“Peak Virtue Signalling”

Residents of Westlock, Alta., voted in favour of a bylaw Thursday evening that bans certain flags and crosswalks from being displayed on public property, including the town’s only rainbow crosswalk.

A plebiscite over a neutrality bylaw, spurred by a door-to-door petition signed by more than 700 residents, was announced in November. The bylaw, which will be implemented after Thursday’s vote, bans crosswalks and flags supporting “political, social, or religious movements or commercial entities,” in an effort to keep public spaces politically neutral.

During the World Economic Forum’s annual conclave of plutocrats last week, the attendees enjoyed an exotic display of indigenous culture and their own virtue signaling of their love for “diversity.” The Catholic News Agency reports, “as part of a plenary session on Wednesday titled ‘Climate and Nature: A Systemic Response Is Needed,’ Chieftess Putanny Yawanawá of the Amazonian Yawanawá tribe . . . performed a shamanic rite.” Resplendent in her tribal garb and face-paint, she stood close to each of the several panel members’ faces, coughed, then blew on their foreheads.

In several of the courses that I have taught (e.g., consumer behavior or international marketing), I have at times covered how cultural misunderstandings can result in costly business mishaps. For example, it is always a good idea to apply back translation when developing advertising copy across foreign markets. Take an advertising slogan in language A, have it translated to language B, and then have someone else translate back to language A. This reduces the likelihood of having translation errors when otherwise conducted in only one direction (from A to B).

Woke culture encourages and rewards pathological behaviours.

An advocacy group that says it represents “common sense Calgarians” has launched a petition calling for a reinstatement of the fireworks display in Calgary on Canada Day.

“How about we put an end to this nonsense immediately, and force City Hall to reverse course and bring back fireworks now, this year?” said Common Sense Calgary in its petition, launched on May 21.

Almost half the British public believes that ethnic minorities are overrepresented on television, according to a recent YouGov survey. Apparently, 45 per cent of Brits said the broadcast media did not accurately reflect the make-up of society, with ethnic minorities more represented on TV than in the population.

The same propagandizing goes on in Canada. Woke corporations are so insistent on waving tokens about that commercials are an insult to the target audience.