Library Scrubs Queer Creator’s Character from Moomin Exhibit

"Wokeism" does not appear to have ended in the United States yet, according to a news report from Hufvudstadsbladet relayed by MTV3. A picture of the character Stinky was removed from an exhibition dedicated to the inhabitants of Moominvalley and their creator Tove Jansson, held at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, due to allegations of racism. According to a spokesperson for the library, the aim was to create an environment where everyone feels welcome.

In reality, Stinky has nothing to do with racism. He is simply a somewhat annoying character from the stories, created at a time when there was no discussion of racism in Finland—Tove Jansson’s homeland—because the population was racially homogeneous. Stinky’s black color does not allude to any skin tone; it was simply a color the artist felt suited the character.

Well, what can one say to that? Perhaps that the Brooklyn library doesn’t seem to be showing much respect for the artistic work of Tove Jansson — the creator of Stinky, and herself a member of both a sexual and linguistic minority. But surely they couldn’t actually be homophobic... could they?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finnish Trans Woman Speaks Out on Transgender Rights in Sports
An African and an Iranian Immigrant Educated a Woke-Blinded Deputy Mayor
A Finnish Deputy Mayor Wanted to Ban an Old Board Game from Children

Racial Bias in U.S. Traffic Policing

U.S. police issue traffic fines to racial or ethnic minority drivers more often than to white drivers. However, this does not necessarily mean that police officers are racist, as the disparity could also result from actual differences in driving speeds between demographic groups.

To investigate this issue, Pradhi Aggarwal and his colleagues objectively analyzed drivers' locations, speeds, and speed limits but found no significant differences in speeding behavior or traffic violations. Moreover, they discovered that when both white and minority drivers drove at identical speeds, police were still 33% more likely to issue speeding citations to minority drivers and imposed fines that were 34% higher.

In other words, U.S. police are not neutral regarding the country’s racial and ethnic groups but treat minorities more harshly than white drivers. Naturally, this is an issue that American law enforcement should address as soon as possible.

However, the researchers also noted that their study participants were not a random sample of the entire population but rather better-trained drivers working for a specific rideshare service. Thus, the possibility remains that minority drivers might, on average, follow traffic laws less strictly than white drivers, which could lead police to have a more negative attitude toward them.

This, in turn, might explain why minorities are more easily stopped and fined more harshly. However, this explanation remains—at least for now—pure speculation. Therefore, at this stage, scientific evidence supports the conclusion that traffic law enforcement exhibits racial bias. And this conclusion will not change unless further research specifically addresses the question.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Attitudes towards immigrants are not becoming more positive in Western countries
Racism or self-preservation instinct?
People with Middle Eastern and North African inheritance identify themselves as non-Whites

Impact of Diversity in Films

In recent years, the use of individuals with distinctly different appearances in various movies, television entertainment shows, and advertisements has become more common. Therefore, it was interesting to find an American study that examined viewers' reactions when minority actors were added to leading roles in movie sequels.

The study analyzed movie series released from 1998 to 2021, and researchers found that movies with added minority actors received lower ratings and more toxic reviews than those without such additions. However, this effect weakened after the advent of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, especially when the movement's activity was at its peak.

According to the researchers, this demonstrated that social movements are significant factors in promoting diversity, equality, and inclusion. However, I couldn't help but wonder about the current situation, now that the BLM movement has lost some of its significance, and at least a significant portion of people—at least in Finland—are annoyed by the use of black individuals in movies and advertisements at a frequency much higher than their proportion of the population would suggest.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A Finnish police officer is afraid to speak about the problems of immigration
Attitudes towards immigrants are not becoming more positive in Western countries
A white family does not represent real Londoners

Orwellian Big Brother monitors journalists of Finland's Public Broadcasting Company Yle

The Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat heard from a long-time journalist of the Finnish Public Broadcasting Company Yle that it is problematic for them that his articles feature "too many heterosexual men". When asked about this, the Ilta-Sanomat journalist discovered that our publicly funded media records not only the gender, age, skin color, and social status of interviewees but also what kinds of thoughts or bodies they have.

Subsequently, Yle's editor-in-chief Jouko Jokinen tries his best in the Ilta-Sanomat article to explain away the image of the company’s operations that the interviewer—and ultimately the reader—might have formed. The article also reveals that Yle systematically collects statistics on the content of journalists' articles.

These are "basic things that can be automatically identified by text analysis and whose tracking is ethical. What topics we cover, how they are geographically distributed, who are the most interviewed individuals, what gender they represent, what the most used titles are, which political parties are most frequently mentioned, and so on."

And finally, the development manager of Yle then—perhaps unwittingly—reveals that "we are trying to diversify our content. Nowadays, we discuss a lot in our editorial offices, for example, whether it is always privileged people who speak for us. There are many underrepresented groups that do not have a voice in society."

In other words, confirming that our tax-funded media operates like an Orwellian big brother, whose duties include collecting data based on which even long-time Yle journalists can be presented with "ratings on the table" if they have interviewed people from so-called underrepresented groups too infrequently.

After reading the article, I was left wondering if such an Orwellian big brother is really the kind of service that Finnish taxpayers want to fund. Or perhaps they would prefer that the money be used for something entirely different—either within Yle or in other sectors of society.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finnish journalist called for British Prime Minister´s head to be placed on London bridge to dry
Racism or self-preservation instinct?
Nightwish and the Disney Company

Incapable of learning but capable of genocide

Russian troops are suffering from huge losses in Ukraine. One of the battles, where Ukraine has made great success is that of Vuhledar, where up to 130 tanks or other vehicles has been destroyed. That should not be possible, if the Russian army was at highly professional level in its skills.

A Finnish lieutenant colonel stated that the Russians have not learned anything since the early days of the war. And during those days another Finnish colonel already noted that Russian tactic in Ukraine was so poor, that if someone in a Finnish officer education would have suggested something similar in an exam, he would have been discarded. 

The observation does not promise much for the future of Vladimir Putin´s army in Ukraine. If they are not able to learn from their mistakes, the only standing result of the war "beneficial" to his regime will be reduction of the number of minority people in the Russia. 

That is because Putin has preferentially forced them to join his troops. And therefore he should be tried in the future court-martial, in addition to everything else, for ethnic cleansing. Assuming, of course, that he doesn't lose his life before that.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Is the moral of Russians collapsing
Alexander Dugin calls for Putin´s murder
Military specialist: Russian plan in Ukraine was incredibly poor