inkbluesky

pear trees avenue 

Prius PreeningIs my hybrid turning my kids into eco-snobs?

Why are Prius sales surging when other hybrids are slumping, the Times asked? Because buyers “want everyone to know they are driving a hybrid.” According to a marketing survey (which the Times ran in a graphic I couldn’t hide from), more buyers bought the Prius this year because it “makes a statement about me” (57 percent) than because of its better gas mileage (36 percent) or lower carbon dioxide emissions (25 percent) or new technology (7 percent).

If I’m being honest, I’d answer “all of the above” in response to that survey. It also made me worry about how my kids perceive our family Prius ownership. Do they think we’re doing our small bit to save the Earth, or are they imbibing a look-at-me smugness?

This is a problem that can arise in many contexts—nationalism and religion spring to mind. There’s a fine line between pride in one’s identity and unearned moral superiority.

This specific problem of the kid’s taking a certain pride in the family’s car isn’t much in the world of issues facing families, but the “moral superiority” aspect of the issue does. Many times while it doesn’t tend to make headlines ( its the chicken crosses the road isn’t news, but chicken getting run over aspect of our society) many people actually do good things, make wise choices or hell they just stay out of trouble from day to day. Then on occasion they go and screw up a good thing by throwing it in people’s faces. Sure the three person family that bought a huge SUV make a poor decision, but they’ll pay for it in several ways and will eventually wise up. No sense in taking a holier then thou attitude, they’ll just feel resentful. Then some people drive old gas guzzling clunkers around because they had a certain budget and they bought the best they could with the money available.

Meet the Pentagon’s New Spin Unit: Bush Administration hacks court bloggers, talk radio

This project seeks to bypass the traditional media and work directly with talk radio and bloggers, mostly those with a heavily conservative tilt. The unit, which one source says was originally called “Surrogates Operation” but was later rechristened “Communications Outreach,” also reportedly provides talking points and briefings to retired military officials who now support the administration in appearances as media pundits.

Odd little story that caught my eye for a couple reasons. One is that two of the leaders in the project are young and loyal to the far Right, but have no experience in foreign relations or national security - propaganda gophers. The other reason is that in reading a fringe Right blog a couple years ago the guy went on and on about how important it was to “control” the narrative of public debate. I thought at the time he needs to head up a meeting and just try to get a  group of just twenty people on the same page. Often times it’s like trying to get a river to reverse  flow. What they can do is muddy up the waters, put out a lot of finessed information, some partial truths and keep some people confused. A little like 1984.