OK - so this week our assignment was to read the Conservationist Manifesto. Yeah, I know, I got all excited too when I read it on the syllabus, BUT NO - I read it wrong, its not the Communist Manifesto . . . bummer, right?
(FYI Karl Marx was a little more interesting) So the author, Scott Russell Sanders is a retired Indiana University professor - Brown and Cambridge alumnus, married to a biochemist.They are well heeled, well educated, well traveled, and own a home in Bloomington.
What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? Just hang on to your granny panties because the irony of this will become apparent a little later on.
Dr. Sanders seems like a nice enough guy. He's written a gazillion books which you can buy on Amazon. He holds seminars across the country, has intriguingly furry white eyebrows, wears nice sweaters and when he was still teaching, I bet he had a legion of graduate student sycophants following him around campus carrying his pens.
The whole premise of his book can be summed in one sentence; we can live better lives and treat the earth better if we live more simply and stop being massive, greedy voracious consumers. There are only 2 problems with this - first, after laying out this thesis in the opening paragraphs Sanders drones on for another 265 pages - about what? . . .EVERYTHING. At times he goes into such touchy feely flowery description of minutia, that I can't help but wonder if he dropped some windowpane or shrooms before he hit the keyboard. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm hating on all my granola eating, herbal tea drinking, Kumbaya singing brothers and sisters - its just that JEEZ - sometimes a tree is just a tree. And sometimes, a book is little more than literary Ambien. And if I had a dollar for every time Sanders says I, Me, My or Mine, I might actually have enough to buy his books - and that leads the second and I feel the biggest problem of the book - Sanders is a total flatout, undeniable hypocrite. He preaches about the evil of consumerism, yet he himself does not abstain. He sings the praises of trade and barter but sells his books. He waxes poetic about the virtues of making your own clothing, yet his clothes look very J. Crew to me - either that or he is not only furtively keeping sheep in his basement, but also some very talented third world seamstresses as well.
There are a bunch of other ironies, such as Sanders decrying the despoilment of the land that is tourism, which he calls 'merely another form of private consumption' yet justifies his own travels as exempt because they are in pursuit of wisdom. WTF? I guess the paid speaking engagements he flies to from coast to coast don't count either. Or maybe Sanders like Phileas Fogg travels by hot air balloon - or maybe he is secretly a super hero like Superman and doesn't require a plane - or better yet - maybe he can be teleported to far off locations like in Star Trek. The possibilities are titillating.
Perhaps most absurd of all is that Sanders says that all means of transference of wisdom and education should be free and open to everyone - this had me both laughing out loud and shaking my head. This from a man who was paid handsomely for a thirty year career teaching at a public university where students now have to finance their education with loans that amount to more than what their parents paid for their houses.
And this is where very heart of the problem lies - too many hypocritical people at the top trying to demand of others what they themselves are not willing to do. Should you read the book? . . . Naw, if you really care about the environment you'd be better off reading Gary Larson's Far Side. And if you want, you can barter for it, trade for it or check it out from the library, hell, I'll even lend it to you - I LOVE the free transference of knowledge. Now, beam me up Scotty.
A spectre is haunting America — the spectre of consumerism.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/154822/college-know-it-all-hippies
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103809/hippie-infestation
After hearing Sanders speak in class I don't know that I can call him a hypocrite! He seemed like such a sweet old man who did not want to tell us what we should or should not do. Our lives are obviously very different from his and he made that clear to us. I think that Sanders' goal of writing this book was simply to get readers thinking about what they could do differently to simply live more lightly and more simply. He says we could do this even buy buying more locally and supporting a local community. Sanders may buy J Crew clothing and does sell his book but it doesn't make him a hypocrite when he specifically tells us he is not trying to tell us how we SHOULD each live our lives; and he makes it clear that we all will not be able to carry out the same exact lives.
ReplyDeleteCouteney - my review is of his book and my opinion stands - the man is a hypocrite. He lays a theory down and does not follow it - and when questioned, he has a million and one excuses as to why it doesn't apply to him - sweet old man or not - he does not practice hat he preaches and tries to SELL in his book.
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ReplyDeleteI'm probably going to have to disagree with you here Arlene for a few reasons. Other than a few major logic holes in his book that I point out in my journal, I don't see much wrong with the book for an up-and-coming conservationist, and I admire his use of literary diction and technique.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of him being a hypocrite, I'm not so sure that I buy the notion. In terms of selling his books, is a few trees worth him spreading the word about what he feels is horrible about humanity? That depends on who you are, but to him, it is obviously worth it, or he wouldn't have done it. If he spawns a new generation of environmentalists that protect the planet for the right reasons, is that not a fantastic goal to have? It's not like he's making an absolute killing on these books either, and it's not something that's ridiculously overpriced. He just probably feels the cost is worth the benefit, or that he feels the book is an investment to greater things.
I'm not going to discuss his fashion, as I honestly could not give a damn about what he wears. If he's going to speak in front of an audience, he at least has to look professional correct? Or would you rather he dressed in tye dye shirts and cargo pants =D(Also, I have a cripplingly bad grasp of fashion, so I wouldn't know Abercrombie from Old Navy).
As for his teaching position being contradictory to his gospel of information being free, I don't think that's necessarily a fair point. Tuition prices haven't always been through the roof (He has been teaching for like 1000 years), and besides that, it is a PUBLIC University, if you want ridiculous tuition, go check out Earlham or Northwestern and get back to me. Compared to those types of colleges, Indiana is an absolute steal for in-state people.
Besides, this man doesn't seem to be pushing as much of an agenda as you suggest, at least that's what when another student and I spoke to him at length after questions were through. He's a very intelligent guy with his heart in the right place, it's just that his thought process is out of whack a little bit in this book (Such as him saying space colonization isn't effective. BLASPHEMY!)
LOL Captain Kirk would not like Sanders! I appreciate your thoughtful response - but I stand my ground - Sanders is a hypocrite - why write a book full of ideas on how to save the world and then admittedly not follow them? Why write the book? 265 pages of narcissistic mental masturbation - but the guy DOES ride a bike so I'll give him a few points for that.
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