Dear Alexa,
I am a little confused about how you hope to “talk it up” with those “better informed” than you if you don’t even want to “hear about” the critical issues facing us. In general, your Wespeak (“Missing the forest for the trees,” March 4. vol. CXLIII, no. 34) was confusing and provided an unnecessary negative outlook on what your peers/professors have been doing on campus to incite change. Your statements about important events like Focus the Nation that was amazingly organized this year make it seem like they were not important (i.e. the events “take attention away from the bigger picture”). Do you know what Focus the Nation was about? How can you say that discussions and lectures on climate change and changing environmental policies are part of an “inappropriate forum?”
Well, here’s the thing for you. I don’t think anyone is trying to say that some people are complicit while others are not. Perhaps what people are hoping you will understand is that individual efforts can and DO make a difference. If you’re “all for working for change,” and we happen to live in a “generalized eco-masturbation” world, then maybe you will realize that we are screwing ourselves by not doing anything. So perhaps you can contribute to the “big-time change” by making efforts to be a better “Wesentitled, Wesprivileged ass” and not buying that plastic bottle or not driving that two blocks.
Leave a Reply