It must be so reassuring to always know who the good guys are. Remember the old western movies? The good guys always wore the white hats, the bad guys wore black. This helped the audience figure things out. Today we have woke sports idols and CEO’s to help us understand the difference.
Have you noticed how so many of our woke leaders are only too happy to primp before the cameras to share their latest politically correct pronouncement? Whether the issue du jour is global warming, voting laws, abortion or public schools forcing CRT down the throats of our kids, they compete to be among the first to virtue signal. It must give them a warm feeling as they return to their comfy homes and offices knowing that they are advancing the Leftist agenda. They smugly look into the mirror and see one of the good guys.
Remember how Major League Baseball pulled the All Star Game out of Atlanta because the Georgia Legislature had the audacity to pass legislation clarifying state election laws? Laws that were less restrictive than those in Delaware and several other other Blue States. To prove that he was a good guy, the Commissioner of Baseball sent a message. Ironically the Commissioner was unconcerned about the voting rights of the poor people in Haiti. Official baseballs for the major leagues were produced in Haiti for decades. At least until workers began demanding a living wage. So without so much as a by-your-leave, the factory was closed and moved to Costa Rica. The poor Haitian workers were left without jobs, not to mention voting rights.
The Commissioner’s sensitivity and wokeness apparently ends at the water’s edge.
Then there is the case of the spoiled WNBA star, Brittney Griner. She was one of the leaders of the chorus of players who demanded that they not be subjected to the playing of our National Anthem before WNBA games. After all, we were a nation founded on slavery and committed to perpetual inequality. She was celebrated. Her disdain for this country may have ended at the water’s edge as well. Whether it was arrogance or ignorance, it doesn’t really matter now. Griner attempted to bring hashish oil into Russia.
She will have nine years to contemplate her contempt for the land of the free. Perhaps one day she will come to appreciate the blessings of liberty that she took for granted.
While discount broker and financial powerhouse Charles Schwab claims that they studiously avoid political matters, they can’t resist promoting good guys. They recently sent out a brochure touting ways that their clients could invest in ESG funds. Even though their wordsmiths have trouble defining what constitutes “socially responsible” companies. So we are left to assume that any other companies are, well, irresponsible. While Schwab admits that the returns on these investments have been “middle of the pack,” they didn’t mention that some of these darlings were heavily reliant on taxpayer subsidies. Subsidies that could disappear after the next election.
Consider all of the corporate CEO’s who loudly denounced the Supreme Court ruling on abortion. Several joined ranks (including our soon-to-be former bank) to promise that they would pay the expenses of their employees to travel to states where the suctioning and dismemberment of unborn babies can continue unrestricted. Cynics might postulate that this would be much cheaper for the companies than paying for delivery and related maternity/paternity leave expenses. Whatever their motives, we are voting with our checkbook and doubt we are alone.
Perhaps someday a brokerage firm will offer a list of maternally responsible investment opportunities.
Thank heavens we have a few brave souls like Governor Ron DeSantis and Turkish NBA player Enes Kanter. They have suffered the slings and arrows to speak truth to powerful interests. Governor DeSantis called the bluff of the Disney bigwigs. They quickly learned that cheap shots from the executive suite have consequences. Enes Kanter refused to back down, saying that multi-millionaire players like LeBron James were wrong to criticize the United States for human rights abuses while remaining conspicuously silent about the situation in China. James and the NBA itself (who benefit financially from China) regularly bend into pretzels to avoid criticizing the communist state. Kanter has seen real human rights abuses and they only get worse at the water’s edge.
Courage is indeed contagious. We need to stand up and call out these preening virtue signalers. They need to know that their foolish ideas have consequences.