Hey guys, it's Jasmine.
Today, at the end of class, I started to bring up a point about protesting. Ben had commented that in order for protests to work, the people watching have to be given something to do. I also think that it has to be easy to participate in the protest - otherwise, people won't be willing to put in time and energy.
Many large corporations nowadays are protesting, in a way, against practices that harm the environment. Although I agree that the environment is currently going down a bad path, I've never thought about doing anything to stop global warming, etc. I know it's something I should care about, but it just doesn't affect my everyday life enough for me to spring into action. People hear about global warming and the perks of recycling all the time, but how many people actually take action? The same goes for most other forms of activism/protests. There has to be an easy task for people to follow that somehow allows them to participate in the movement. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Target (which has become increasingly environmentally-friendly over the years) had an advertisement on the back of the cover of Newsweek. It was a creative idea: they included an envelope that you could easily cut out and tape together. They asked readers to send plastic Target bags to their company so that they could recycle them to make reusuable shopping totes. There was also an incentive: they promised free shopping totes to everybody who sent in bags. I figured that this was an easy way to get rid of a few plastic bags, plus - Target paid for the postage, so I sent them in. If Target hadn't reached out to me, I wouldn't have recycled them on my own.
Also, the International Affairs Club runs a week every year to promote awareness about an international issue (this year, it dealt with modern-day slavery). We know that if students aren't provided with any incentive, they won't participate in the week's events. Every year, we have to ask teachers to give their students extra credit points for going. If we didn't, I'm pretty sure that hardly anybody would show up. Basically, my point is that in order for us to actually care about the issue that protestors/activists are trying to promote, we have to be given an easy way to get involved.
This brings up another interesting question. Is it "right" to participate in a protest or activity just because you want the reward? A lot of people think that doing community service just for the sake of getting community service hours for your college application is wrong and immoral. What do you guys think?
P.S. Last point - I just watched something on msnvideo about 2 people in New York City who climbed the New York Times skyscraper - all without any ropes or nets. They were both taken into police custody - one of the police officers complained that they were "jeopardizing other people's lives" because they could fall and kill innocent bystanders. The first climber said he scaled the building to raise awareness about global warming, and the second one later claimed that he did it to promote awareness about malaria. If you believe them, do you think that their protests were efficient? I think that climbing a 50-story skyscraper has absolutely nothing to do with global warming or malaria, so the "symbol" doesn't quite connect to the "thing."
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6 comments:
Hey guys, its Cristy.
I definitely agree with Jasmine that people need to have an action put in front of them to do, so that they get involved with solving a problem. If we don't give them anything to do they might lose interest in the problem, because they feel helpless to do anything about it. But i also believe that just awareness in itself is a great thing, because sometimes it can pressure higher officials to look at issues that the public feel are important. I global warming has now become a "hot" issue (wow pun wasnt intended haha) Magazines print more articles on it, because readers are interested in it and will read them. The rise in attention to the problem in media does not go unnoticed by politicians who want the support of the public and so may be more likely to bring up the hot topic in platform speeches and try to do something about the problem during their term.
I also saw the news special on tv about the two building climbers, but nowhere in the report did they even mention the two causes that the climbers supposedly wanted to spread awareness about. (if that really was their point, then i guess they pretty much failed) Wouldn't they have said it more after they were caught? yeah protest connecting to thing symbolized...definitely not. haha. That seems rather shady to me. It seemed much more like a stunt that they sought to make more socially acceptable by attaching it to a moral claim.
We have talked in school before about the question Jasmine posed earlier. (if community service is worth less when you do it for the hours) I personally believe that although people may do it for the hours, they can also choose to work in an area they care about if they want to. Like picking up litter, or volunteering at a retirement home, or working at an animal pound. I think the service is just as valueable because it is really helping our environment and people. So i guess I don't think its all that immoral in a way you could say it's like hitting two birds with one stone. I mean i would rather people did the community service for hours than not at all.
Hey guys, its Cristy.
I definitely agree with Jasmine that people need to have an action put in front of them to do, so that they get involved with solving a problem. If we don't give them anything to do they might lose interest in the problem, because they feel helpless to do anything about it. But i also believe that just awareness in itself is a great thing, because sometimes it can pressure higher officials to look at issues that the public feel are important. I global warming has now become a "hot" issue (wow pun wasnt intended haha) Magazines print more articles on it, because readers are interested in it and will read them. The rise in attention to the problem in media does not go unnoticed by politicians who want the support of the public and so may be more likely to bring up the hot topic in platform speeches and try to do something about the problem during their term.
I also saw the news special on tv about the two building climbers, but nowhere in the report did they even mention the two causes that the climbers supposedly wanted to spread awareness about. (if that really was their point, then i guess they pretty much failed) Wouldn't they have said it more after they were caught? yeah protest connecting to thing symbolized...definitely not. haha. That seems rather shady to me. It seemed much more like a stunt that they sought to make more socially acceptable by attaching it to a moral claim.
We have talked in school before about the question Jasmine posed earlier. (if community service is worth less when you do it for the hours) I personally believe that although people may do it for the hours, they can also choose to work in an area they care about if they want to. Like picking up litter, or volunteering at a retirement home, or working at an animal pound. I think the service is just as valueable because it is really helping our environment and people. So i guess I don't think its all that immoral in a way you could say it's like hitting two birds with one stone. I mean i would rather people did the community service for hours than not at all.
Hey, it's Erin.
I understand what Jasmine says about people thinking that it's "immoral" for people to do things that are good for a reward, but the problem is that is a question of motivation. Just like those two people climbing skyscrapers, how do we know what their motives really were? We might think we have a good idea, and they might say whatever they want to, but we can't know their true motivation unless they do tell us the truth and we wish to believe them. I think that's the problem with determining who's doing what for what - you don't know.
I guess the whole purpose for rewards is to motivate people to action, like the shopping bag. It's an incentive, to get people who wouldn't usually do something to do it. The people who decided on the reward did have that in mind.
Finally, to bring a bit of Euro into this :), think of Mandeville and the fable of the bees - "private vices yield public benefits." Essentially, it says that it doesn't matter what people are doing it for; it just matters that some good is getting accomplished, for whatever motive, and we should just leave it be.
omg! mandeville! perfect haha. good job Erin!!!! gold star.
By the way, Target never sent me the coupon for the shopping tote that they had promised. All they sent me was a College Planning Calendar for parents. How the two are related, I'm not sure...
Jasmine
ahahah o and just reading blog, erin i sent u the gold star. just so thats not anonymous....lol :)
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