What Do Greens and Mothers Have in Common?
It drives my mother crazy that I won’t take a multi-vitamin. The woman raised me on a steady diet of Ring Dings and Yoo-hoos and now she knows what’s best for my health.
I get the mantra every time she visits: “You’re run-down, you don’t get enough sleep, you need to take a multi-vitamin.”
“Yeah, okay,” I always say in my least dismissive tone.
Mother Kloor will then turn to Mrs. Scape: “He never listens to me.” Mrs. Scape, sympathetic to the no-listening part, shrugs.
The funny thing is, I know my mother is right. After all, what’s the harm in taking one multi-vitamin day, on the slim chance I’m not getting enough nutrients from my daily intake of Lucky Charms and Chip Ahoys? Sometimes I waver.
But then she starts with the guilt trip: “Do you want to be around to see those two beautiful boys grow up?”
That’s the deal-breaker. When she plays that orphan card about my kids, I reach for the Oreos just to spite her.
I’ve always wondered if, on a larger level, society rejects similar well-intentioned nagging from environmentalists. An energy company CEO, discussing Americans’ reluctance to grapple with climate change concerns, gives voice to my theory:
The problem is a lot of global warming messages come off as authoritarian. “You must reduce your carbon footprint. You must recycle. You must use less energy!” The commanding tone of environmental advocates is certainly understandable. Climate change is a critical issue and there is an urgent need to address the problem. We’re trying to save the planet and we want people to move ““ Now! There’s simply no time for subtle discourse.
This intensity can backfire in the US, however. Americans aren’t going to change their behavior just because someone tells them to. Tell an American he has to stop using so much electricity, and he’s likely to start using more. Tell an American she has to conserve water, and she may start taking longer showers. It’s not that we’re contrary; we just don’t like being pushed around.
So that’s really it, in a nutshell. Nagging is counterproductive. Mothers will never learn. Will greens?
I agree – nagging is counterproductive.
So is the mantra – it doesn’t matter if we are not sure now, if we don’t act now it will be to late when the data actually prove our theory.
Yet greens pull that one out all the time.
Very counterproductive.
Now you might, not that Eli would suggest such a thing, grow up so Mom doesn’t have to nag.
Nagging can be counter-productive, but in case somebody is doing something not good for themselves, what is the alternative? Sometimes we say that people just have to learn things from experience – they can’t be told. That’s true, but hardly adequate in this case.
Then there is the happy face Breakthrough message that basically says you can just keep doing what you’re doing, and we will fix it afterwards somehow with technology and that magic cure-all – economic growth. Sort of like leading an unhealthy life and then expect the doctor to just fix everything for you with a magic pill. Isn’t that why we have an epidemic of diabetes in the US?
I really don’t know what the answer is. It used to be conservatives who were the nags and liberals who said you could do just about anything. Now that has reversed itself. People don’t like to be told what they should (leave aside must) do, and our culture is very much oriented towards instant gratification. It’s hard enough getting across a message to not do things that are obviously bad on an individual level (like maxing out credit cards or eating a hamburger EVERY day), let alone something as seemingly abstract as climate change.
“..People don’t like to be told what they should (leave aside must) do..”
In the case of climate and CO2, it has become more of
“..Do as I say, not as I do…”
“.. I reach for the Oreos just to spite her…”
I can understand your mom’s thoughts on the nutritional value of Oreos. They have most, but not all of the required items that make for a balanced food.
1 Sugar …check
2 Fat……….check
3 Chocolate..check
4 caffeine…..No
Close to being a perfect food, but failes to have one of the four required items.
“Now you might, not that Eli would suggest such a thing, grow up so Mom doesn’t have to nag.”
Coming from someone who pretends to be a bunny and speaks in 3rd person, that is hilarious!
You seem to be forgetting the mega-vitamin fad. People were taking massive amounts of vitamins. They were even poisoning themselves with excess amounts of Vitamin D,
So food and nutrition fads come and go, They all have their celebrity acolytes, AGW could be critical. We have to make sure that any actions taken are not sold like eh lateest clebrity diet.
That is statements from authority and celebrity, glowing success stories if only people would try and horrifying tales of consequences if they do not.
Wait a minute, that is exactly how AGW is being sold. We even have talking rabbits telling us to grow up in 2. If only were were grown up and not so childish we would agree with everything they are putting out.
Hadn’t stopped by for a couple of months, and decided to check the headlines. Wow, there’s certainly a common thread running through lots of recent posts. Keith, do you have any idea how consistently petulant you sound?
@7
Ma, is that you? 🙂
Keith–
Be a good boy and eat your 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
A quote from the concluding paragraph of the piece gives his topics for next time:
“How are we going to get them to understand the scope of the problem? How are we going to get them to do better?”
Does he mean “understand the scope of the problem” or “adopt our point of view”?
Does he mean “do better” or “do as we say”?
Having identified nagging as an issue, he identifies two areas requiring coercion.
Perhaps he should add a third: “How can we get these people to stop minding their own business?”
Coerce people forcibly by all means but what’s with requiring them to buy into the experience? Is this some sort of bourgeois approach to running a revolution? Bullying is bullying.
You can go for prohibition. You can go up against the corporations and other vested interests. You can get your head cracked open by corporate or government goons.
Why pick on the little guys? Is the problem really their fault?
Alex
Its not just the talking rabbits. Its particularly annoying to be nagged by people who eat a packet of deep fried Oreo’s a day – like Al Gore or Cate Blanchett.
Isn’t this stating what should by now be the bleeding obvious? And, I’d add, what has been a recurring theme here for some time… the absolutely atrocious way in which the need for action has been “sold”.
Nagging never works (you think it might fail in the US, try the result here down under!!) unless the subject of the nag resonates with some deep “denial” or “guilt” in the listener. It’s got to be telling you something you know deep down is true on some level or it is simply seen as bullying.
It’s even worse when the nagging ninnies want us to live like New Yorkers, but also cut out the A/C. Everywhere. Basically 1940 all over again.
However, I even doubt that level of CO2 production would satisify Joe Romm….
I hate to be nagged, but if it’s Cate Blanchett, I’d reconsider.
This analogy is more apt than Keith realizes. He says: “The funny thing is, I know my mother is right.” How does he know this?
On the contrary, the science is doubtful at best and this has been well known (at least to those in the pharmaceutical industry and those who read studies) for many years. But some people take disputed data, present their own interpretation as a fact and will accept no debate (does you mother call you a denier of of multivitamins?)
The link below presents a pretty good layman’s article of the current state of vitamin research.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39616169/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/time-kick-multivitamin-habit-studies-suggest/