Wednesday, March 24, 2021

The downward spiral continues.

Apropos of this insightful tweet about conservatism's corporate suicide pact (bad language, but it's grimly on point).

Cigna goes Full Critical Theory Stasi on its employees, demanding information about religious and sexual identity and forcing struggle sessions on their whiteys.

The blowback on this in a decade will be fascinating as Hell. And probably almost as fiery.

I'm not talking about lawsuits, which should also be useful. I'm thinking more broadly.

"Might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb" offers timeless insight into human nature.

In the meantime, yes--raise that corporate rate.

Do eet.

Woke policy, woke taxes. 



11 comments:

  1. I'm flummoxed that the CEO at CIGNA, a 54 year old (white) man who has worked there for 29 years, has given his blessing to the HR apparat to engage in institutionalized harassment of employees. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he's a fad-driven idiot or he hardly has a clue what his HR apparat is up to. Where is CIGNA's board? Where is their GC?

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    1. It's fear. Until about a year ago, I think it was more about looking fashionable at cocktail parties, but now it is fear. No one wants to be seen as the first to stop clapping.

      Delete
    2. Fear of what, Twitter trolls?

      None of this makes any sense. I can imagine prophylactic measures to keep trial lawyers and regulatory agencies off your back, but that can be done by compliance people issuing interview formats. They aren't reducing their exposure with any of this, quite the contrary. They're doing things likely to cause discord and demoralization among their employees and repel any customers who hear about it. If I had any insurance from CIGNA, I'd be looking to unload it at the earliest opportunity.

      Delete
    3. Well, yeah. Many people would rather lose their lives than lose their standing in society. Anyone who thinks Hitler would really have been content to grow potatoes in obscurity in Bolivia after having been a pagan god for a dozen years in Germany does not understand the pride of fallen man.

      Add to this the fears of boycotts, of vandalism, and even of physical violence; it is no surprise that we saw so many people jump on the bandwagon last summer.

      Delete
    4. Well, yeah. Many people would rather lose their lives than lose their standing in society. Anyone who thinks Hitler would really have been content to grow potatoes in obscurity in Bolivia after having been a pagan god for a dozen years in Germany does not understand the pride of fallen man.

      Huh?


      Add to this the fears of boycotts, of vandalism, and even of physical violence; it is no surprise that we saw so many people jump on the bandwagon last summer.

      Were they being boycotted, vandalized, or suffering physical violence before they started harassing their employees? Was Coca-Cola or Gillette? Is Coinbase suffering these now (having explicitly told their employees they are a business and not a venue of political activism)?

      Delete
    5. I think it's a function of internet ignorance by management, and the hiring of woke millennials to handle that "social media stuff."

      Recall that Target's transgender bathroom "policy" was not the result of corporate deliberation, but rather their social media dude going rogue and announcing his beliefs on the Twitter account. The usual Twitter-addicted wokesters applauded, and Target management decided that it should not cross the "vox populi" and endorsed it.

      Far from "growing up" and learning to work with a variety of viewpoints in the workplace, the new college grads are imposing their will on their workplaces. And the adults in those workplaces have decided to let them do so.

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    6. What Dale said.

      I heard once that it was corporate philosophy that if they received 1 letter from a customer, that person was speaking for 6 other customers who were silent.

      If you take the philosophy and add in social media where a good sized group of people can be rapidly mobilized to voice a message, I think it explains almost every corporate action.

      Delete
    7. @Art Deco -- Today's business leaders have been in bed with the left for a long time, partly because of the indoctrination from universities, partly because they have been trained (or selected for) to follow trends while pretending to be leaders and trend-setters, and partly because they think being leftist "makes up" for being in business. Their colleagues, their business peers, their friends -- all the people they interact with as admitted equals -- are all on the left. They do not want to lose face with this group. Is it stupid? Yes. It is the same kind of stupidity that sadly drives teenagers to commit suicide in response to online bullying, when all they had to do was stay offline and get new (and more genuine) friends. It is the same kind of stupidity that made Nazi leaders like Göring care about titles when they had clearly lost the war, ruined their country (to say nothing of others), and were facing a date with the ropemaker's daughter; or that made Hitler prefer a "tragic but glorious" (in his own eyes) death as Führer over any chance at a longer life in hiding. Pride is addictive; social position is addictive; and people will do just about anything for pride and social position.

      As for the timing, yes, of course there was corporate leftism before last summer's riots, but there has been A LOT MORE since then. I belong to three professional societies: one for physics, one for applied math, and one for computers. None of these subjects have anything to do with race, but they all dutifully toed the line in June or July. Nor is it a coincidence that "Uncle Ben" became simply "Ben" (not even "Mr. Ben" -- he loses the affection but gains no respect from this updating), Aunt Jemima died and was buried under the Pearl Milling Company factory, and Brer Rabbit had to leave Splash Mountain all at the same time; to say nothing of warning messages on the Muppet Show, the Land-o-Lakes girl being sacked, etc.

      This many changes in such a short period of time requires an explanation, which is why you were flummoxed; and that explanation is fear.

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    8. You seem to be letting your imagination run wild and you're also free-associating a great deal.

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    9. No wonder you're flummoxed, if you can't or won't hear an explanation.

      Delete
  2. BTW, I don't think changes in corporate tax rates hit the characters who do this where they live. Changes in the law on corporate governance just might.

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Be reasonably civil. Ire alloyed with reason is fine. But slagging the host gets you the banhammer.

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