Let Us Bury Our Heads in the Sand!

Tsukasa Buddha · 2nd July 2012, 12:30 AM

Today I went to a Fourth of July parade as is tradition for my mother's side. I was a bit surprised that there was a vegan float and people handing out Mercy for Animals flyers. Now, we had been getting junk from all sorts of businesses we would never visit and politicians we would soon forget or never vote for (All the judges seemed to have pooled resources and each of them had nail files with their names on them they were passing out like crazy). But when we got a vegan flyer we were immediately told not to read them and to throw them away. My uncle made a joke about the cover and my mother declared she didn't want to know how what she ate was made.

I've noticed this blissful ignorance on the Daily Show and Colbert Report as well. They will have quips about Apple engaging in labour abuse, but will continue having iPhone product placement. Looking at surveys of what people think a business should or should not be doing, it is quite interesting that the values are not well reflected in the market. Some would say the market reaction is the "real" one, but I would say that people expressed sentiments and voting are expressions of their better angels free from material coercion.

Is it a gap between ourselves and the production process? The animal slaughter/worker abuse/environmental degradation happens behind closed doors or in other countries so it doesn't seem as "real"? But that doesn't account for the pride some people have in saying that they don't want to know.

(Note: Not assuming that Fair Trade or Veganism are correct, just that some of the component values are widespread.)

Floyt · 2nd July 2012, 02:07 AM

Hmm. All people I know who continue in practices they themselves consider doubtful at least have the decency to be embarassed by their own stance (which they generally seem to perceive as a weakness). I.e., "I'd lay off the factory-farmed chicken breast, but I'm just too weak hahah, very sorry". Don't think I've encountered a single example of such outspoken wilfull ignorance.
I would imagine someone like this taking pride in their robust, no-nonsense look-out-for-number-1 stance, or something. Idiotic as it seems.

2nd July 2012, 12:30 AM	#1
Tsukasa Buddha Other (please write in) Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: NeverLand Posts: 9,905	Let Us Bury Our Heads in the Sand! Today I went to a Fourth of July parade as is tradition for my mother's side. I was a bit surprised that there was a vegan float and people handing out Mercy for Animals flyers. Now, we had been getting junk from all sorts of businesses we would never visit and politicians we would soon forget or never vote for (All the judges seemed to have pooled resources and each of them had nail files with their names on them they were passing out like crazy). But when we got a vegan flyer we were immediately told not to read them and to throw them away. My uncle made a joke about the cover and my mother declared she didn't want to know how what she ate was made. I've noticed this blissful ignorance on the Daily Show and Colbert Report as well. They will have quips about Apple engaging in labour abuse, but will continue having iPhone product placement. Looking at surveys of what people think a business should or should not be doing, it is quite interesting that the values are not well reflected in the market. Some would say the market reaction is the "real" one, but I would say that people expressed sentiments and voting are expressions of their better angels free from material coercion. Is it a gap between ourselves and the production process? The animal slaughter/worker abuse/environmental degradation happens behind closed doors or in other countries so it doesn't seem as "real"? But that doesn't account for the pride some people have in saying that they don't want to know. (Note: Not assuming that Fair Trade or Veganism are correct, just that some of the component values are widespread.)
	__________________ As cultural anthropologists have always said "human culture" = "human nature". You might as well put a fish on the moon to test how it "swims naturally" without the "influence of water". -Earthborn

2nd July 2012, 02:07 AM	#2
Floyt Chordate Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Cape Town! Not mugged yet. Looking for chameleons. Posts: 1,426	Hmm. All people I know who continue in practices they themselves consider doubtful at least have the decency to be embarassed by their own stance (which they generally seem to perceive as a weakness). I.e., "I'd lay off the factory-farmed chicken breast, but I'm just too weak hahah, very sorry". Don't think I've encountered a single example of such outspoken wilfull ignorance. I would imagine someone like this taking pride in their robust, no-nonsense look-out-for-number-1 stance, or something. Idiotic as it seems.
	__________________ They had no god; they had no gods; they had no faith. What they appear to have had is a working metaphor. - Ursula K. Le Guin, "Always Coming Home"