Monday, June 4, 2023. Frank Hayes and Sweet Kiss.

The United States Supreme Court decided in Meyer v. Nebraska that school could be conducted in languages other than the English, striking down a Nebraska law.  In so doing, it stated:

262 U.S. 390

43 S.Ct. 625

67 L.Ed. 1042

MEYER

v.

STATE OF NEBRASKA.

No. 325.

Argued Feb. 23, 1923.

Decided June 4, 1923.

Messrs. A. F. Mullen, of Omaha, Neb., C. E. Sandall, of York, Neb., and I. L. Albert, of Columbus, Neb., for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 391-393 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. Mason Wheeler, of Lincoln, Neb., and O. S. Spillman, of Pierce, Neb., for the State of Nebraska.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 393-395 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Plaintiff in error was tried and convicted in the district court for Hamilton county, Nebraska, under an information which charged that on May 25, 1920, while an instructor in Zion Parochial School he unlawfully taught the subject of reading in the German language to Raymond Parpart, a child of 10 years, who had no attained and successfully passed the eighth grade. The information is based upon 'An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska,' approved April 9, 1919 (Laws 1919, c. 249), which follows:

'Section 1. No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language than the English language.

'Sec. 2. Languages, other than the English language, may be taught as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and successfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certificate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of the county in which the child resides.

'Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceeding thirty days for each offense.

'Sec. 4. Whereas, an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from and after its passage and approval.'

The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the judgment of conviction. 107 Neb. 657, 187 N. W. 100. It declared the offense charged and established was 'the direct and intentional teaching of the German language as a distinct subject to a child who had not passed the eighth grade,' in the parochial school maintained by Zion Evangelical Lutheran Congre ation, a collection of Biblical stories being used therefore. And it held that the statute forbidding this did not conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment, but was a valid exercise of the police power. The following excerpts from the opinion sufficiently indicate the reasons advanced to support the conclusion:

'The salutary purpose of the statute is clear. The Legislature had seen the baneful effects of permitting for eigners, who had taken residence in this country, to rear and educate their children in the language of their native land. The result of that condition was found to be inimical to our own safety. To allow the children of foreigners, who had emigrated here, to be taught from early childhood the language of the country of their parents was to rear them with that language as their mother tongue. It was to educate them so that they must always think in that language, and, as a consequence, naturally inculcate in them the ideas and sentiments foreign to the best interests of this country. The statute, therefore, was intended not only to require that the education of all children be conducted in the English language, but that, until they had grown into that language and until it had become a part of them, they should not in the schools be taught any other language. The obvious purpose of this statute was that the English language should be and become the mother tongue of all children reared in this state. The enactment of such a statute comes reasonably within the police power of the state. Pohl v. State, 102 Ohio St. 474, 132 N. E. 20; State v. Bartels, 191 Iowa, 1060, 181 N. W. 508.

'It is suggested that the law is an unwarranted restriction, in that it applies to all citizens of the state and arbitrarily interferes with the rights of citizens who are not of foreign ancestry, and prevents them, without reason, from having their children taught foreign languages in school. That argument is not well taken, for it assumes that every citizen finds himself restrained by the statute. The hours which a child is able to devote to study in the confinement of school are limited. It must have ample time for exercise or play. Its daily capacity for learning is comparatively small. A selection of subjects for its education, therefore, from among the many that might be taught, is obviously necessary. The Legislature no doubt had in mind the practical operation of the law. The law affects few citizens, except those of foreign lineage.

Other citizens, in their selection of studies, except perhaps in rare instances, have never deemed it of importance to teach their children foreign languages before such children have reached the eighth grade. In the legislative mind, the salutary effect of the statute no doubt outweighed the restriction upon the citizens generally, which, it appears, was a restriction of no real consequence.'

The problem for our determination is whether the statute as construed and applied unreasonably infringes the liberty guaranteed to the plaintiff in error by the Fourteenth Amendment:

'No state * * * shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'

While this court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed, the term has received much consideration and some of the included things have been definitely stated. Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 21 L. Ed. 394; Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co., 111 U. S. 746, 4 Sup. Ct. 652, 28 L. Ed. 585; Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 6 Sup. Ct. 1064, 30 L. Ed. 220; Minnesota v. Bar er, 136 U. S. 313, 10 Sup. Ct. 862, 34 L. Ed. 455; Allegeyer v. Louisiana, 165 U. S. 578, 17 Sup. Ct. 427, 41 L. Ed. 832; Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 25 Sup. Ct. 539, 49 L. Ed. 937, 3 Ann. Cas. 1133; Twining v. New Jersey 211 U. S. 78, 29 Sup. Ct. 14, 53 L. Ed. 97; Chicago, B. & Q. R. R. v. McGuire, 219 U. S. 549, 31 Sup. Ct. 259, 55 L. Ed. 328; Truax v. Raich, 239 U. S. 33, 36 Sup. Ct. 7, 60 L. Ed. 131, L. R. A. 1916D, 545, Ann. Cas. 1917B, 283; Adams v. Tanner, 224 U. S. 590, 37 Sup. Ct. 662, 61 L. Ed. 1336, L. R. A. 1917F, 1163, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 973; New York Life Ins. Co. v. Dodge, 246 U. S. 357, 38 Sup. Ct. 337, 62 L. Ed. 772, Ann. Cas. 1918E, 593; Truax v. Corrigan, 257 U. S. 312, 42 Sup. Ct. 124, 66 L. Ed. 254; Adkins v. Children's Hospital (April 9, 1923), 261 U. S. 525, 43 Sup. Ct. 394, 67 L. Ed. ——; Wyeth v. Cambridge Board of Health, 200 Mass. 474, 86 N. E. 925, 128 Am. St. Rep. 439, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 147. The established doctrine is that this liberty may not be interfered with, under the guise of protecting the public interest, by legislative action which is arbitrary or without reasonable relation to some purpose within the competency of the state to effect. Determination by the Legislature of what constitutes proper exercise of police power is not final or conclusive but is subject to supervision by the courts. Lawton v. Steele, 152 U. S. 133, 137, 14 Sup. Ct. 499, 38 L. Ed. 385.

The American people have always regarded education and acquisition of knowledge as matters of supreme importance which should be diligently promoted. The Ordinance of 1787 declares:

'Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.'

Corresponding to the right of control, it is the natural duty of the parent to give his children education suitable to their station in life; and nearly all the states, including Nebraska, enforce this obligation by compulsory laws.

Practically, education of the young is only possible in schools conducted by especially qualified persons who devote themselves thereto. The calling always has been regarded as useful and honorable, essential, indeed, to the public welfare. Mere knowledge of the German language cannot reasonably be regarded as harmful. Heretofore it has been commonly looked upon as helpful and desirable. Plaintiff in error taught this language in school as part of his occupation. His right thus to teach and the right of parents to engage him so to instruct their children, we think, are within the liberty of the amendment.

The challenged statute forbids the teaching in school of any subject except in English; also the teaching of any other language until the pupil has attained and successfully passed the eighth grade, which is not usually accomplished before the age of twelve. The Supreme Court of the state has held that 'the so-called ancient or dead languages' are not 'within the spirit or the purpose of the act.' Nebraska District of Evangelical Lutheran Synod, etc., v. McKelvie et al. (Neb.) 187 N. W. 927 (April 19, 1922). Latin, Greek, Hebrew are not proscribed; but German, French, Spanish, Italian, and every other alien speech are within the ban. Evidently the Legislature has attempted materially to interfere with the calling of modern language teachers, with the opportunities of pupils to acquire knowledge, and with the power of parents to control the education of their own.

It is said the purpose of the legislation was to promote civic development by inhibiting training and education of the immature in foreign tongues and ideals before they could learn English and acquire American ideals, and 'that the English language should be and become the mother tongue of all children reared in this state.' It is also affirmed that the foreign born population is very large, that certain communities commonly use foreign words, follow foreign leaders, move in a foreign atmosphere, and that the children are thereb hindered from becoming citizens of the most useful type and the public safety is imperiled.

That the state may do much, go very far, indeed, in order to imporve the quality of its citizens, physically, mentally and morally, is clear; but the individual has certain fundamental rights which must be respected. The protection of the Constitution extends to all, to those who speak other languages as well as to those born with English on the tongue. Perhaps it would be highly advantageous if all had ready understanding of our ordinary speech, but this cannot be coerced by methods which conflict with the Constitution—a desirable and cannot be promoted by prohibited means.

For the welfare of his Ideal Commonwealth, Plato suggested a law which should provide:

'That the wives of our guardians are to be common, and their children are to be common, and no parent is to know his own child, nor any child his parent. * * * The proper officers will take the offspring of the good parents to the pen or fold, and there they will deposit them with certain nurses who dwell in a separate quarter; but the offspring of the inferior, or of the better when they chance to be deformed, will be put away in some mysterious, unknown place, as they should be.'

In order to submerge the individual and develop ideal citizens, Sparta assembled the males at seven into barracks and intrusted their subsequent education and training to official guardians. Although such measures have been deliberately approved by men of great genius their ideas touching the relation between individual and state were wholly different from those upon which our institutions rest; and it hardly will be affirmed that any Legislature could impose such restrictions upon the people of a state without doing violence to both letter and spirit of the Constitution.

The desire of the Legislature to foster a homogeneous people with American ideals prepared readily to understand current discussions of civic matters is easy to appreciate. Unfortunate experiences during the late war and aversion toward every character of truculent adversaries were certainly enough to quicken that aspiration. But the means adopted, we think, exceed the limitations upon the power of the state and conflict with rights assured to plaintiff in error. The interference is plain enough and no adequate reason therefor in time of peace and domestic tranquility has been shown.

The power of the state to compel attendance at some school and to make reasonable regulations for all schools, including a requirement that they shall give instructions in English, is not questioned. Nor has challenge been made of the state's power to prescribe a curriculum for institutions which it supports. Those matters are not within the present controversy. Our concern is with the prohibition approved by the Supreme Court. Adams v. Tanner, 244 U. S. 594, 37 Sup. Ct. 662, 61 L. Ed. 1336, L. R. A. 1917F, 1163, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 973, pointed out that mere abuse incident to an occupation ordinarily useful is not enough to justify its abolition, although regulation may be entirely proper. No emergency has arisen which renders knowledge by a child of some language other than English so clearly harmful as to justify its inhibition with the consequent infringement of rights long freely enjoyed. We are constrained to conclude that the statute as applied is arbitrary and without reasonable relation to any end within the competency of the state.

As the statute undertakes to interfere only with teaching which involves a modern language, leaving complete freedom as to other matters, there seems no adequate foundation for the suggestion that the purpose was to protect the child's health by limiting his mental activities. It is well known that proficiency in a foreign language seldom comes to one not instructed at an early age, and experience shows that this is not injurious to the health, morals or understanding of the ordinary child.

The judgment of the court belo must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

Reversed.

Mr. Justice Holmes and Mr. Justice Sutherland, dissent.

The US decided to ignore foreign protests on booze rules.

The now ineffective Zero Milestone in Washington D.C., intended to be the starting point for all U.S. highways, was dedicated.

Horse trainer Frank Hayes, serving as a jockey on Sweet Kiss, died during the race which the horse won.  A very lightweight individual to start with, he'd lost twelve pounds for the race and perhaps accordingly imperiled his health.

Sunday, May 30, 1943. Clash in Los Angeles.

A clash between servicemen and Mexican American Zoot Suiters set the stage for the Zoot Suit Riots that would erupt several days later.

The conflict, like so many over the centuries, erupted in a contest for the potential affection of women who were nearby.  They commenced when a sailor, fearing he was going to be attacked, grabbed the arm of a Zoot Suiter and was badly attacked himself.

The All-American Girls Baseball League began its first 108-game season with four teams (Rockford, Kenosha, Racine, and South Bend).

Tuesday, May 25, 1943. Conferences and riots.

Today in World War II History—May 25, 1943: 80 Years Ago—May 25, 1943: At the Trident Conference, Allied Combined Chiefs decide to plan for a 1 May 1944 invasion of Europe.

So notes Sarah Sundin, who also noted race riots that occurred in Mobile, Alabama in which white workers rioted over the promotions of twelve black workers, all of whom were injured in the riots.

Thursday, May 10, 1923. The Chicago Tribune notes The Great Migration.

The epic mass exodus of African Americans from the South had been on for a decade, and it was on in such numbers now that it could not be ignored.

Up until 1910, 90% of the black population of the United States lived in the South, a legacy of slavery.  Starting in the 1910s, after twenty years of the restoration of die hard segregation following the collapse of Reconstruction, followed by the rise of Southern racism in the form of The Lost Cause myth, and aided by improved transportation, they began to leave for Northern cities.  European immigration collapsed during World War One, and employment opportunities increased, boosting the departure rate.

The massive social trend continued up into the early 1970s, by which time it had transformed the ethnic map of the country.

Friday, May 4, 1923. Trends of the 20s.

Canada banned Chinese from entering the country unless they were diplomats, children born in Canada, merchants, or university students.

The law was repealed in 1946. Between 1923 and 1946 only 15 Chinese immigrants were accepted into Canada. The effect of the law, which precluded familiar ties and lead to an imbalance of genders, resulted in a decrease in the Chinese population in Canada.

On the same day, this baseball game was played in Toronto's Bayside Park.

Hitler, on the rise, delivered this speech in Munich attacking war reparations, something obligated by the Versailles Treaty, and also urging rearmament.

Monday, April 9, 1923. Minimum Wage Struck Down.

The United States Supreme Court held that a Federal Minimum Wage was unconstitutional, ruling to that effect in Adkins v. Children's Hospital.

The holding was, rather obviously, later overruled.

On the topic, it's worth noting that generally wages, even the lowest paid wages, tend to be well above minimum wage.  The minimum wage is near and dear to the hearts of political liberals, but it basically ceased to function as a floor years ago.

The Tribune had some notable headlines:

Harvard University passed a resolution that whites and blacks (all men) could not be compelled to live or eat together, but that no man could be excluded by reason of color

Los Angeles won its bid to host the 1932 Olympics, a bid made easy by the fact that it was the only city to put in for it.

You heard it here first.

The item about Latino voters, that is. We've been saying that this trend, reflecting cultural conservatism, was bound to come about.

Latino GOP Voters Embrace Culture War & New AI Makes Disinfo Easy

Wednesday, March 17, 1943. St. Patrick's Day Speech, Japanese Murder of Missionaries.

Plures efficimur, quotiens metimur a vobis: semen est sanguis Christianorum.

Tertullian.

The Japanese destroyer Akikaze Maru took 39 mostly German Catholic missionaries, from the island of Kairiru.  Eighteen of those were nuns, six were priests, and one was a Bishop.  Included was a Chinese woman and her two children.

The ship then proceeded to Manus Island and picked up an additional 20 individuals, again mostly German, most of whom were Protestant in that case.  Outside of the Germans picked up there, there was one Hungarian missionary and some Chinese civilians, six of whom were women.  

The commander of the ship, Lt. Commander Tsurukichi Sabe took steps to care for the prisoners and assumed they'd be offloaded at New Britain, but at Kavieng, where he next put in, he received orders to murder all of them, which took place on March 18th.

On the 18th, the ship's crew killed them over a three-hour period, dumping their bodies in the sea.  Most were shot, but some children were simply thrown in the sea.

The ship would be sunk by a submarine when it intercepted torpedoes fired at the Jun'yō, an aircraft carrier, on November 3, 1944, going down with all hands including, of course, all those still living who had participated in the murder.

Why did this happen? All we can really say is that it wasn't atypical for the Japanese. The Germans and other Europeans were just that, Europeans. The Chinese were Japanese enemies.  Killing them all was a pretty Japanese approach to things.

In spite of cooperating with Germany in the export of Jewish residents of Yugoslavia, the Bulgarian parliament balked on plans to do the same in Bulgaria and refused to allow Bulgarian Jews to be taken out of the country to their deaths, thus saving them.  It might be noted that the actions taken by the Bulgarian Army in Macedonia and Thrace were not parliamentary directives, so here too, in spit of being an Axis ally, the parliament was not like so many German allies and willing to follow the Germans into murder.

Irish Prime Minister Eamon de Valera delivered his The Ireland We Dreamed Of speech on the radio, in which he stated:

The ideal Ireland that we would have, the Ireland that we dreamed of, would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living, of a people who, satisfied with frugal comfort, devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit – a land whose countryside would be bright with cosy homesteads, whose fields and villages would be joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths and the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age. 

The home, in short, of a people living the life that God desires that men should live. 

With the tidings that make such an Ireland possible, St. Patrick came to our ancestors fifteen hundred years ago promising happiness here no less than happiness hereafter. It was the pursuit of such an Ireland that later made our country worthy to be called the island of saints and scholars. It was the idea of such an Ireland – happy, vigorous, spiritual – that fired the imagination of our poets; that made successive generations of patriotic men give their lives to win religious and political liberty; and that will urge men in our own and future generations to die, if need be, so that these liberties may be preserved. 

One hundred years ago, the Young Irelanders, by holding up the vision of such an Ireland before the people, inspired and moved them spiritually as our people had hardly been moved since the Golden Age of Irish civilisation. 

Fifty years later, the founders of the Gaelic League similarly inspired and moved the people of their day. 

So, later, did the leaders of the Irish Volunteers.

We of this time, if we have the will and active enthusiasm, have the opportunity to inspire and move our generation in like manner. We can do so by keeping this thought of a noble future for our country constantly before our eyes, ever seeking in action to bring that future into being, and ever remembering that it is for our nation as a whole that future must be sought.

The Washington Bears won the World Professional Basketball tournament, prevailing over the Oshkosh All Stars.  The Bears were an all black team.

Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming Tribal License Plates

Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming Tribal License Plates:

Wyoming Tribal License Plates

These are neat:

UW ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

UW LICENSE PLATES

Tribal License Plates to Fund Native American Student Scholarships at UW

But a question, and I ask it seriously.

Would putting these on a vehicle, assuming that you are not enrolled in either Tribe, be regarded as cultural appropriation?

I think I saw one of these recently, and had simply assumed that the vehicle belonged to an enrolled tribal member, which is partially why I'm asking, the other part being that I think it would matter how this would be viewed by those who are enrolled in either tribe.

Friday, February 26, 1923. The Porajmos

The Afrika Korps launched Unternehmen Ochsenkopf in Tunisia with the goal of gaining control of Medjez el Bab, Béja, El Aroussa, Djebel Abiod and a position known as Hunt's Gap. This was directed at British forces. Operation Unternehmung Ausladung, directed at French forces, was launched on the same day.

The Germans gained ground in this operation, but with devastating losses that made the effort a Pyrrhic victory, which was all the more the case as none of the principal objectives were taken..

Particularly notable was the massive loss of German armor, including Tiger Is. The loss rate was approximately 90%.

Auschwitz opened the Zigeunerlager, a section just for Gypsies.

The brown triangle, which Gypsies (Romani) were forced to wear by the Third Reich.

The Porajmos, the Holocaust of the Gypsies, is difficult to grasp as it's difficult, at least from the American prospective, to grasp the level of European hatred of Gypsies.  Just as with Anti-Semitism, hatred and distrust of the Romani was widespread, crossed cultures, and predated the war.  As with the Jews, the Romani became the focus of German repression leading to massive Romani loss of life, although cataloging it is nearly impossible as their numbers in Europe were really unknown.

The Romani are a semi nomadic people who migrated from Central Asia.  Perhaps because they are semi nomadic, and have their own language and customs, they've have long been subject to contempt.

Perhaps an example of synchronicity, Tehodor Eicke of the SS, a principal figure in the development of concentration camps, was shot down while flying in a Storch over the Eastern Front, an easy target for Red Army ground based anti-aircraft guns.

Thursday, February 15, 1923. Forbes quits from long distance, Veterans gather, Greece compounds the injustice.

Gathering at USS Maine memorial on the 25th anniversary of its sinking.

Charles R. Forbes, the Director of the U.S. Veteran's Bureau, resigned the position from his self-appointed refuge of Europe, following suspicions that he had been selling surplus supplies at huge discounts to contractors for kickbacks.  His confrontation with Harding on the matter had resulted in a physical altercation, with Forbes reportedly begging Harding to be allowed to depart for Europe prior to resigning.

The Scottish born Forbes had lived a colorful life, having been a Marine Corps musician at age 16, an engineer, a soldier in the Army charged with desertion and ultimately discharged as a Sergeant First Class after only eight years of service, employed in the construction field, and a Lieutenant Colonel in World War One.

He'd be prosecuted for conspiracy to defraud the Federal Government and end up serving 20 months in prison.  He'd live until 1949, dying at age 74.

Greece expropriate additional dwellings from the Albanian Cham Muslims in order to free up dwelling space for expelled Greeks from Turkey, thereby compounding the injustice.

Albanians had nothing to do with Greece's situation and the event signals out how Greece, in some ways, set the table for the disaster it was experiencing.  Turkey was being barbarous to the Anatolian Greeks, but the Greeks had not been kind to the Anatolian Muslims.

And this also demonstrates how something that began in World War One with good intention, independent nation states comprised of free peoples, was morphing into expelling minorities from lands they'd occupied for eons.

Margaret Lindsey Williams, working on her portrait of President Harding.

The Introvert's Lament. That awkward conversation.

Lawyers tend to discuss a lot of topics, and many vigorously.

"Lonesome Charley" Reynolds.  Son of a physician, Reynolds was such a loner that he ended up with a solitary name in an occupation that involved solitude, that of U.S. Army scout.  His days ended at Little Big Horn.  Prior to being a scout, he'd occupied a variety of occupations, including that of buffalo hunter.  His visage has appeared here before.

These include some of the topics you aren't supposed to discuss, notably religion and politics, although I don't know that you really aren't supposed to discuss them.

When they are discussed, however, they need to be discussed in some intelligent context.  I'm not afraid of discussing them, and as over the three decades of legal practice I know have I've worked with one individual who made it a minor and occasional sport to attack Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, I've found myself having to defend my beliefs simply for walking into the break room.  On that, I'd note, that I don't like having to engage in such debates not because they're serious topics, but rather because somebody is in an ornery mood and just wants to argue, or who views arguing on such matters as sport.

I note, on that, in recent years this has happened less and less as I've been able to pretty much defeat the opposing view to the point of concession.  It's at least to the credit of the arguer that they don't go away mad, but concede.

Anyhow, this isn't about that.

People who like to comment on public speaking often note that "you should know your room".  I think extroverts, or at least highly extroverted people, don't tend to be able to "read the room".

Twice in a week I've been in the office doing what I do in the office, which isn't theology, and had a coworker who is a coreligious simply blurt out of the blue, and I do mean blurt out, his concerns over Pope Francis.

From an introverted way of thinking, it's one thing if a person is idled, i.e., there's reason to believe that I'm in a posture in which I'm not engaged in some other intellectual endeavor of a work fashion, and the setting is appropriate to bring up a religious topic.  I.e., if I'm sitting in the break room alone, or if I'm in my office on an off hour looking at pictures of naked elk, or sporting goods equipment that I don't need but what like to have.  For one thing, if approached in such a fashion, on a topic that's sort of inside baseball, that's a different deal.

Indeed, the same coworker likes to go to the fellow who has an office near me and blurt out stuff about the Minnesota Vikings and Greenbay Packers, which is fine as they both have an interest in football and football is a monstrous triviality.  The fact that I'm a conscripted third participant in some boring discussion about a boring sport is irrelevant, as my opinion on the terminal dullness of football is not going to be impacted on this, let alone am I go to form an opinion about either team.

And that gets back to part of being an introvert.  We have next to no "casual conversations".  

It's not that we do not enjoy conversing, we do, but everything we're saying is some sort of analysis.  That isn't true for extroverts.  Extroverts often talk just for entertainment, the same way that some people pick up Cheez-Its from a bowl.  "Hmm. . . I'm bored. . . Oh! Cheez-Its!"

"Hmm. . .I'm bored, I don't want another Jesuit Pope again, ever!"

And here's the problem.

To an introvert, it's not only the statement made that now needs to be rapidly analyzed and responded to, but the audience does.

It's one thing if there's no audience.  Then, bare minimum, you'd be entitled to say "oh, why do you feel that way?" and go from there.

But if there is, and in an office there is, you know have somebody blurting out a personal opinion on a deeply religious matter that's going to be taken in analyzed, and filed away in some fashion by the listeners, the same way I would if somebody blurted out, "Russell Nelson is the worst Mormon Prophet of all time!" (which I've never heard anyone say, by the say, it's just an example).  Whatever the merits and demerits of the person might be, to outsiders with no context it's going to be filed away in some fashion, and probably not in a really helpful way.

Put another way, I don't think the Protestant background listeners were probably too concerned about Papal Cardinal appointments and whether they are too liberal, or if Jesuits make for poor Popes.  All of those topics are current ones in the Catholic and Apostolic Christian world, but they require intelligent discussion and a receptive or at least interested audience to be properly developed.

Or, as Jimmy Akin has noted, don't turn people off by arguing badly, and as the podcasters on Catholic Stuff You Should Know have noted, "don't be weird".

By the same token, I really don't think that minorities find it amusing to have somebody try to be amusing with their ethnicity.

I note this as I also find myself occasionally interacting with somebody who has a very, very nice Mexican woman working for them.  By Mexican, I mean Mexican. She's from Mexico. This individual finds it funny to refer to himself as Alejandro and affect a fake Mexican accent.

I don't like to be on the receiving end of such efforts at humor, and maybe I take it more poorly than she does, but that's just wrong.  I ran into this again the other day, and while I'm generally slow to react to these things, as I don't expect it, it made me mad, and I'm still mad.  I guess I'm now primed, as I'm an introvert and I don't have any idle conversations, but I'm at the point that when it happens again I'm going to say something.

Words have consequences, and quite often, they have consequences for somebody who is simply listening.

Prior Related Threads:

The Introverts Lament. "I'd like you to meet. . . "

The Introvert Subsistence Hunter Meets the Extrovert Midwestern Gregarian

Wednesday, January 13, 1943. Germany enters Total War.

Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter, looking a lot like the Blue Max.

Adolf Hitler decreed that the "Führer decree on the full employment of men and women in the defense of the Reich", bringing total mobilization into effect, but rather late, given that the war had been going on since 1939, and that the struggle with Russia had been going on since 1941.  

The act was designed to bring adult German women into the industrial work force, thereby relieving men to fight in the Wehrmacht.  It would only allow, however, for an additional 500,000 men to be mobilized, which in the context of the war was telling as that frankly wasn't that many.  The act had been designed to apply to women from age 16 to 50, but Hitler insisted on upping the lower age limit to 17.  Soon thereafter, the upper age limit was depressed to 45.

Deutscher Frauenarbeitsdienst service flag.

As perhaps that short history reveals, the Nazis were very reluctant to fully mobilize their adult population to the extent it required mobilizing women.  The party had always had the view that women's roles were solely familial and domestic, and had discouraged female employment and involvement in civil life in every fashion.  While exceptions occurred, women were not supposed to be allowed to join the Nazi Party.  Indeed, Nazi fascination with the female reproductive role descended right down to the perverse level in some instances.

With the arrival of the war, therefore, the Germans effectively sidelined its female population until forced to mobilize them due to the inescapable manpower needs of the war.

This contrasts dramatically with the Allied powers. The UK, US and Canada had all encouraged women to work in factories and fields since the onset of the war, and had taken women into non combat military service early on. The Soviet Union went one step further, not only taking women into service, but also allowing small scale use of female combatants.  The UK had required women by this point to register for some sort of war support service.

By this point in the war, of course, the Germans were resorting to slave labor for the same purpose.

Some interesting ones from Sarah Sundin for today's date:

Today in World War II History—January 13, 1943:Students at the University of Munich riot after a Nazi speaker blames the German army’s dire situation in Stalingrad on student malingerers.

 and

In “Sleepy Lagoon” case in Los Angeles, 17 Mexican-Americans are wrongly convicted of murder; convictions will be overturned in October 1944.

The wrongfully convicted upon being released.

I vaguely recall this story featuring in the movie Zoot Suit.

Wednesday, January 6, 1943. No pleasure driving.

The Office of Price Administration banned pleasure driving in seventeen Eastern U.S. states, with the ban to commence at noon the following Thursday.

It also limited the amount of fuel oil that could be used by schools, churches, stores, theaters and other non-residential establishments.

German Admiral Erich Raeder tendered his resignation after a difficult meeting with Hitler over the Battle of the Barents Sea, which Raeder had not informed Hitler about.  Hitler actually learned about the battle in the foreign press.

Raeder was promoted on January 30 and put in a ceremonial post, but effectively his service was over.  He was captured by the Red Army towards the end of the war, which is surprising given that he was not serving and theoretically could have attempted to evade them.  He was sentenced to life in prison at Nuremberg, which surprised him, as he expected to be sentenced to death.  He was released in 1955 due to ill health and died in 1960.

Nisei serving in the U.S. Army began to accompany U.S. and Australian troops in New Guinea.

The Red Army continued to advance in the Caucasus, U.S. Troops were pushed off of the summit of Jeb el Azzaq in Tunisia, and the Free French took Oum-el-Arnaeb.

Marian Anderson sang at the dedication of a mural for the Department of the Interior.  Present were vocalists from the U.S. Navy, and JrROTC cadets who participated.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Denver Colorado.

Churches of the West: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Denver Colorado.: 

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Denver Colorado.

This is Our Lady of Mount Carmel in North Denver, Colorado.

Built between 1899 and 1904 for an Italian population, the church is located in a neighborhood known as Little Italy, although its rapidly gentrifying and experiencing a change in neighborhood character.  Nonetheless, one Mass per month is offered in Italian.

Tuesday, September 5, 1922. East Thrace, Missoula, San Diego. Big Pictures, the result of the Greek Defeat, Air Records, Motorcyle Races.

Missoula from Penwell block, September 5, 1922.

Turkey stated a demand for East Thrace, which had been ceded to Greece in 1920.

East Thrace.

This meant that Turkey was declaring that it wanted to reclaim recently lost territory, lost to Greece, across the Bosporus.  This would of course give it completely control of the straits, and hence entry into the Black Sea.

Greeks had comprised about 38% of the population there before the Greco Turkish War, and Bulgarians about 4.3%.  Bulgarians had been subject to a pre-war set of expulsions and violence due to the Balkan Wars that foreshadowed World War One which, at the same time, increased the Muslim population as Muslims fled into the area for refuge due to Ottoman lands being lost elsewhere.  Greeks would now be subject to the coming population exchange between Turkey and Greece, which also impacted the remaining Bulgarians.  In 1934 the Jewish population was expelled in the Thrace Pogroms.

Today, 15% of the Turkish population lives in the region.

Aviator Jimmy Doolittle set a transcontinental flight record.

Dealing with speed of a different type, motorcycle racer Billy Denham was photographed at a motorcycle race.

Denham is wearing elements of the wool U.S. Army uniform of the period, to at least the extent that he's wearing a wool service shirt.  Note also that he's wearing a tie, something you wouldn't see a motorcycle racer wear now, and for good reason.

 

Saturday, July 29, 1922. Late July Summer.

The Saturday magazines hit the stands, with The Saturday Evening Post featuring a circus dog and clown by Leyendecker.

It's certainly a well done illustration, but I've always found clowns creepy.

An article appeared in that issue on Elanor Franklin, certainly an early one.

The Literary Digest featured a Rockwell.
 

And a poll on prohibition, which was already becoming unpopular, even though it had really only just recently become the law overall.

The Country Gentleman featured an illustration that likely couldn't grace the cover of a magazine today.

Colliers simply went with the always popular female portrait.

The German Mark hit a new low.

Oil was discovered at Smackover, Arkansas, that had a population of 100.  That population would reach 25,000 within a few months.

The government reported that the Catholic population of the United States had reached 23,000,000.

People were out doing Saturday things.

Wednesday, July 26, 1922. Regular courts, regular limits, combating prejudice.

The U.S. submarine S-50 in port, photographed on this day in 1922.

The Provisional Government of Southern Ireland suspended all sessions of the nationalist established Dáil Courts in favor of the courts of the Irish Free State.  A pre independence tactic had been co-opting the features of regular civil life in a new nationalist system.

The British rejected an American proposal to search British vessels for alcohol outside the country's three-mile territorial limit.

Greek immigrants to the United States, facing racism and bigotry, established the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Order of AHEPA) with the mission of promoting unity and assimilation into their new home country’s society.  Like immigrants from various Catholic countries, the largely Orthodox Greek immigrants were the targets of nativist hatred.

Thursday, July 16, 1942. The Vel d'Hiv Roundup

Things for European Jews, French Jews in particular, and the French in general took a turn for the much worse when French police in occupied Paris began rounding up Jews in the city under Nazi orders.  While the city was occupied and northern France was under Germany's rule as a practical matter, the fact of that the police were complicit in it is a stain on France's honor and further demonstrates how none of the fascistic regimes of the period were free from guilt.

Those arrested in the sweep, some 13,152 souls, would end up being sent to Auschwitz.  Only 811 survived.

On the same day, Parisian authorities announced that close relatives of "troublemakers" would be shot if they were male, or forced into labor if they were female.

Hitler moved his battlefield headquarters to Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

Hitler would have a variety of headquarters in the East, which perhaps shows the degree to which he had begun to focus on that theater of the war.  Such a focus was, of course, understandable in that the vast majority of German resources were now dedicated to fighting the Soviet Union. In this instance, the location, code-named Werewolf, was used by the Wehrmacht as its headquarters, but was little used by Hitler.  The Germans destroyed it upon their retreat from the region, and the underground portions remain sealed.  Only a swimming pool really remains intact.

The British XXX Corps took another key ridge west of El Alamein.  In the same battle, Australians repelled an attack on Point 24 resulting in 50% German casualties.

The United States severed relations with Finland.

In Italian Harlem, the following took place:

Rare Photos of the “Festa di Madonna di Monte Carmela” of East Harlem-July 16, 1942.

Sunday, July 12, 1942. The deaths of Powell and Yeryomenko, The turning of Vlasov, The reinforcement of Stalingrad, The fatal commitement of the German 104th Infantry Regiment, The blindness of Hirsacker, The end of the Himaya Maru.

One of the most famous photographs of World War Two, and one of the best featuring the Red Army, was likely taken on this day in 1942.  The photo, entitled "Kombat", is commonly assserted to have featured political officer Aleksei Yeryomenko (likely a Ukrainian given the last name).  He is asserted to have been killed mere minutes after this photograph was taken.  While this is commonly accepted, there is doubt on these claims.  By RIA Novosti archive, image #543 / Alpert / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15579366

Today in World War II History—July 12, 1942: Australians reach Kokoda, New Guinea, having marched from Port Moresby over Owen Stanley Mountains. First 49 civilian Coastal Picket Patrol craft go on patrol.

Soviet General Andrey Vlasov is turned over to the Germans by a Russian farmer after having hid behind German lines for ten days outside of Leningrad.  He had been the commander of the Red Army's 2nd Shock Army.  He'd defect to the Germans and become the commander of the Axis Russian Liberation Army.

Vlasov's command would be in large part titular, as the Russian Liberation Army would not really be committed by the Germans until late in the war.  Having said that, a huge number of Russians and other Soviet citizens volunteered to serve the Germans in varying ways, not all armed, and not all for the same reasons.  Vlasov's efforts would result in his execution in 1946 by the Soviet government, which logically enough tried him for treason or something akin to it. Perhaps more surprisingly, a monument to him exists in a Russian Orthodox convent in Nanuet, New York, and a memorial service is said for him and his men twice annually.

The Soviets began to move massive numbers of troops to Stalingrad.

The newly arrived German 104th Infantry Regiments assaults Australian lines at El Alamein and suffers 50% casualties.

A German wolfpack attacks the unescorted convoy OS-33 in the Atlantic.  U-752, part of the wolfpack, reports not finding any vessels which would result in its commander, Heinz Hirsacker, later being convicted of cowardice in the presence of the enemy.

The USS Seadragon sank the Japanese transport ship Himaya Maru off of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina.

Pioneering polymath African American aviator William J. Powell, who was an engineer by training and a veteran of the First World War, died from the lingering effects of poison gas exposure from World War One.  He was 44 years old.

Powell in 1917.