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Topic: Dilemma -- advertising, consumerism pays bills
| Author | Message |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/5/2007 2:33:33 AM | show profile | email poster Ugogirl posted an interesting post that concludes with this: "Yet, when I was 60, I also came to realize that I had all I needed... a roof over my head and enough locally-grown food to eat. And I had neighbors, and a community to work together with. And I came to realize that I was better off." I love that. And it reminds me of the dilemma I see in the media, which is: what pays for newspaper and magazine and internet advertising is people buying stuff they don't need with money they don't have. I need the paycheck from my writing and editing, but I know for myself I'm better off when I ignore The Call of the Ad, when I reduce my credit card balance to zero, when I just buy what I can afford and what's good for me. Anyone else bothered by this duality? |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 7/5/2007 8:43:48 AM | show profile That is an interesting dilemma, on the one hand you're not actually doing the advertising and selling yourself. On the other hand, your income depends on it. I would have to believe that if what you are doing personally isn't contributing to our (many) problems, then it isn't nearly the dilemma that you'd have if you were doing the advertising pushing SUVs on us. Still, if you can find ways to fund your work other than advertising that would be ideal. I think of people who work in coal mines. I imagine their primary motivation is simply to support their families and who can argue against that. They may also feel they are helping people in some ways by helping to keep the lights on, but of course by turning the lights on for the present generation, we're turning the lights off for future generations. A dilemma when there are no other real job opportunities. |
| catlondon | Posted – 7/5/2007 11:35:18 AM | show profile Did either or you read the article in the NY TImes about people being "light green?" So here's question--is it advertising that's bad or the products that are bad? Would you feel bad bad taking a paycheck funded by advertising for CFLs and Priuses (Priusii?) as from H&M and Hummer? People can buy plenty of eco-friendly stuff they don't need. |
| catlondon | Posted – 7/5/2007 11:50:37 AM | show profile And I would also like to point out that locally-grown food is not a panacea. I ate lots of wonderful, organic, locally grown food in California all the time knowing that permanent damage had been done to the natural water table and waterways in CA to get me lettuce and onions that were being grown pretty much in the desert, which is what the Central Valley is. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 7/5/2007 8:35:20 PM | show profile Well, people aren't going to stop buying things altogether and changing our society to one that is not auto-dependent will take decades. So in the meantime if someone has to buy a car they can make more sustainable choices. Same definitely goes for light bulbs. Personally I'd feel more comfortable earning my living from greener products. On food, the idea is to buy food as locally grown as possible, for example within your own state. In the longer-term, living in a desert doesn't seem very sustainable (especially when people need golf courses there too), unless you are willing to live as the bedoins. |
| catlondon | Posted – 7/6/2007 12:33:09 PM | show profile On food, the idea is to buy food as locally grown as possible, for example within your own state. " Gee, UGoGirl, thanks for explaining locally-grown to dumb ole me, who was all bothered about the whether or not locally grown is good idea if the the veggies aren't designed to be supported there naturally in the first place--you know, as in artificial and excessive water usage vs. carbon output, which is worse? Thanks for that. And I, for one, will not buy peaches from Chili in the winter because of the carbon emissions involved, but will support Al Gore flying in rock stars, complete with entourages, roadies, equipment (they use trucks, you know, to get the stuff there), thousands of pounds of trash generated by the shows and the crowds (they'll drive to the concert, too, most of them) for a series of energy-sucking concerts, all to prove that, gee, we really care about global warming. I'm sure there will be a lot of Priuses in the parking lots. I realize I'm sounding really, really Republican, but I'm really beginning to hate the self-deception that goes on within the movement (if you're buying locally grown lettuce in most of California in the summer, you are not abiding by the natural order, no matter how good the intentions) and Al Gore's concert has really set my teeth on edge, because it's an incredibly wasteful event masquerading as a good cause. |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 7/6/2007 1:21:14 PM | show profile I ran into a high school acquaintance at a reunion not too long ago who informed me he's been designing nuclear warheads for a living for the past few decades, so your career choice could always be worse. |
| catlondon | Posted – 7/6/2007 1:39:08 PM | show profile Har! Well, perhaps he's really doing the earth a favor. A few of those suckers will really take care of the human infestation. |
| Redacted2008 | Posted – 7/7/2007 3:55:16 PM | show profile Anyone read "The Trap"? It's all about this. I think the author is Brook, a young guy. Keep seeing it in B & N and skimming it. Rings true, it seems. Any thoughts ? |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/7/2007 5:16:39 PM | show profile I think I've heard of that book, The Trap. Will check it out. I'm 45, and I realize that I have more than enough in terms of STUFF, the kind of things most catalogs are full of. I still have financial needs and goals. The things I still have ahead -- getting a last child to and through college; retirement, that sort of thing. I can't even stand to write the kind of consumer pieces I once penned in my "youth." |
