Just to be absolutely unambiguous, I'm as cynical as anyone about the sincerity of the greenwashing industry -- "if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made". My stuck-in-the-head quote these days is Orwell's "All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really wish to destroy." But it doesn't follow that all right-wing parties are therefore NOT a sham.
I think one of the functions of schadenfreude is to reward and reinforce cognitive dissonance. The ironic chuckle of "Being green then and now" is at bottom a schadenfreude experience, which, in true cognitive dissonance style, "absolves" the chuckler of his or her peccadilloes. On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 7:54 AM, Tom Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > Would you have in mind something along the lines of the aptly-named > "Titanic Eco-Spa"? Green buildings, spring water and towels and a "spa > traveler award". I kid you not. > > > On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 7:39 AM, Arthur Cordell <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Would also add to the cute message that oh so many greenies are recycling >> this and that and then without a thought jump on a jet to go off to this >> or >> that conference or vacation spot without a thought as to what these and a >> host of other personal activities are doing that run counter to the >> religion >> of being green. >> >> arthur >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer >> Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 10:49 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [Futurework] Re: Being Green Then and Now >> >> >> Tom Walker wrote: >> >> > Cute but false and misleading. >> > [snip] >> > "Cute" bullshit is still bullshit. >> >> Well, yeah. But not any greater or more tedious bullshit than many of the >> putatively "green" odds & sods that we're expected (or forced) to embrace >> today, many of which (IMHO) are ways of externalizing some large entity's >> cost onto the consumer or create a profit ex novo. >> >> Yes, the vast volumes of toxics and particulates fired up smokestacks, >> down >> drains and off tailings dumps before regulation outweigh, in global >> effect, >> plastic bags or gas lawn mowers. The point of the "cute" piece was to >> ridicule self-righteous Greenness among those who adopt and evangelize the >> Green Consumer Catechism without critical thought or meaningful knowledge. >> >> Or so I understood it. >> >> >> - Mike >> >> -- >> Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~. >> /V\ >> [email protected] /( )\ >> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^ >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> > > > > -- > Cheers, > > Tom Walker (Sandwichman) > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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