Doing the right thing anyway

[juliet]

I liked this post.

I also like these instructions for self-watering plantpots, except that I don't want to buy a stack of plastic boxes in order to get more containers for the balcony. I do want to be a bit less erratic with the balcony-gardening this year, though.

Comments

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[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

man that is hippyish isn't it (yet clearly pretty right, if a smidge self-righteous... dere lord i'm turning into one too aren't i?)

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I think it's more than a smidge, I was really turned off my the "I think it's important to remember I'm not doing this because it happens to be 'fashionable' (for values of fashionable which contain 'urgent and key for the survival of mankind'), but because I am at heart a better person that the rest of you".

[juliet]

Um. I didn't read it like that: I read it maybe more as a personal ethical statement. If you're trying to convince others of something like that (& I think if you're blogging about it then that's true to at least some extent), then saying "This is my approach, this is what I believe" is better than saying "This is what you should do".

Mind you, it probably helps that I think that she's correct, in terms of what the right things to do are. Not that I manage to follow them, mind :-)

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Well, the first paragraph (admittedly a presentation of someone else's point of view) is entirely "This is what you should do".

I have (of course) no problem with her doing as she wishes with her life, and I'm sure it does some good to her and those around her. I do have serious reservations about reverting to methods of yore as a panacea. The big problem with that model is that we have six and a half billion people now, and if you want to deal with the pyramid-scheme nature of the modern world, where the west (I know, a very broad term) prospers due to the population-density-based competitive markets of elsewhere. The epigram that sticks in my head is the one about how many of the worlds problems are due to the fact that there's always some brown guy somewhere that'll do it cheaper. If you want to have a global fair standard of living, retreating from technology is one thing that we know won't work.

Or put another way, it's bad science fiction - she says "If we (IE the rest of you) sort out X and Y and Z then my basic principles will still keep me doing what I'm doing" but there's no reason to think that the changes to fix X and Y and Z will leave the same path from her principles to her actions.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Actually I now recognise the tone: old-school fan of now-hip indie band!

[juliet]

heheh you are a hippy too!

I see what you mean about the self-righteousness, but see below.

(I also think this is something that is prob affected by the fact that I have been reading her blog for a while - she can be a bit like that but heart clearly in right place.)