Hi Katie, Just want to note that Sustainable Tompkins, as an organization, is not criticizing citizens protesting the drilling of Marcellus Shale. In fact, our board of directors supports the call for a statewide ban and for withdrawal of the SdGEIS. It would be more accurate to rephrase your statement about the "irony of the very group that is supposed to be promoting sustainability (ST) criticizing citizens' who at last are coming to awareness..." so that people understand that it was a subscriber to this list that made that statement, not anyone from our organization.
I just wanted to make sure people understand that the comments of individuals on this list serv are not necessarily the perspective of the staff and board of ST. This list is open to anyone interested in topics regarding local sustainability. thanks, Gay On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Katie Quinn-Jacobs <[email protected]>wrote: > Once a friend of mine introduced me to a branch of organizational > psychology that used "lazy, crazy, deserves to die" as a way to capture the > rhetoric of people who vilify others with differing points-of-view. This is > done to shame others into silence or justify aggression. Although "lazy, > crazy, deserves to die" takes many linguistically creative forms, it's > fascinating to watch how this sort of language is used time and time again > to disempower groups of people. It is used against Arabs to justify war and > state sponsored torture and against the poor to justify an economically > stratified society. It is also used in smaller venues. > "Leisure environmentalist" falls into the "lazy" class, I think, and > "NIMBYism" appears to be an extension of "deserves to die." Also, > "anecdotal" the way it's been used on this list serve, as the antagonist of > "science and research," in the course of the hydraulic fracturing > discussions fills the "crazy" category. > > In a world as complex, out-of-control and vast as ours, perhaps the only > place we can hope to have an impact (as Voltaire suggested in Candide) is > our own backyard. Tending our own gardens, being stewards of our own land, > protecting our nest. That the expression of this instinct should be > ridiculed or belittled because Tompkins County is part of a larger toxic > culture/global system is unfair and anger about the societal contradictions > it highlights misplaced. > From my perspective, people trying to defend themselves from being consumed > by an indifferent large-scale systemic illness makes perfect sense. This is > a very old. very common sense thing to do. What's more I'm sure that > everyone can agree that if Tompkins County throws itself willingly into the > maul of global energy markets, it will change nothing. The irony of the > very group that is supposed to be promoting sustainability (ST) criticizing > citizens' who at last are coming to awareness about the urgency of > environmental depletion that our culture is predicated on is only eclipsed > by the fact that Halliburton and its minions has set its sites on one of the > rare community's in our country that is actively promoting sustainable > lifestyles. > > This not-so-constructive criticism also smacks of a double standard -- and > classism. While discussions on ST are tolerant of uninformed rural > landowners who cut deals with the energy companies because they are strapped > for cash, suburban middle income folks aren't granted the same largess for > how their culture defines the life decisions they make. > > NIMBY and proud, > > Katie Quinn-Jacobs > > > ---------------------------------------------------- Gay Nicholson, Ph.D. President Sustainable Tompkins 109 S. Albany St. Ithaca, NY 14850 www.sustainabletompkins.org 607-533-7312 (home office) 607-220-8991 (cell) 607-216-1552 (ST office) 607-216-1553 (ST fax) [email protected] _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
