"The Pope has criticised 'cancel culture,' claiming it suffocates freedom of expression, rewrites the past and eliminates 'all sense of identity.'"

"In a strongly worded speech yesterday to diplomats gathered at the Vatican, the Pope said 'a kind of one-track thinking is taking shape, one constrained to deny history or, worse yet, to rewrite it.'... The Pope said the trend was influencing diplomacy, creating 'a mindset that rejects the natural foundations of humanity and the cultural roots that constitute the identity of many peoples.' The result, he said, was 'a form of ideological colonisation, one that leaves no room for freedom of expression and is now taking the form of the "cancel culture" invading many circles and public institutions.'... 'Under the guise of defending diversity, it ends up cancelling all sense of identity, with the risk of silencing positions that defend a respectful and balanced understanding of various sensibilities.'"

From "Cancel culture is rewriting the past, warns Pope Francis" (London Times).

The Pope's words are translated from the Italian, but he said "cancel culture" in English.

Doesn't the Pope have to oppose cancel culture? Whether he says so outright or not, he must defend the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church is a very conspicuous target of the culture.

Here's the full text of the speech.

ADDED: I'd trust the Pope when he identifies "ideological colonization." It takes one to know one!

Judged by a wasp — "This tiny individual was judging me."

I'm reading Jordi Casamitjana interview: I’m a vegan thanks to Franco and wasps/An ‘ethical vegan’ fired by a charity has changed the law for his fellow animal lovers. His campaign began with a nest of insects" (London Times):

Something life-changing happened while Jordi Casamitjana was working on his PhD on the social behaviour of wasps. He was observing a nest when one of the insects turned and looked straight at him. “My heart was thumping,” he recalls. “This tiny individual was judging me. And it decided ‘you’re fine’ and didn’t raise the alarm [to the rest of the nest].” He vowed that day to devote his life to helping animals....

[His] devotion to his beliefs led a judge to rule... that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief and therefore a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010... 

Growing up in Catalonia in the 1960s under the rule of General Francisco Franco, he lived “in an oppressive state”. His parents were not allowed to write “Jordi” on his birth certificate; instead they had to use the Spanish spelling “Jorge”.

“Being oppressed was the root of my veganism,” he says. “It gave me empathy with those who are oppressed, and who is more oppressed than the animals? I found the world very hostile and animals seemed much nicer. From a very young age I just wanted to be close to them.”

That's from 2 years ago. I'm reading it this morning because it came up in the sidebar as I was reading something new: "Women who eat little meat and dairy put their health at risk, says scientist." Key message there: If you're vegan, you need to take special care to get enough iron, magnesium, iodine, calcium, and zinc.

Casamitjana's rule for living: “Everything I do is based on two things: minimising the damage I’m doing to others and maximising the help to those who need it the most. That’s it: that’s my entire life.”

"Question: When will we put Dr. Seuss on the twenty?"

That's a question I wrote in this page of the sketchbook I drew when I was in Paris. (It was some time in the 1990s. I forget when. I blogged this page in 2004, the first year of this blog, after St. Exupéry's plane was found in the Mediterranean Sea, 60 years after he crashed and died.)

I loved that France had put an artist on its money, and I felt a little sad that we Americans don't put our artists first. So I must feel elated that we've done it at last. We've put an artist on our money:

I got my wish, so I'm just going to be happy about an artist on the money, not argue about the particular artist chosen. 

When I wrote in my sketchbook, I picked the name Dr. Seuss not only because he wrote accessible words and drew charming drawings, which is what St. Exupéry did. I picked it because I thought virtually all Americans could get behind the choice of Dr. Seuss. We all know him and have enjoyed his work. Who can't like him? But 18 years have passed, and... is Dr. Seuss cancelled? He's somewhere on the road to cancellation.

So I couldn't get my precise wish.

When you wish upon a Star-Bellied Sneetch/Makes no difference who you reach/Something like your heart desires/Will come to you....

So I got my wish imprecisely. I got Maya Angelou! 

***

Like a songbird, her legs are invisible as she flies, arms outstretched/Darting into the slots of vending machines/Across America.

One killed, another injured during shooting inside Seattle’s cop-free zone

One person was killed and another injured when a shooting erupted in Seattle’s autonomous zone early Saturday, and police are now inside the “no-cop” zone investigating, according to reports.

Seattle police remained Saturday afternoon in the so-called Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, gathering spent shell casings and assembled in riot gear at the border, Newsweek reported.

There were conflicting reports on whether police and fire department were allowed into the zone, with some reports saying that police encountered hostile crowds after a large group assembled on the edge of the protest zone to secure the victim. But both victims had been driven by private vehicles to a local hospital, according to a blog post.

Videos recorded inside CHAZ showed volunteers scrambling to help the victims.

Police confirmed the shooting in a Twitter post Saturday, but offered no additional details.

Two gunshot victims were treated at Harborview Medical Center, spokeswoman Susan Gregg told the Seattle Times.

One died, she said, and the other was in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit.

A security employee working in the area reported seeing the shooter arrive in a black SUV and a 911 caller told police a man left the vehicle toting a rifle in the early morning hours at the end of Juneteenth celebrations, according to a local blog post.

Seattle police had abandoned the six-block area following threats to torch the East Precinct on June 8, following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

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