The Economist - USA (2020-08-08)

12 TheEconomistAugust 8th 2020

Lettersarewelcomeandshouldbe

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Letters

School’soutforautumn?

Yourleadercallingforschools

toreopenpresenteda straw-

manargumentwhenit

describedteachersas“obstruc-

tive”(“Letthemlearn”,July

18th).I ama high-schoolteach-

erjustnorthofNewYorkCity.

Allmycolleaguesdesperately

wanttobeinschoolfull-time

comeSeptember.Butthefeder-

algovernmenthasofferednot

onescintillaofadviceorassis-

tanceonhowtogoaboutopen-

ingschoolssafely.

Youalsomadeaninsulting

insinuationaboutteachers

beingpaidwhethertheywork

ornot.Thatissilly.Thereis

nothingI wouldwantmore

professionallythantobein

school.Teachingonlineis

difficult,time-consumingand

largelyunrewarding,com-

paredwithteachingchildren

inperson.I don’tknowanyone

whopreferstheformer.

However,wesimplydonot

wanttorushbackattheriskof

ourownhealthaswellasthe

public’s.Theevidenceabout

youngpeopleandcovid-19is

bynomeansclear.It seems

thatyoungadultshavea much

lowerchanceofgettingseri-

ouslyillif theycatchthevirus.

It isnotatallcertainthatthey

cannotspreadthedisease,

particularlyhigh-school-aged

students.Youngerpeople

contractedthevirusathigher

levelsduringtherecentspike

inAmericathanearlierinthe

outbreak.Puthundredsof

theseyoungadultsinclosed

classroomswitholderteachers

whothengohometotheir

familiesandyoumayhavea

recipefordisaster.

larryfata

NewYork

Oilfutures

I wasintriguedbyyourleader

aboutthefutureofArab

petrostates,andhowtheywill

soonnolongerbeableto

“affordtobuyloyaltywith

do-nothingpublic-sectorjobs

and free services” as the price

of oil presumably falls and

demand fails to recover

(“There will be pain”, July 18th).

Might I remind you of a

similar prediction you made

twodecadesago,whichantici-

patedthatnewadvancesin

technologysuchashydrogen

fuelcellsandbioethanol

wouldhelpweantheworldoff

oil(“TheendoftheOilAge”,

October25th2003).Seventeen

yearslater,bioethanolislong

forgottenandhydrogenfuel

cellscanonlybefoundinsome

cities’buses.

If I wereanArableader

sittinginmy$300myacht

lookingatmydaVincipaint-

ing,youwouldforgivemeif I

tookyourconjectureswitha

grainofsaltanddidnotputmy

preciouspaintingupforsale

justyet.I wouldhowevernot

stopreadingTheEconomist.

Yourprognosisregardingthe

decreasingcloutofopechas

certainlycometrue.

yasinmand

London

Elocutionlessons

Parisiansmightovercome

theirsnobberyagainstregional

accentsfollowingtheappoint-

mentofJeanCastexasprime

minister,yousay(“Accent

grave”,July18th).Thatisoverly

optimistic.Parishasform

whenit comestothemargin-

alisationofspeakerswhose

Frenchisfarremovedfroman

idealisedstandardnorm.

In 1635 thefounding

membersoftheAcadémie

Française,France’scentral

languageauthority,declared

thatitsprinciplefunctionwas

toimposethelanguageofthe

royalcourtontherestof

France.Today,examples

aboundofpublicfiguresstill

validatingthisbias.Lookno

furtherthanfootageofJean-

LucMélenchonmockinga

southernFrench-speaking

journalistratherthananswer

herawkwardquestions,or

televisionpresentersderiding

Marie-ArletteCarlotti,a former

minister,forshiftingbetween

southerlyaccentedspeechfor

herlocalaudience,anda more

standardaccentedspeechfora

nationalone.

In each case, there is adher-

ence to the reproduction of a

standard-language ideology.

Pierre Bourdieu, who, like Mr

Castex, was also from an

Occitan-speaking family in the

Gasconregion,arguedthatthe

Frencheliteisraisedwiththe

socialcapitalnecessaryto

exertpower,andthatlanguage

iscentraltothisendeavour.

Frenchspeakerswhodonot

havesuchlinguisticcapitalare

remindedoftheirpositionin

thesocialhierarchywhenever

theyturnonthetelevision.

Yousuggestedthata

popularbacklashagainst

globalisingelitesmightmeana

brightfuturefornon-Parisian

types.Regrettablythisisn’t

supportedbytheevidence.

jonathankasstan

LecturerinFrenchand

linguistics

UniversityofWestminster

London

AmazoninEurope

Animportantunderlying

assumptioninyourbriefingon

Amazonisthatit isdoingwell

inEurope(“Andonthesecond

day...”,June20th).Whereisthe

evidence?Amazon,asfarasI

amaware,hasneverincluded

anyprofitorsalesfiguresfor

itsEuropeanretailoperations

initsstatutoryfilingsinAmer-

ica.It merelyaggregatesall

revenue,includingAmazon

WebServices,fromEurope.

Auditedprofitdataisopen-

lyfiledinLondonforAmazon

eusarl, basedinLuxembourg,

whichappearstobemoreor

lessretailonly,andis

publishedonlyabouteight

monthsafterAmazon’sannual

accountsintheUnitedStates

arefiled.Thelatestnumbers

arefor 2018 andshowa lossof

€259m($300m),admittedlya

significantimprovementon

the€876mit lostin2017.

Thisiscrucial.Theclaim

that“Nofirmbestridesthe

physicalanddigitalworldsin

thewayAmazondoes”isdiffi-

culttomakeif it turnsout,asI

believeisthecase,thatafter 25

years,Amazonhasneverman-

agedtomakemoneyfrom

retailingoutsideitshome

country.AndpossiblyCanada.

mikeflanagan

Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Where the Industrial Revolu-

tion saw people leaving the

manual looms in their cottages

to operate power looms in

factories,theDistributional

Revolutioniscausingworkers

whowouldhavebeenem-

ployedinlocalstorestomove

towarehousestopickorders.

Inbothcases,theeconomic

advantagesarenotwithout

theirsocialramifications.

stevecullen

Medfield,Massachusetts

I wouldnotdescribethelogo

onAmazon’sbrownpackages

leftatourhomesas“smiling”.I

wouldsuggest“smirking”.

margaretcating

Londonderry,Vermont

Leagues apart on team names

Johnson’s musings about the

media’s reluctance to mention

unmentionable words (July

11th) reminded me of a recent

radio news item from cbc,

Canada’s national broadcaster,

on the pressure put on football

teams in Washington and

Edmonton to change their

names. The report never men-

tioned the offensive names in

question, the Redskins and

Eskimos, leaving listeners

wondering what the names

were, and marvelling at a news

piece that managed not to

broach the core of its subject.

bob martin

Halifax, Canada

Regarding the name of Cleve-

land’s baseball team (“Skin in

the name”, July 18th), the term

“Indians” was proposed in 1915

to honour Louis Sockalexis, a

Native American of the

Penobscot nation, who was a

star player for the Cleveland

Spiders in the late 19th century.

The interim team name “Naps”

honoured Napoleon Lajoie, a

star player a few years later. It

had nothing to do with sleep,

though the team’s performance

during the ensuing century has

unfortunately often been a

cause of somnolence.

john jay

Venice, Florida