about one thing or another. Then these comics blew up, so I was like, “fine, I’ll acknowledge their existence and write up a review.”

For the setting, try to imagine a curious land in which most people don’t have to grow their own food, but meals are already fully prepared and delivered to peoples homes. Not only is rape illegal, there are no roving rape gangs on the prowl in rusty pickup trucks. What’s more, the homes are crisp and cool inside in the summer, and when there’s snow on the ground in the winter, the homes are warm inside, and glowing display screens deliver limitless free entertainment on demand.

But, there’s a catch: human nature remains mostly the same. The human adaptation to conflict that has been cultivated over the course of aeons still remains. Therefore, the people started questioning their idyllic peace and halcyon luxury. Then, grumblings came, acknowledging first world problems as though a prize awaited the cynics: “My coffee is too hot”, “thirty seconds is too long for an initial boot up”, “my delivery was delayed until tomorrow”.

At the center of this maelstrom of abject ingratitude is one housewife and her adversarial relationship with her husband. That’s right, we’re reviewing Momlife Comics.

Momlife Comics was written by Mary Catherine Starr, who gives us the first hint of her politics by listing her pronouns in her bio. Because her pronouns apparently weren’t already evident from the fact that she’s a mom. She also made a BLM statement, so you know that she’s not racist.

Wow, how stunning and brave, considering the current political zeitgeist!

Mary’s IRL husband is aware of the comics, and is okay with them, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did a Jack Murphy and wrote up an article touting the benefits of cuckolding.

Let’s start this review off with the most famous cartoon in the series so far:

Both are valid uses of the peach, and the one who gets to it first decides what happens to it. But notice that the build-up is the woman thinking about someone other than herself. How dare that man want to eat something that he paid for, from a table he paid for, in a house he also paid for!

Wow! Look how much more work that woman is doing! Patriarchy and such mushuggunah!

The missing context: the woman took all the bags, leaving the man to bring back just one. Was she aware that she could take multiple trips to the car? She’s likely to smoosh something if she tries carrying in that much at once.

Pattern established: Woman imagines some rule, but doesn’t tell man about it. Woman then gets angry at man for breaking the rule he didn’t know about.

Another pattern established: Woman gathers everything to herself, leaving nothing for the man to do. Woman then complains that she does everything.

Mary also does comics where she reverses the gender roles, which is supposed to be clever because she leaves us to determine the irony without beating us over the head with the obviousness of the point that she’s trying to make.

Get it? Because men are generally more career-focused, and women tend to be more family focused? Though it’s hard to say definitively whether Mary intended to throw shade on the fact that men and women are different, and that because of these differences they tend towards different life choices. It might be that she’d prefer a world where they made similar choices, even if that meant less excuse to hear the sound of her own voice, complaining.

I wouldn’t put it past her to complain about the rain as though she’s blaming someone for it.

Mary is such a victim in her own mind that she even sees herself at fault for bringing her own children fast food. Or are her children the only ones in the universe who would complain about fast food? Sure, it’s garbage, but kids don’t know that.

It was my intention to review this webcomic, but I instead feel tempted to psychoanalyze the author, as her comics have given a window into the soul of a troubled woman. It’s obvious that from an impressionable age, someone was able to sell her a victimhood narrative, and this resonated with her life in the hard streets of sheltered suburbia.

Since her webcomic got noticed, she produced this comic in an answer to the trolls:

Along with a notice that she’ll block trolls. Which is a mistake, because it’s a reaction that trolls look for, and they’ll take any that is any indication that they’re getting to someone. And the above comic accomplishes this masterfully.

As far as art quality goes, Mary is evidently of the opinion that if you only do one thing right, you’ve got a comic. In Mary’s case, that one thing is body proportions. Aside from that, everything is wrong. The thick, inconsistent line art, the lack of facial features, everything is just wrong. Maybe Mary can draw better than a toddler. But bring elementary school students into it, and she’s out of her league.

Okay then, let’s grade this pile. Momlife Comics gets a score of 2.6 out of 10.

Gentlemen, I know that the dating game is flawed. But tread carefully. Getting hitched to the wrong woman can be quite taxing.

One of the classic signs of an abusive relationship is joking at the expense of one’s spouse in public. These comics give ample cause for concern.

Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Suit, Amber Heard Wins Partial Victory

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It looks like making stuff up about people and attempting to destroy their reputation is still a bad idea. This is the takeaway from the verdict earlier today in the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, wherein the jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages. Heard also won $2 million in damages, but all things simplified, the victory went to Depp, overall.

The trial came after Amber Heard had written a defamatory op-ed which was published by The Washington Post in 2018. If The Washington Post bemoans that “Democracy Dies in Darkness”, it might behoove them to stop bullshitting if they want anyone to take them seriously. That and change their edgelord tagline. “Democracy Dies in Darkness”? Please.

In Amber Heard’s original article, she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse. While Depp was not specified in the article itself, the implication was strongly against him, considering that Heard had previously accused Depp of domestic abuse in 2016.

One interesting point about this is that Johnny Depp accused Amber Heard of being abusive towards him. Believe it or not, women are capable of being abusive against men. And in many cases, they get away with it, due to the perception that it’s rarely the case. In the cases where the man succeeds in escaping, the woman often makes claims of abuse against the man, in an attempt to save face and get revenge (putting aside, of course, the inconsistency with the notion that the escaping party was the one that was abusive).

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Amber Heard really was abusive. I don’t know all the facts of the case, but from what I’ve seen in the livestream, Heard had a certain vibe about her that I didn’t like. Usually, the dignity and decorum of a courtroom is humbling. However, Heard had a certain vindictive air about her, easy to see in her body language and facial expressions. She very much looks like the kind of woman I’d want to escape from.

It’s a bit personal, but I was once in a short relationship with an abusive woman. Matters escalated to the point that I had to phone in a friend to help me get out of there. After I had escaped, the woman attempted to slander me to a congregation that I had attended. However, she left that church shortly afterwards, possibly because she had trouble getting anyone to believe her.

If a famous person like Johnny Depp may have been in a relationship with an abusive woman, and I’ve had an experience with one, I wonder whether this is more common among men than we know. If what Depp had to say was true, then it would seem as though fame and success are no guarantee of protection from abusive people.

It’s interesting to see that some more spurious outlets are pointing to Heard’s victory of $2 million as a “Win For Domestic Violence Victims”, as though this somehow eclipses Johnny Depp’s much greater victory. And, as though throwing a vodka bottle at someone, severing their fingertip doesn’t count as domestic violence.

The dubious journalists aside, the verdict is yet another culture war victory. Perhaps news outlets will be more careful about the veracity of the content of their op-eds. But considering that the MSM played up the Russian collusion hoax for years, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

Study Finds That Testosterone Treatments Turn Democrats More Conservative

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It’s not going to surprise a whole lot of people that the chemical that makes men more manly also makes men tend more towards conservatism. But now, we have a study to prove it.

The study, published by Professor Paul Zak of Claremont Graduate University, demonstrates a clear connection between testosterone levels and the political preferences of males. The 136 males participating in the study disclosed their political affiliations, then were either administered a synthetic form of testosterone or a placebo.

In an outcome as surprising as the setting of the sun, the Democrats participating in the study that took testosterone felt less warmly about their own party by 12 percent, but felt more warmly about Republicans by 45 percent.

Democrats happen to be the most compliant people, and compliance in males correlates with a lack of testosterone. I’m stating the obvious, of course. But maybe a study is already underway which will demonstrate the connection.

Come to think of it, it was mainly the Democrats that insisted on shutting down gyms and confining people to their homes during the Coronavirus Apocalypse. An apocalypse that I survived, by the way. And you probably did, too.

The study showed the strongest shift in Democrats that were weakly affiliated, and the effects waned among those with stronger Democrat leanings, and among weakly-affiliated Republicans.

Come to think of it, many of the Democratic policy positions tend to decrease the testosterone of those affected. When men pretend to be women, there isn’t much expectation that those men would have high testosterone. And of course, those men have a home in the Democratic party! When men become obese, their T-levels tend to crater. But they’d still find company among Democrats who tout the “healthy-at-any-weight” bullshit that actually kills people.

Also, consider the fact that Democrats are the ones actively trying to trick young boys into having themselves neutered. Could it be that Democrats are trying to castrate for themselves a set of lifelong loyalists?

Considering the role of the gonads in testosterone production, it would follow that the fastest way to turn a man Democrat is to have him de-balled and de-pricked. And who knows how many professing Democrats have already underwent the process?

A PR Firm Is Reportedly Telling Major Corporations to Play It Safe And Not Take a Political Position

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We’ve been saying “Get Woke, Go Broke” for a long time. Now, it seems like “Get Woke, Go Broke” is intensifying, as PR firm Zeno is reportedly advising major corporations not to publicly take a position regarding the Roe v Wade draft leak.

Among Zeno’s clients includes Coca-Cola, Salesforce, Hershey’s, Netflix, and Starbucks.

The following was included in “a template email to share with client contacts”, as it was worded by Zeno’s Executive Vice President for Media Strategy, Katie Cwayna:

Do not take a stance you cannot reverse, especially when the decision is not final. This topic is a textbook “50/50” issue. Subjects that divide the country can sometimes be no-win situations for companies because regardless of what they do they will alienate at least 15 to 30 percent of their stakeholders… Do not assume that all of your employees, customers or investors share your view.

Finally, major corporations are starting to use their heads! They are starting to figure out that if you take a public position on a controversial topic, you risk alienating a significant portion of your customers, resulting in your company becoming less profitable. They’re finally figuring it out!

I like how Cwayna says “Do not take a stance you cannot reverse”, as if to acknowledge that there is a lot of pride on the line. Sure, the implication is that once a company issues a statement, the dominoes begin to fall, and the losses continue from there. But we all know that CEOs are proud, not willing to admit that they made a wrong call. After all, if they admit to making a wrong call, people might lose confidence in them.

By the way, the popular.info article claims that 72% of Americans oppose overturning Roe v Wade, which wouldn’t make it a “50/50” issue. Putting aside for a moment the deceptive framing it takes to arrive at that percentage, it should be known that Supreme Court rulings are not intended to pander to the majority, they’re supposed to consider constitutionality. Remember, one of the intents of the U.S. Constitution is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority!

The email template adds,

Avoid media “fishing.” Often during controversy, media will make general inquiries to multiple peer organizations, in which the first one to “raise its hand” becomes the lead.  In a case like this, being at the center is not advisable so be judicious if/how general inquiries are managed.

Don’t become the first corporation to issue a public statement, if you do so at all. After all, the first one to raise their hand and start speaking has the potential to become the most notorious, and therefore become more likely to be the target of focused boycotts.

Steer clear of breaking news networks/outlets. We anticipate the story will dominate newsfeeds for the rest of the week as more details unfold, so avoid pitching reporters and outlets that focus on breaking news.

What your company shares on social media does matter. Even that much can be construed as taking a position that could end up costing your company money. That may not be what Cwayna expressly stated, but we know it’s true. Closer to the intent of Cwayna’s message, it should be understood that media outlets may pressure a company into taking a position, and that it would be advisable to avoid them.

Do not engage with direct questions about your company’s position. Whether in direct messages or public-facing posts, do not respond to questions about where your company stands on this issue.

Play it safe: Keep your mouth shut. Do not take a position, even if you’re pressured into taking one. The SJW NPCs and the mass media have been pressuring major corporations to take a position, and now Zeno is saying, “don’t cave in”.

After posting their article reporting on this, Popular Information received a response from Zeno’s CEO, Barby Seigel:

The email you reference does not accurately reflect Zeno’s position or the range of counsel that we are providing to clients.

It was meant to advise clients within the first 24 hours of breaking news, and its intent was to counsel clients to be measured in their immediate response to a complex developing story.

We take seriously our responsibility to help clients proactively navigate complex societal issues, consider the actions they may take, and the accompanying communications, internally and externally.

We know and understand that companies are increasingly expected to take a stand on major issues, and we believe it’s right to do so when it is authentic to the organization, and consistent with their values and actions.

At Zeno, we believe in equal access to healthcare for all, and a woman’s right to make decisions about her healthcare. At the same time, we live in a world with different opinions and different views, and we respect those differences.

This response was written tactfully, in a manner consistent with the company’s advice, but at the same time, providing just enough apparent virtue-signaling to keep the SJWs off of them. Particularly, it’s a response to Popular Information’s stance that their advice “contrasts with Zeno’s public facing communications, which emphasize the importance of standing up for women’s rights.”

On Twitter, Zeno Group claimed that they are “proud to support #InternationalWomensDay.”

It was a low-risk, low-cost virtue signal, as all but a fringe minority of western society is for women’s rights, and the idea of “support” has been reduced to a mere sentiment with no cost. You can say you “support” something like cancer research by sharing links on Twitter, but that’s not the same as supporting cancer research with substantial grants to cancer researchers.

There is one part of the CEO’s reply that I’d like to zero in on:

We know and understand that companies are increasingly expected to take a stand on major issues, and we believe it’s right to do so when it is authentic to the organization, and consistent with their values and actions.

I’ll decode this for you: Don’t go taking a political position, even if you’re expected to, unless politics is intrinsic to the overall aims of your company. For example, if you’re Hershey’s, your deal is chocolate, not politics, so keep your nose out of politics.

I know that the left likes to say “it’s not political, but a matter of basic decency”, and similar platitudes. Don’t fall for it, because there’s still the potential for divisiveness. If you run a company whose product or service is not intrinsically political, you should answer along the lines of,

This isn’t a political company. But if it’s something that’s expected of anyone anyway, why not assume that we’re decent people? In any case, we don’t need any recruiters prowling about.

Or, if you want to be less wordy,

We make products in order to sell them, so back off.

When it comes down to it, what the political left wants is to have power over you. Whether it’s you, your home, your business, your job, your education, or so on, the left wants to have power over you, and they’ll use any platitude, any rhetorical device, any pressure, just about anything that they possibly can. They themselves are fond of saying “by any means necessary”.

Finally, large corporations are realizing that they can play it safe by not issuing a public position! Leftism has long turned major corporations into their own weapons. But now, it looks like they’re losing them!