The polar opposite of the huckster is the academic who can't find the way out. One should remember that belief is a powerful tool in accomplishment as is competence and mastery.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Walker Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2012 8:01 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Being Green Then and Now Why be cynical? The long answer is in my message from last week, "What's the Mythology For, Anyway?" The short answer is we are contending with two competing aphorisms here: "not letting perfection be the enemy of the good" and "bad money driving out good". What I am cynical about is the Music Man effect. Every good cause sprouts hucksters like dandelions and the hucksterism soon becomes the only show on the bill. The romantic/triumphant ending of the Music Man, recall, was fiction. On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 8:36 AM, michael gurstein <[email protected]> wrote: Tom, Why be cynical about something that is in large part a good news story... There is so much quite legitimate bad news and bad judgement and bad faith around that any glimmer of light even if flawed, is worth cherishing IMHO. M -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Walker Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 12:14 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Being Green Then and Now By the way, what do people think of "Gross National Schadenfreude" as a counterweight to the nauseatingly coy Gross National Happiness panacea with their fairytale Bhutanese king? Where could OUR Bhutan be? Iceland? On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 8:09 AM, Tom Walker <[email protected]> wrote: 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) -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman) _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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