Re: sanet-mg-digest V1 #384

Mary Hendrickson (rusomh@showme.missouri.edu)
Wed, 17 Jun 1998 15:21:35 -0500 

Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 10:46:05 -0500
From: "Wilson, Dale" 
Subject: RE: Mary Hendrickson's post: Authority

Mary,

Presenting "scientific rationality" and "market logic" as "belief
systems" in opposition to "moral and social criteria" is very confusing.
I think you are comparing apples and oranges here.
Well, okay, but that's part of my point.  Scientific rationality and market logic are ways of thinking, i.e. they are belief systems, and they have a moral and social component to them.  For example, scientific rationality and market logic are developed belief systems that in the Western world replaced systems of belief based on God, for instance, or economic thought that wasn't based on commodification and exchange.  Anyway, appealing only to rationality and logic without examining the underlying moral and social components is problematic.  (A point you seemed to agree with.)  
This is very appealing in many ways, but it sounds like an expansive
version of the neighborhood association common in suburban U.S. that
dictates what color you can paint your house, etc.  That kind of thing
has always rubbed me the wrong way.  I guess they will import
like-minded people.  In the long run, this will require a great deal of
social control to maintain.  It sounds like a green version of Calvin's
Geneva.
You're right on -- it's always a tension between the individual and the collective.  Western societies have tended to emphasize the individual, dating back to Judeo-Christian thought. 
IMO the green movement needs to become integrated in the
actually-existing communities that deal with the mundane problems of
ordinary life.  Activists need to galvanize local sentiment toward
eco-friendly behavior in local political involvement, as messy as that
is.  Local politics is the basis of decision-making in a pluralistic
society.  As long as Greens take a top down approach, working from
academia, trying to influence mainly National policy, with media events,
and exogenous activists, they will be perceived as part of the clueless
cultural elite by local people.
I think many of the people on this list ARE working at the local level and from the grassroots up.  In fact, I would argue that is something that distinguishes sustainable agriculture and community food movements from mainstream enviornmental movements.

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