A Leadership & Legitimacy Issue
June 2, 2020
“[Legitimacy] is based on three things. First of all, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice–that if they speak up, they will be heard. Second, the law has to be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today. And third, the authority has to be fair. It can’t treat one group differently from another.” ― Malcolm Gladwel
A Lack of Leadership and Legitimacy
The results of an independent autopsy released Monday concluded 46-year-old George Floyd was asphyxiated by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who pinned the handcuffed black man to the ground by pressing a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes. Another officer had his knees on Floyd’s back.
Floyd’s family ordered the autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden and Michigan University Medical School’s director of autopsy and forensic services, Dr. Allecia Wilson. Their examination found Floyd’s death was a “homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain.” Baden said Floyd was in good health before his death and the video taken by an onlooker showed the compression of his neck and back very clearly.
The findings contradict last week’s preliminary report from the Hennepin County medical examiner that said there were “no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation,” and that Floyd’s death was a combination of factors including “underlying health conditions” like “coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease” and “any potential intoxicants in his system.”
President Trump lashed out at governors in a call Monday, blaming them for their handling of demonstrations over Floyd’s death. Without mentioning protesters’ grievances — such as systemic racism and police brutality — Trump emphasized the few instances of rioting and looting amid otherwise peaceful protests. Relating the situation to a military conflict, Trump told governors they needed to “dominate” the unrest. “You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time. They’re gonna run over you, you’re gonna look like a bunch of jerks.” The president said any looters caught on camera should be prosecuted and jailed for ten years.
- Across America, police are responding to peaceful protests with violence (Guardian) & These videos show the police aren’t neutral. They’re counterprotesters. (Vox)
- Trump threatens to deploy military as George Floyd protests continue to shake the U.S. (CNBC)
- Pentagon officials express concern as Trump threatens to use military to ‘dominate’ protestors (CNN)
- Bishop ‘outraged’ over Trump’s church photo op during George Floyd protests (Guardian)
- There are as many National Guard members activated in the US as there are active duty troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan (CNN)
- GOP senators critical of Trump’s response to unrest following Floyd’s death (CNN)
- Former President Obama: ‘Let’s Not Excuse Violence … Or Participate In It’ (NPR)
- Police Target Journalists as Trump Blames ‘Lamestream Media’ for Protests (NYT)
- Anger as local police union chief calls George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’ (Guardian)
- Louisville Police Chief Fired After Black Man Is Shot To Death (NPR)
- White nationalist group posing as antifa called for violence on Twitter (NBC News)
- In photos: Protest and rage in America’s cities (Vanity Fair)
Schadenfreude-ian Slip
Billy H.C. Kwok via Getty Images
- All last year, when Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters were demonstrating in the streets, Washington supported the people’s right to have their voices heard, and insisted that sporadic violence or illegality didn’t undermine the core demands or legitimacy of the movement. The Trump administration has fiercely criticized China’s passage of a new national security bill soon to be imposed on Hong Kong, which will effectively end its semi-autonomous existence.
- Washington moved to strip Hong Kong of its special trading status with the US, and threatened sanctions against officials involved in implementing the legislation. But now the shoe’s on the other foot, and Beijing is having a field day over President Trump’s arguably hypocritical reaction to American demonstrators protesting the latest police killing of an unarmed black man.
- Rather than acknowledging evidence of racial injustice and police brutality, Trump called protesters “thugs,” accused “organized groups” of being behind the violence, blamed the media for fomenting unrest, called for the military to be deployed, and retweeted claims that those behind the unrest were “domestic terrorists.” Chinese state media pundits and some officials have publicly delighted in watching the unrest unfold in the US.
- On Saturday a Chinese diplomat tweeted “I can’t breathe” and wrote: “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the US, like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?” (CNN)
- China may be using weak soybean demand and adequate supply as an opportunity to halt U.S. imports (CNBC)
- China’s largest chipmaker to raise $2.8 billion in listing to boost capabilities amid trade war (CNBC)
- Tiananmen: Police ban Hong Kong vigil for victims of 1989 crackdown (BBC)
- Coronavirus could ‘drag on US economy for a decade’ (BBC)
- The story of America since the 1990s is as America turns inward major foreign policy mistakes are made and when America focuses outward major domestic mistakes are made. In the 90s we missed the rise of the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalists. In the 2000s we focused too much on nation building in the Middle East when we should have been nation building at home. Now we are forced to focus on the pandemic and protests and this will result in democracy being eroded around the world. Everything is obvious in hindsight so it’s always easier to point out flaws after the fact. The takeaway here should be that policy makers at the national level should always strive to balance focusing inward and externally. But at the end of the day, external strength and projection of force is completely dependent on internal stability and strength. As noted above, China is marshalling internal strength to counter American influence.
- Additional reference: “The Principle of Least Interest is the idea in sociology that the person or group that has the least amount of interest in continuing a relationship has the most power over it. In the context of relationship dynamics, it suggests towards which party the balance of power tilts. The principle applies to personal, business, and other types of relationships where more than one party is involved.”
Additional World News
- As if we don’t have enough to worry about right now: Sixth mass extinction of wildlife accelerating, scientists warn (Guardian)
- WHO warns overuse of antibiotics for Covid-19 will cause more deaths (Guardian)
- After Reality Star’s Death, Japan Vows to Rip the Mask Off Online Hate (NYT, $)
- Donald Trump offers to invite Vladimir Putin to expanded G7 summit (Guardian)
Facebook’s Employees Don’t Share Or Like Zuckerberg’s Idea
Image via Getty Images
- When it comes to President Trump’s inflammatory posts on social media over the past week, Facebook has made a different decision than Twitter. While Twitter has started labeling some of the president’s more outrageous and/or false posts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company should leave them alone.
- On Monday, in a rare public display of protest, dozens of Facebook employees decided to show their disapproval of that decision by staging a virtual walkout. The employees, who said they refused to work to show their support for demonstrators across the country, added an automated message to their digital profiles and email responses saying they were out of the office in a show of protest. This group was one of a number of clusters of employees pressing Facebook executives to take a tougher stand on the president’s posts.
- Petitions have circulated inside the company, employees have threatened to resign, and some have written publicly about their unhappiness on Twitter and elsewhere. Current and former employees described the unrest as the most serious challenge to Zuckerberg’s leadership since the company was founded. (NYT)
- A Facebook software engineer explained in a Linkedin post why he tendered his resignation to Facebook yesterday: “I cannot stand by Facebook’s continued refusal to act on the president’s bigoted messages aimed at radicalizing the American public. I’m scared for my country, and I’m watching my company do nothing to challenge the increasingly dangerous status quo.” Read the complete post here.
- Facebook and the Trump Presidency are both dealing with a legitimation crisis: “Legitimation crisis refers to a decline in the confidence of administrative functions, institutions, or leadership.” The study of history is frequently a study of how people and countries derive and build consensus on the legitimacy of their leadership. It is only at moments of crises are both leadership and legitimacy questioned.
- Unlike other tech companies through the years Daily Pnut believes that Facebook while undeniably strong is one of the most vulnerable companies because the power of a network is in the hands of its users, the network. Social networks can quickly disappear, e.g. Myspace or Friendster. And it’s fascinating to see that Mark Zuckerberg has yet to really invest or acquire companies that expand beyond social networks. Google and Apple are much more product diversified companies whereas once users start to leave Facebook or Instagram at a greater rate than those joining the platforms, then the value of the network quickly erodes.
- Zuckerberg despite his billions is in a lose-lose situation. If he succumbs to internal pressure, then his employee base will be motivated to challenge even more of his decisions. But this is a more palatable option given the consequences of not listening to their feedback. Because if he doesn’t listen to his employees, then they will leave him or worse yet ignore or dismiss him.
- The only real checks to Zuckerberg’s power at this point are the users and his employees as it is clearly not the US government nor is it his board of directors given his voting power. This is why we often refer to Zuckerberg as Emperor Zuckerberg because his power is unquestionable when it comes to all things Facebook. Even the WhatsApp and Instagram cofounders quickly realized this to be the case and some have even acknowledged they indeed sold out.
- Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World (MTV Unplugged)
- What Facebook doesn’t understand about the Facebook walkout (The Verge)
- Hundreds of Facebook employees walk out as Zuckerberg plans town hall tomorrow (CNBC)
Additional USA News
- Fauci says his contact with Trump has ‘dramatically decreased’ (Guardian)
- Sell, stow or dump? Retailers wrestle with mountain of unsold stock (Reuters)
- Pro-Trump donors in huge cash drive to boost doctors pushing states to reopen (Guardian)
- Rage and anguish: how the US papers have covered the George Floyd protests (Guardian)
- From Airbnb To Rent The Runway, Coronavirus Upends Sharing Economy (NPR)
A Penny Saved Could Result in a Saved Life
- Almost anything we touch in our daily routines can be a vector of transmission for harmful bacteria and drug-resistant diseases. The virus that causes Covid-19 — Sars-CoV-2 — can persist on cardboard for up to 24 hours; it can remain active on plastic and stainless steel up to three days. Some bacteria — including E. Coli and MRSA — can survive for several months on inanimate surfaces, while infectious yeasts can last for weeks.
- That’s why it’s so important to be continually disinfecting and cleaning surfaces that are frequently touched. But what if, by simply changing the texture of the surfaces we use, or coating them with substances that kill bacteria and viruses more quickly, it was possible to defeat infectious organisms before they even get into our bodies? Some scientists believe that using antimicrobial metals or surfaces on frequently touched hotspots like door handles could reduce the risk of transmission.
- An infectious disease researcher at Imperial College London is among those looking for new ways to tackle antimicrobial resistance. His plan is to turn the very surfaces that many of tha ese pathogens use to spread from person to person into weapons against them. Copper alloys are the best bet. The ions in copper alloys are both antiviral and antibacterial, able to kill over 99.9 percent of bacteria within two hours.
- Copper has been used by mankind for three millennia; ancient Greeks used it for their cooking and medical use. It isn’t widely used in medical facilities today because it’s expensive and hard to clean without causing corrosion. Not to mention that not everyone wants to sit on a metallic toilet seat. (BBC)
- Coronavirus: Restrict toilet access on flights, new rules suggest (BBC)