I do love Rollins, have seen him do spoken word live a few years back.

I also get the rage against people watching dross while real world events flow on by.

BUT

We can't spend all our time always paying attention to 'what is important', it'd burn anyone out, even the most ardent of do-gooders.

I do fully agree that the majority of us do not do enough, and let a lot happen that shouldn't (me most definitely included)... However we are also struck with a few conflicting concerns:
a) The all powerful 'Yeah, but what the hell can I do about it?'
b) The also powerful 'I have barely enough hours in the day to do my work, look after my family etc... give me a few moments to relax dammit'. (And yes, doing this on videosift is part of my allotted relax time )
c) The nagging thought 'Well I think I know which side is right in this particular issue, but do I really know all the facts, or have I got it a bit wrong, so if I go in balls and all, will I end up finding out I've done the wrong thing?'

These, but mostly the first one, mean that while we may WANT to help and make the world better on these things, we feel powerless, and so rather than becoming miserable due to always thinking about what we are not doing, we do the best in our sphere of influence in our lives and do right by others.

i think i mostly agree with the sentiment of this comment. being a former traveling, vegan, animal rights, social justice hippie that i was...i tended to get too wrapped up in caring about shit. i tried hard not to be a zealot, but it's just like... if i cared about the way we treat and exploit livestock, then also have to care about the environmental impacts of livestock production, and also the impacts of globalization on 3rd world countries, and then poverty and hunger and disease, and then how every single product i use daily exploits someone or something somewhere etc etc etc on and on and on. i'd spin myself into a tizzy of caring about everything until my heart was broken and i couldn't go anywhere or do anything.

so, we can't do everything. and no, there's not enough left after taking care of ourselves and our families to care about everything. but i do think we'd all be a hell of a lot better off if we just turned off our televisions. and for good.

>> ^spoco2:

I do love Rollins, have seen him do spoken word live a few years back.
I also get the rage against people watching dross while real world events flow on by.
BUT
We can't spend all our time always paying attention to 'what is important', it'd burn anyone out, even the most ardent of do-gooders.
I do fully agree that the majority of us do not do enough, and let a lot happen that shouldn't (me most definitely included)... However we are also struck with a few conflicting concerns:
a) The all powerful 'Yeah, but what the hell can I do about it?'
b) The also powerful 'I have barely enough hours in the day to do my work, look after my family etc... give me a few moments to relax dammit'. (And yes, doing this on videosift is part of my allotted relax time )
c) The nagging thought 'Well I think I know which side is right in this particular issue, but do I really know all the facts, or have I got it a bit wrong, so if I go in balls and all, will I end up finding out I've done the wrong thing?'
These, but mostly the first one, mean that while we may WANT to help and make the world better on these things, we feel powerless, and so rather than becoming miserable due to always thinking about what we are not doing, we do the best in our sphere of influence in our lives and do right by others.

Oh, I really don't know about turning off tvs for good. I have an issue with any knee-jerk, "get rid of 'X' entirely" responses.

There is a lot of good on TV. There are wonderful documentaries of the wonders of our planet, there are fantastic shows full of imagination and joy.

And, yes, there is an AWFUL LOT of utter, utter, utter dross.

Pick and chose and watch a little TV and you'll be ok. Watch the mainstream brain numbing rubbish hour after hour and you will indeed become part of the problem rather than the solution.

I limit the amount of TV my kids watch and encourage imaginative play, and active play, and my wife and I watch, on average, about 1 hour of tv a night, and that's pre taped or downloaded shows that we have discovered or sourced... and that hour or so is a great escape after the kids have gone to bed and before we get stuff ready for school the following day. Sure, we could play board games, or read, or learn a musical instrument etc. But the energy just isn't there (plus I do read on the way in and out of work on the train).

If we all do our part by making conscientious choices about what we buy and use and do with waste, then we're being part of the solution, not problem. But, as you said, you have to give yourself some slack and know that sometimes the things you use/buy/do will have adverse affects on others, whether you intentionally mean them to or not.
>> ^peggedbea:

i think i mostly agree with the sentiment of this comment. being a former traveling, vegan, animal rights, social justice hippie that i was...i tended to get too wrapped up in caring about shit. i tried hard not to be a zealot, but it's just like... if i cared about the way we treat and exploit livestock, then also have to care about the environmental impacts of livestock production, and also the impacts of globalization on 3rd world countries, and then poverty and hunger and disease, and then how every single product i use daily exploits someone or something somewhere etc etc etc on and on and on. i'd spin myself into a tizzy of caring about everything until my heart was broken and i couldn't go anywhere or do anything.
so, we can't do everything. and no, there's not enough left after taking care of ourselves and our families to care about everything. but i do think we'd all be a hell of a lot better off if we just turned off our televisions. and for good.

Terrorists! They are everywhere! Live in fear! Vote for me!

I say just try to do what you can, where you can, when you can. If you hear a good idea from someone, spread it around. If there's something bad happening, let people know.

If you can do some direct good, or stop some direct bad, do so.

Bleeding heart liberal as I am, it just seems counterproductive to spend too much time worrying over every consumer choice, and its impact on the world. Things like sweatshop labor and environmental damage can't be fixed as long as it's entirely up to the consumer to discern what those damages are, and then as a result pay higher prices for products that are less wasteful.

Not to get too wonky, but that's why I like things like cap & trade, you bring hidden costs (of carbon, in this case) into the market. Today, a locally grown ear of corn probably costs more than one trucked in from Iowa, but that's only because no one pays for the damage to the environment from burning the fuel to haul it here. With carbon emissions as part of the cost of the item, chances are that locally produced produce would be cheaper (and likely higher quality as well), and the resulting profits for local farms would mean they'd expand...

The beauty is that then the consumer doesn't need to know or care about the carbon emissions involved, they just shop normally, and the businesses have a profit incentive to find ways to reduce their own emissions.

A similar thing could theoretically be done with pretty much any kind of pollution, and possibly even with things like disease, poverty, bad labor conditions, etc.

I was going to quote somebody up there, but I don't know where to begin.

It's true, we can't keep up the fight all of the time. That's where I am right now, and have been since the winter of 2008: burned out.

And it's true, the best you can do is to fight were you can, when you can.

And, last but not least, the less television in our lives, the better.

This is especially true, to me, for anybody who wants to pursue any kind of art form: writing, painting, drawing, acting, animation, music, dance.

Television truly is a drug. It makes you feel less lonely even though you're sitting in a room by yourself. The commercials are deadly; they make it extremely difficult to hold a consistent thought-line for longer than five, or ten minutes, max.

For all the good TV gives us--and there are some things that are undeniably good--it takes a lot more away from us.

I've found that it takes about 30 days to "detox" from having a television in your home.

Just my two cents tossed into the well.

This guy's a parody of himself.