Season 8, Episode Six April 28, 2024

On this episode, we'll hear about the end of World War II, the end of the cold war, and a tornado outbreak worth singing about.  Not the Headlines will cover the plight of donkeys and electric cars.  Plus, I'll chat with a man about Tall Poppy Syndrome.

Transcript

Hello!  Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube!  I’m your host, Bob Woodley.  On this episode, we’ll hear about Mayday, oppressed v. oppressor, and the trickle that led to a flood of freedom.  I’ll also talk to a man about our innate desire to cut down the successful among us….but first, (Not the Headlines!)

A recent Reuters story https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AFRICA-CHINA/DONKEYS/xmpjrdgbxpr/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email
about how the demand for donkey hides in China is depleting Africa of an important part of it’s transportation system and workforce really burned my ass.  For thousands of years, donkeys have been helping mankind progress with its strength and endurance.  Still today, many people in rural Africa rely on donkeys to do what they’ve always done.  They haul goods and people, providing a return on investment for those who manage them well, but still affordable for those who just need them to do everyday tasks.  But their hard work is only one of the things that makes donkeys not just a valuable resource, but a commodity.  The other is their hide.  Unfortunately, the hide is more valuable than the labor the donkey provides.  Why?  Because of a product derived from the hide that’s popular in China.  
The problem is, donkeys can’t reproduce fast enough to keep up with the demand for the hides.  One pig can create 50 offspring to every one donkey foal.  So now, Chinese companies are buying up as many donkey hides as they can from African traders.  Where these traders are getting the donkeys is a whole other problem, with many being stolen or taken by force in other ways.  It might be similar to getting your car stolen, but there’s no donkey insurance and you can’t just go get another donkey because they’re getting harder to find.  
The product so coveted in China that comes from the donkey hide is called e-jiao.  It’s been made there for 3,000 years and is considered a national cultural heritage, as cited by the Chinese State media.  E-jiao is believed to enrich your blood, prevent diseases and improve your immune system.  They make all kinds of products out of it.  Different kinds of food additives that you can use at home, plus pre-made products.  It’s also an ingredient in beauty products.  It’s basically a type of collagen.  And was for most of its existence reserved for those who could afford luxury products.  Popular during the Qing dynasty, its popularity waned in the early 1900’s.  But then it was featured on a Chinese television drama beginning in 2011, and all of a sudden, the same class of people who couldn’t afford it a hundred years ago are now seeing it on big-screen televisions.  Since the show came on, the price for the donkey hide product has gone up by leaps and bounds.  What once cost 100 yuan now costs almost 3000.  Still, the demand is so high that nearly 6-million donkey hides are needed per year to satisfy the need.  China only has about 2-million donkeys on hand.  Africa has more donkeys left than anybody.  But maybe not for long.  Certain areas of Africa have enacted laws to stifle the trade, both legal and illegal, in donkeys, but the patchwork of laws and regulations only means the traders have to plan their routes to the buyers more carefully.
The good news for the donkeys is that the African Union banned the slaughter of donkeys for their skin across the continent.  But that may only change where the slaughter is done.  The only solution to the problem is to educate the people of China about the result of their demand for the product.  There’s also the prospect of creating the same substance using other methods.  There will always be a demand for the product, and the illegal trade in donkey skins is inevitable, but perhaps the Chinese Communist Party can help their citizens reduce their demand and give donkeys the time they need to live a life before becoming a food additive.
It’s ironic that a country that was still riding bicycles as the major form of transportation just 50 years ago, and is now a maker of electric cars and spacecraft is now depleting the world’s supply of donkeys.  And taking away a mode of transportation from the people who need them the most.

Speaking of transportation and electric cars, a story from Inside Radio https://www.insideradio.com/free/automakers-scaling-back-delaying-ev-efforts-hybrids-poised-to-ease-transition/article_d061494e-e29a-11ee-bf59-5b62b0ab76c3.html
says droves of automakers are backing away from electric vehicle production.  They list Ford and GM, as well as European companies as those who are changing course.  But nobody’s making any U-turns.  While all of them still have plans to implement electrification to their lineups in different ways and at different levels, the sales of all-electric plug-in vehicles isn’t keeping up with manufacturer’s expectations, despite tax breaks and mandates meant to stimulate sales and popularity.
The early-adopters have all jumped on board, and the rest haven’t been enticed enough.  Or perhaps convinced enough.  Although sales and interest have waned overall, there is still steady progress being made after the initial boom.  But it seems the buying public is leaning more toward a gradual transition than an abrupt one.  Hybrid cars have become the focus of automakers in the west, giving the public what we want, which seems to be more options when it comes to how we power our vehicles.  We don’t seem to want to be locked into just one, now that we know we can have both.
When the Polaroid Land Camera first came out, you could only take black and white pictures with it.  After everybody bought one, they came out with an instant camera that could take color pictures.  Then everybody had to buy another one.  That’s what the government is trying to make us do with our cars.  But unlike the Polaroid company, the auto industry figured out how to make a car in black and white and color.
Meanwhile, in Japan, two giant auto makers, Nissan and Honda, recently announced that they’ll begin working together on electric vehicle and auto intelligence technology.  East and West in both direction and philosophy.  Even though Honda has always been a leader in innovation, and Nissan came out with one of the first modern EV’s in the Leaf in 2010, an AP story by Yuri Kageyama   https://apnews.com/article/nissan-honda-electric-vehicles-intelligence-technology-4695daaaebb3bf0b6d09d446cd8ea682?taid=65f3f7e7cdbb8100013c0e7d&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter  claims Japanese auto makers are lagging behind Tesla in the United States and China’s BYD in electric car technology.  Facing a common challenge these two former rivals, Honda and Nissan, believe they can work together toward shareable discoveries while still maintaining its respective identity.  They won’t be buying and property or building any factories together.  At least for now.
The details are still being worked out, but both companies agree that time is of the essence.  Honda’s President says the companies share common values and could create synergies to help them compete with much larger rivals in China and in Japan.  Toyota is the world’s larges automaker.  Like automakers in the U.S. and Europe, Toyota is focused on hybrid vehicles instead of the full electric ones made by Tesla and China.  We’ll see how it all plays out.  The U.S. government mandates are still in play.  Inflation and price points are an issue right now, as well as interest rates for many.
There’s clearly a lot of confusion in the auto industry right now.  They don’t know what to make, because they don’t yet have a handle on what it is we want, or what governments will force on them.  In the meantime, there’s a Mexican standoff among gas, electric and hybrid cars going on, and China’s planning on building an electric car factory in Mexico itself.  Maybe they’ll need donkeys to work there.  By the way, sales of Tesla’s in the first quarter of the year are down 55% from the first quarter last year.  
 
Let’s Go Back liner

1889
May First is designated Worker’s Day by an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions.  The chose May 1st as a way to commemorate the Haymarket Riot in Chicago three years earlier.  Britannica dot com says leaders in the Soviet Union embraced the new holiday, hoping it would unite workers in the United States and Europe against capitalism.  In 1894, U.S. President Grover Cleveland proclaimed the first Monday in September as Labor Day in the United States, so as to separate it from the socialist Worker’s Day on May first.  In 1906, six-thousand German workers were fired after a May Day strike.  But then in 1933, Germany, influenced by the Nazi Party, recognized May Day as an official holiday.  It was a short-lived celebration, though.  The following day, the same German government abolished free unions, destroying the German Labor movement.

1929
The Rye Cove tornado outbreak swept across the United States.  Beginning with an F2 in Oklahoma, over the next 30 plus hours tornadoes would cause damage and death through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Florida, West Virginia and Maryland.  Among the 42 fatalities were 13 from one school house in Rye Cove, Virginia.  It is still today the deadliest tornado in Virginia history. There is no official estimate on the cost of the damage done as the tornadoes spawned across the country, nor is there an accurate count of how many tornadoes there were.  But there was a song written about the Rye Cove outbreak by the Carter Family.

Song Clip

Climate Change!  Said no one.

1945
The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.  There’s a lot of talk today about genocide.  People are accusing Israel of it for the way they’re conducting their war against Hamas.  Those who do so have no idea about what genocide is.  Before you accuse anyone of genocide, take a look at what happened at places like Dachau and Auschwitz.  Aside from the fact that many Palestinians live in Israel, there is no comparison to genocide and what Israel is trying to accomplish by eliminating the Hamas militant group.  Those who claim Israel is committing genocide are not only misinformed, but are also spreading disinformation.  If they know what they’re saying isn’t true, they’re also liars who are trying to manipulate a situation to suit their needs.

1945
World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun will commit suicide the next day.
I reported from the place.  On the 40th anniversary of Hitler’s suicide, I was a reporter for AFN Berlin.  My videographer and I went to a platform overlooking the Berlin Wall, onto the area where Hitler’s bunker once stood.  It was an historical piece, so I had the script written on cue cards.  When we got there, freezing rain was falling from the sky.  It was cold enough that my cheeks froze to the point where I couldn’t form some of my words correctly, and the ink on my cue cards was running.  It was a miserable experience and I blamed Hitler.  I couldn’t even imagine what it was like just 40 years ago.  The city was in ruins.  Soldiers everywhere.  Famine and disorder.  Much like Gaza is today.  And it all started with the Jews as the catalyst, even though the Jews had done nothing wrong.  Sound familiar?  When the forces that tried to exterminate the Jews were defeated, we hailed them as heroes.  Why is it different now?  
Perspective.  Back in 1945, the Jewish people were the oppressed.  They were targeted for who they were, and nothing else.  Today, Israel, and the Jewish people, are seen by many as the oppressors.  They’re not.  Nor are they committing genocide.  But because the left has labeled Israel as oppressors, even after the brutal attack by Hamas, young people on college campuses are rallying for the people who did the attacking.  
While they condemn Israel and the United States as fascist, they reprise the role of the Nazi party of the 1930’s and 40’s.  I understand the general support of the non-Jewish people of the region.  I don’t understand the support for Hamas.  And I’ve seen support for Hamas on American television.  What I haven’t seen is much being done about it.  Support for Hamas is trying to hide behind the First Amendment right to free speech.  But the threatening language of more attacks like the one that started the war isn’t protected speech.  Unfortunately, the Biden administration isn’t willing to risk losing left-wing voters by prosecuting those who are clearly advocating violence and endorsing past violence.

1989
Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.  That small gesture would eventually lead to the fall of the Soviet empire.  The Cold War would come to an end.  The countries of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would suddenly find themselves with a fleeting chance for independence.  Decisions had to be made.  Boundaries had to be set.  For nearly a dozen years, it seemed like there would be peace between the two biggest powers in the world:  the United States and the countries that emerged from the former Soviet Union.  The problem was the battles of power that were being waged between the regions.  There were many who wanted to keep the socialist system.  A new milennia brought us the tyrant leader of the former Soviet state of Russia, who is trying to tie the old order back together.  He chose Ukraine for a lot of good reasons to be the first to absorb, but they’re still putting up a fight.  Belarus is under Putin’s thumb, but Ukraine won’t go so easily.  Bolstered by a new package of arms shipments from the United States, they’ll be able to launch a more offensive posture.  Plus, we just found out that the U.S. sent longer-range weaponry without even telling congress.  I’m still waiting for the west to provide more air power.  

Phone and email liner

O.J. Simpson, the Hall of Fame running back and pitchman, known as much for running through airports as much as on the gridiron, became a classic story about how the mighty can fall.  Many of us took delight in his downfall.  Most of us were at least intrigued by it.  My guest this week knows all about the emotions that we experience while watching our heroes falter.  It’s called Tall Poppy Syndrome.  Doctor Douglas Garland is a Former Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at USC, and has traced the Tall Poppy Syndrome all the way back to the dawn of time to find out why we find satisfaction in the failure of others.

Interview

You can learn more about Doctor Garland at https://douggarland.com.  Also https://www.tallpoppysyndrome.org/.  
Envy, and low self-esteem lead to Tall Poppy syndrome.  Equity is the goal.  Those who practice Tall Poppy Syndrome need help, and those who are victims of it simply because of their success are worthy of the benefit of the doubt when targeted because of their success.  
Those who are successful today are often confused with oppressors, and are therefore subject to venomous attacks from the left.  Sure, it’s easier to criticize those who are successful than it is to do the work to be successful.  But none of us gains anything from cutting down those of us who succeed.

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly.  Copyright 2024.  Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube.  Subscribe today.  I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.