I knew I had to write about the George Floyd/Derek Chauvin verdict today, but I was afraid. It was the right verdict. That was obvious from the video. Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd. It should never have happened. But I was afraid of the trolls who will inevitably flood my comments with hate. And I…
If you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19, should you be worried? The leaders of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the FDA issued a statement this morning suggesting a pause in the administration of the J&J vaccine. As they wrote: CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases…
Last December, police in Windsor, Virginia, stopped the Black Army medic Caron Nazario in uniform as he was driving his brand new car, and then pepper-sprayed him. Now the town has released a statement about what happened. The statement is notable in that it talks about many things that happened, but hardly any of the…
As vaccinations rise, lockdowns lift, and consumers once again feel confident, expect an economic surge in the US in the spring and summer of 2021. But the new economy will not look like what we had before. Three things will drive the economic resurgence. First, at least among Americans with middle incomes and above, savings…
It’s a truism in social media circles: brands should be more human. Of course, humans have a full range of emotions — they can be angry, not just nice or funny. Do we really want angry brands? Brands like Amazon that attack people on social media are going to find out they’re making a mistake….
Dave Maimaron, the head coach of the Duxbury, Massachusetts high school football team, condoned policies that made sport of the Holocaust. Then the town cut ties with him. Duxbury’s letter about the firing is evasive and defensive. What happened in Duxbury Imagine that you a high school football fan at a game between Duxbury and…
Robert Aaron Long confessed to shooting eight people in the Atlanta area on Tuesday. Captain Jay Baker, spokesperson for the Cherokee County sheriff’s office, said he had a “really bad day.” Is this how we now describe white people committing mass shootings? What Capt. Baker actually said In this space, I evaluate people’s actual words…
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is now the subject of multiple allegations of sexual harassment, including both suggestive speech and unwanted kissing. I’m not here to litigate Cuomo’s conduct. He’s agreed to have his attorney general investigate his conduct. As I have before for others, I’ll analyze his apology statement for its effectiveness in communication….
I have been in love with Dr. Seuss since childhood, and happily raised my own children on his lyrical work. Much of his imagery is delightful because it is so exaggerated; some of it is racist. If you want to understand why the company that manages his content has ceased to publish some of his…