We can discuss the arithmetic of environmentalism, but we should avoid speaking of positions (like environmentalism) that significant numbers of people here are likely to identify with in terms of “propaganda” making people do “retarded” things, especially when this is tangential to the main point, and even when (minus some of the connotations) this is accurate.
“Propaganda” is a fraught term, but it is important to think about these things in terms of the irrational propagation of memes. I think that was the main point, but the title didn’t make it clear. The coining of the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” was an act of propaganda, but it wasn’t good enough: it didn’t lead to reduction or reuse. It is important to know the failure modes. (Or maybe it was a great idea, promoting recycling as “the least I can do,” definitely falling short of ideal, but only if it was not possible to push it further.)
Maybe it would be easier to discuss an example where I agree with the goal: The rate of car fatalities in the US has dramatically decreased over the past 50 years, seemingly due to government propaganda for seat belts and against drunk driving. Partly this has been about influencing individuals, but it seems to have changed the social acceptability of drunk driving, which was surely a more effective route.
Politics is one thing, but if we can’t discuss the arithmetic of environmentalism, we should give up.
We can discuss the arithmetic of environmentalism, but we should avoid speaking of positions (like environmentalism) that significant numbers of people here are likely to identify with in terms of “propaganda” making people do “retarded” things, especially when this is tangential to the main point, and even when (minus some of the connotations) this is accurate.
“Propaganda” is a fraught term, but it is important to think about these things in terms of the irrational propagation of memes. I think that was the main point, but the title didn’t make it clear. The coining of the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” was an act of propaganda, but it wasn’t good enough: it didn’t lead to reduction or reuse. It is important to know the failure modes. (Or maybe it was a great idea, promoting recycling as “the least I can do,” definitely falling short of ideal, but only if it was not possible to push it further.)
Maybe it would be easier to discuss an example where I agree with the goal:
The rate of car fatalities in the US has dramatically decreased over the past 50 years, seemingly due to government propaganda for seat belts and against drunk driving. Partly this has been about influencing individuals, but it seems to have changed the social acceptability of drunk driving, which was surely a more effective route.
Yup. Post has been edited to take this into account.