consistency in all this? An interview, a forum and ecological issues The life of a blogger is not easy, especially when he also writes occasionally in the press. As an intervention in the press these days, it's just lines printed on paper is also a web page with ... the inevitable hilarious forum. On July 26 last appeared in the pages of La Libre Belgique
an interview with Ariane van Caloen, entitled "What if we broke the logic of ever?", Which I summarized in a few words - but really
few words! - My thoughts on "sobriety happy." Little room to develop concrete measures, and even more detail the theoretical arguments. A longer version of the interview had to be shortened for reasons of space. Personally, I would have gladly given up what the page contains a large picture of my reel, which is more ancient, and informative way, so that the longer text can appear in the newspaper in its entirety. But the editorial decisions have their logic escapes us probably ... You can access the full text
by clicking here. Thank you to read this before you go after this post, otherwise you will not find it perhaps not very interesting.
For your edification, I suggest you then go see the comments left anonymously in the vast majority of cases, on the forum
. Nobody disputes the right of anyone to express his thought, including when we have things to say hurtful or stinging. I guess what I said in the interview is also perceived as offensive by some readers, so I can not, in turn, prohibit them from making their objections seriously. That is the vitality of the debate in a democracy. The media plays its role here, and forums as well. But I think that lifting the anonymity of the comments would be beneficial. For my part, I have no choice but to hide behind nicknames, and even my face is exposed to great in the newspaper. I speak therefore inevitably discovered, which leads necessarily to expose my large inconsistencies day - I will return in a moment. Why readers, especially when they border on insulting in their comments, did not they have the same courage? Hidden columns in advance of a forum allows you to unload of frustration and "empty his bag," and also saying things fair and legitimate, but it seems to be a dishonest way to participate in a debate.
Debate on which I dwell a little here, taking the time and place.
Sorry, so: as a gift back, here is a particularly long post. I hope you will find food for thought, and even material fun. I preferred not to artificially cut into several slices. (Basically, each paragraph can be read separately.) Worst is that, eventually joining the barrage of criticism more or less just addressed to me, you decide yourself not to work for the transition and return quietly in the dominant system. That's the risk you take ...
That said, some of the issues raised in this forum, and even more hurtful, have their full legitimacy. I will not say - because this would be a lie - that some quotes I have not touched, and even sad. I've never designed in the field actual research
delicate which is mine, as a donor of lessons. I try to analyze the vessel in which we are
everyone board (s) - including me. If, for some expressions, I have given the impression that I was talking about up and I took myself for a "guru", I apologize to those who have believed that I wanted m'exonérer consequences of my own analysis. Skip
his days reading, thinking, talking and writing about the inconsistencies and deadlocks of our industrial-capitalist society is a mentally challenging activity - and closely questioning. Sometimes I fall asleep wrong turning in my mind the implications for myself and for my family or my neighborhood, what I read in a particular book, says to this or that conference or written in a particular section. So, let's be very clear on this before continuing: no, I'm not necessarily more coherent than the readers of La Libre Belgique
in my daily life - sometimes because I lack the will and courage, sometimes because the economic and social structures in which my life is (a suburb of suburban housing, occupation and family life that require a certain motorized mobility, lack of trades Nearby shops and "sober and friendly" in my neighborhood, etc..) preclude consistency
immediate .
When I did my research on the ecological and economic transition, I often profound moments of doubt, periods of internal insecurity when I wonder if all this is worth it - and if so, how I should change my life to be inconsistent, more in line with the results of my research. I know a lot of colleagues who have similar qualms. But here it is: yes, I am a researcher at the FNRS and university professor, yes, I have (I think!) Security employment, yes, I earn enough to live well in material terms (the scales are public: I make a little over 2,700 euros net per month). So what right about sobriety and simplicity? Simply because neither my status nor my salary does not prevent me from thinking and feeling that a lot of things do not go, I contribute voluntarily and involuntarily, consciously and unconsciously, these shortcomings and that I wish I could contribute to the reduce.
All readers of the interview with La Libre Belgique
does not seem to agree. Some accuse me of inconsistency. There are also people who adhere, sometimes with encouraging enthusiasm. All this leads me to question me again and again. A question, ultimately, the meaning of this blog and the work behind it. So I give you, while commenting on a few excerpts from the forum in question, leaving the text in their state of origin spelling and grammar.
At 7:29,
did008 wrote: "Arnsperger is an extremist whose intellectual arrogance is directly proportionate to the perfect emptiness of what he is able to offer the alternative CONCRETE - beyond the empty formulas that blend as it weaves a sweater. " At 7:40,
passisimple replied: "I would not say that it is arrogant. Just maybe a little village, but rather a village simpa, allowing it - not being in need - to be detached from the material too fast ... "And he / she adds three minutes later "But all agree to celebrate with you the vacuum in the concrete. Too bad. "Of course the interview is too short (this will teach me to accept solicitations flattering but ...), but it's too cumbersome to ride roughshod over other readily available texts (including this blog, just ) where I actually develops practical issues, sometimes at length. The rate of reaction on the forums do not allow this kind of step back - especially when you do not feel you need it. These readers can go see the texts in question (including
one who started this blog ) for reassurance: I do not neglect the practical level, even if I sometimes lack of jargon or phrases in a way too convoluted.
I continue with the extracts. At 7:57, Vava
still gives a positive opinion: "Ah ... a breath of fresh air :-)). And from the Uni is a good sign. It is hoped that new generations of integrating values other than those, backward, Business Schools, not to name them ... " But it is rather small, as often in the forums where objectors are more active - which, in some ways, is understandable. At 8:55 am,
forumer advance a classic objection, but important and will take all its importance just now when we talk about my life choices and my (in) coherence: "The concepts developed are rather clever imho. They does remain, however, that the state concept because it does not take into account the primary fact that man is essentially selfish and did in fact make that social and economic inequalities when they do not affect them personally. " It is true that in my own work on the existential underpinnings of capitalism, I was not far from saying these things - stressing, however, the fact that if economic agents are indifferent to inequality and interested in themselves, because that they are crossed by existential anxieties (fear of frailty, illness, death). Selfishness is a "side effect" if you will, of anguish. This thesis is very important to me because it helps to consider a work on oneself to live his anxieties other than focusing on hardware and on signs of wealth.
Exactly when
did008 am ready to be "detached material, "it makes me smile. Maybe my comments in the interview give that impression, but the reality is quite different. I too 20kg and I'm not sporty, and those extra pounds I door because I do not mind eating really ... I do not obsessively pursue the fashion and the "trends" clothing, tourism and other things but I am well and truly rooted in material consumption - in self-respecting nerd, I buy a lot of "cultural products" in plastic and paper, such as CDs, DVDs and books. Ah, books!, a whole history that goes back further and my relationship with my dad which is a great reader and transmitted to me this virus. Books, especially when they form a "wall" compact on the walls of my library, are a bulwark against time, against the days go by. Each book purchased is a project, an imaginary time I'm given. If I add up all the pages that I have not read in books that make me a nod in my shelves, I have for hundreds of years - immortality, or almost!. .. And these books ordered through Amazon or others does not come on foot or by bike, but an airplane, then tractor-trailer Taxipost, then postal truck. It's good equipment, everything. I'm not going to unpack all my life, but think I am detached from the material is a little - how shall I say? - Idealistic.
Is what I am "village"? Yes! I said, as an employee of the French Community I earn over 2,700 euros net per month (with a 13th month, if you please). Thank you to
did008 to say I am a "nice Bourge. I am not contemptuous, of course, but it is certain that the university professor who makes his plea for frugality may seem "arrogant" to many people who struggle in financial hardship. It is certain, moreover, that the ideas of growth and prosperity without "decreasing" (go, yes, keep it just a little bit, that word ...) are scary to many citizens who do not see that growth is not development and that in our countries, growth does more than what it promises. The proof of this surge
cahetel to 9:49: "Oh beautiful about an Eco-gaucho-bobo ... In economics it is above all 'every man for himself'. Honestly, you believe that Chinese and India will be deprived of growth and adopt the 'Fullness relational human economic' then they start just their development? Because of clown like him one day in Europe is likely to be a developing country Development. " Understood: if the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians then threw in the race for the infinite growth of GDP, we must continue to do well, otherwise the economic war will destroy us. It is against this kind of ideas that I struggle with many others - but it should
cahetel calmly read this qu'écrivent Serge Latouche, Tim Jackson, Michael Shuman, Juliet Schor, Sharon Astyk and many others. Question of priority: the time spent and more skim the forums and give his opinion from the hip, it's less time to read things nutritious. The same applies to the nonsense in the form of slogans - forgive me, but this case really is that - like those proposed by
vive2010 at 10:10: "Do not be a communist him a little?" Without comment, but one remains speechless. Cheers anonymity, which saves ridiculous.
All comments are not of that level. There are a lot of food for thought, whatever form that may take some brutal formulations. At 10:04, Lawrence Clarke
(ah, if not a nickname, what remains to be seen, here is finally one that has the courage to move in the open!) Argues that: "The market has always controlled the limited resources available and the only man still missing anything. The less will, it will be more expensive and less people will buy it. This reasoning is repeated infinitely and therefore resources will never fail. QED. "Here, there is truth - in part, at least. Yes,
roughly , prices of non-renewable resources like oil reflect a rarity - a rarity actually determined at the time, either a speculative future scarcity by speculators. Anyway, a price increase indicates a certain "nervousness" on the side of those who have interests in the domain. Suddenly, the rising cost of certain raw materials used to consider a conversion, a change course, and it is not necessarily good to artificially control prices (although they are often de facto
, manipulated by powerful players in markets that function poorly). But to say that "resources will never fail" is a serious fallacy. By marking "QED", that person is exposed to 0 / 20 because it has demonstrated anything ... Indeed, this is not because existing resources are exhausted (which increases their price) there are other resources that are in place. It may well lack the resources even if the existing resources have seen their prices increase. And what about the reasoning that, through the magic of the market, "Man does not always lack of nothing"? If the scarcity of oil, gas and, later, coal exerts its effects, we actually miss a lot of things - unless, as I said specifically in the interview and other texts, we working simultaneously
to change our energy sources and
reduce our frantic consumption needs. This is not the market economy that will, by itself, it is a cultural change that must take place under the pressure of economic variables that can tell us where are the blind alleys that we have now avoid. (See also the response of
Chris2 at 10:48 AM. I swear, this is not my nickname! I was on vacation and I read the forum well after ...)
continue in the comments sobering - but hang on because the flights will be more ... opera, say. At 10:20 on the scene
Ferdinanz : "If the donor lesson began with an example by reducing his salary by half Uni prof, he would have the leisure to experiment with the concept of sobriety and more egalitarian society (in which the average Belgian is subject to taxation by that extravagant experiences). Es that this guy who says he traveled economist account the impoverishment of the middle class? It was not expected to spend vacations, restaurant, gadgets unnecessary: it has no choice with what the Belgian state leaves us to live! Then his his' society more just and egalitarian, it means the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia! UCL is also decidedly leftist that ULB. "Good. Calm down. I spend on the Khmer Rouge and communism, I have answered above. Where this gentleman is right, it is in his challenge: why not live with less, before suggesting others to simplify their lives? And do we not distinguish sobriety chosen and rationing suffered? Obviously, I sign with both hands - and I repeat that I'm just not a donor of lessons (that's what the reader hears, probability because he has given too much in his life).
I share, in the public sphere, my observations on contemporary society because it is my job and I paid for it. But these facts concern me as much as my fellow citizens. I'm no more advanced than many others who practice voluntary simplicity and really most of which, incidentally, will probably do not expressed in this forum because their simple life and peaceful them apart from all these controversies and because they argue, them, every day. Say that the growth target may be a bit of bad conscience of the bourgeoisie to which I belong. And this, some citizens who believe in solidarity with the poorest (but despise "the left" and maybe vote for Albert R. Br can invest without paying too much tax) were hard to bear. Come on, I get carried away. Christian calm, do not give free to the controversy, do not do to others what you do not like them do unto you ... A
Ferdinanz who wants me to live with 1,350 euros per month instead of 2,700 (but beware, my wife also works, albeit at half-time) - To
Ferdinanz therefore
couleurcaf meets 10:23: "You're kind with your comments on his salary! If the gentleman wanted to make a fortune, he soon left the university (it's 'prestigious' to be a teacher of Uni but not very profitable) to be 'chief economist' or whatever the Bank Degroof or I do not know where to win 10,000 euros per month! What a joke, teachers overpaid for Uni!; Thank -)))"
couleurcaf , how nice to my defense on this point (and no, juror,
couleurcaf is not an either my nickname), but I'm still I ask. Besides, at 11:09 Gigi Heck is going up to the plate: "In a short time when the Green Wave will no longer be fashionable no longer speak of these people as Arnsperger and Defeyt. In the meantime they can continue their Eco-rant éconos relying on their lavish government salary to ensure their very comfortable life. " An update: the happy sobriety is not uncomfortable and it seems strange and it worries those who cling to their "purchasing power" - and I am one, yes. But also, Dear Gigi, you still have to read things properly and do not fly at this point even as short an interview. I do not preach poverty to those who already suffer! I say this: "A society of 'fullness' or 'happy sobriety' (...) will be a truly happy if one is excluded from support networks. What matters most is access for everyone to genuine friendliness which they can move off the concerns of accumulation and consumption. " Still, do not see an apology for the misery, nor a cynical wealthy. I think myself under the conditions which hosts my life, I should have increased access to networks and human resources to consume less (meaning, I am "poor" humanely because I often compensates by buying and entertainment is a lack of friendliness in my neighborhood in my profession, in places where I'm going to walk, etc.). But it is
évidentissime happy that sobriety must be accompanied by greater equality! I keep saying everywhere and on every key. Probably not enough yet ...?
But where things get really difficult is when the / same Heck Gigi wrote at 11:51: "The goal [of people like Arnsperger] is to impose, through media influences, but also by law, ecological values involving a radical change in our values. (...) Another objective of equalizing world incomes. The lyrics are explicit and totally superfluous. They reveal an obsession with egalitarianism that tends to equalize incomes across the world. "How, then, this person manages Does beliefs? It certainly has the courage to give his real name (I suppose, and if so, thank you) but it seems to me not knowing if it rejects the political ecology because it comes from wealthy or because it advocates the taxation of the wealthy ... We're not out of the woods ... (Cool, Christian, Cool, do not take you, rest Zen ...) Here at 10:21
Chris2 was already flying to my aid, in responding to a previous commenter who said that "Prosperity without Growth just good for those who have had enough. Too bad for the others, ie two thirds of humanity. " According
Chris2 , "Who said they wanted to forbid others to achieve our level of well-being '? You misread. We simply say that you probably already have a very good level of well be, and it is perhaps not necessary to try to increase yet, certainly not to level MATERIAL. Read without interpreting, my friend, before discussing! "Certainly." However, the nagging question remains: am I a donor lessons, if not deliberately, then at least in the way people in trouble hear me? C ' is a painful issue. I have no answer but others, apparently, know - as
HenryDW that broke at 4:03 p.m., and that outweighs my students in his anger: "I suggest we begin by dividing his salary 2. With half the salary of a teacher to Uni it will live very decently and it will allow our 'too rich' countries to produce less wealth needed to pay it. In addition it will enable him and his family to practice their 'sobriety happy'. You agree with Mr. Professor? The last speaker I heard who spoke decay, sustainable economy, etc. had a ... big BMW. I swear it's true. I have an aversion to those who give lessons to the top of their welfare advocate measures affecting that of 'the people' as they like to call us with contempt. Another thing: this guy is living proof of the transformation of the UCL in UBL bienpensante University of Louvain. Finally, normal that students believe: mom and dad pay the kot, GSM, the PC, then obviously the mugs economic reality ,..." Good. Again, it calms down. We breathe deeply. I do not know if the issue is really one that Mr. (because there, we know that c He is a man) raises: drastically reduce my salary while leaving the entire company to continue its path. Certainly, it would be a way of being a pioneer and prophet - of being an "activist existential" as I say in my last book (
Ethics of post-capitalist existence ). But anyway, I'm no big BMW and we are doing with one car and public transport.
It is for me what to think - as you, Sir - to immediate reductions of consumption that I should have the courage to operate. Spend less, save more, and certainly spend less in areas that damage the planet and the human: it is clear, it is necessary. You're right to be impatient. But it takes courage and a minimum of social support - which is something for which I fight tooth and nail, as shown in my text
"Economic transition and environmental transition." In some insomnia, I also impatient against myself, against my slowness and my inconsistencies. Heck thank you to Gigi for her direct uppercut 4:38 p.m.: "Christian Arnsperger right, you have to like him, join his ideas and especially not apply. "At least, that's clear. Unfair, but not completely false earlier today, and any case clear.
HenryDW , meanwhile, is more coherent than I am. I do not hesitate to say so. Indeed, as he writes so well at 16:50 by responding to another reader who asked in the income range it is: "Exactly winner correctly my life I do not have the temerity to go and require those whose purchasing power is already at the floor still live as well to satisfy an ideology . And yet I do not get not my well-being of the community (like this man). The day when I argue for the decay and sobriety happy I start with myself. I may have many defects but not the inconsistency between what I expect from others and what I practice for me. "Certainly." Better to have a good conscience, say nothing and do nothing at all because at least in this case, there is no risk of inconsistency, we played in the logical place and it is always consistent ... It is the discourse of perpetual those who are well in line in place. We see a little lower than this gentleman is apparently a researcher or industrial energy Alternative (?) and he clearly advocates a green capitalism where the technology will save humanity. There are actually using much richer in this kind of activity (more than the university, certainly), and continue to fly and say that someday, one day
we invented the solar aircraft. (Calm down, Christian, cool ...)
But if I sleep wrong on my own incoherence, I vehemently refused to let me stick the label of "contempt" when
HenryDW said that I speak of "the population, "he quotes a phrase
that is not even in the interview ! I speak of "citizens" no contempt, and I include myself in this expression of course! Damn, my work is a collaborative research - in my lectures in my evenings with friends and family in my classes, I get criticism, ideas and comments from lots of people involved, and often more advanced me on the path of transition, which also feed my thinking and my self-criticism, and I reflected in my work and my stance. I do not have contempt for "the people" - at most of the anger, sometimes vis-à-vis the more powerful an economic model that perpetuates harmful because it suits their interests short term.
The disdain of some players towards the students is something particularly offensive. At 11:13,
Quénaffaire takes a mocking hat
La Libre Belgique: "Professor Arnsperger (UCL) defends the idea of 'prosperity without growth." A relatively new idea that appeals especially to students ... "This is what
Quénaffaire then says:" Are these the students in our universities each year who go even further in ultra all inclusive hotels and luxury mobile phone that change four times a year? Christian Arnsperger jealously he career of his (ex) colleague, Paul Magnette [Belgian Socialist minister and former professor of political science at the university] to be heard in this way the political world through the press? "Certainly, I shouldn't may not meet this kind of provocation, but beyond excessive, this rejection of the youth and his research - a contempt for the world student and his side "bo-bo", which exists but is often involuntary and transitory - seems extremely disturbing. Consumerism is not the sole preserve of young generations (older and have also educated) and I am convinced that most young people are most receptive to a challenge to the dominant way of life, focusing on technology and "progress".
Faith in progress
HenryDW , once again, also openly professes 5:29 p.m.: "I do not believe in the decrease or absence of growth for a better world. On the contrary, I believe in growth more sustainable stimulated by technological progress itself financed by a regulated capitalism. My vision of sustainable development is not environmentally (producing and consuming fewer resources to pollute less) my vision of sustainable development is progressive, technologically innovative to produce more wealth with less pollution. I spend my life. I think this continent (excluding Germany and some countries) produces too many Greeks and Romans have enough! "Let us close eye on the hints of far-right are sufficiently clear day here. If he read, For example,
The Long Descent John Michael Greer or
Collapse by Jared Diamond, he would see that the collapse of the Roman Empire because of massive over-consumption of resources and gigantism delusional is what could happen in a not too distant future. So the Romans as a model of civilization for the future, bof ...
Go, truce analysis. I think there's something to think about both the consistency of growth objectors, commentators rightly questioning, and the mechanisms of defense-industrial capitalist culture product, and are expressed in abundance in this forum. I leave you to the end of this
very long post with two pearls (I say this without mockery) that go in opposite directions, and that makes you want to stay kind to everyone, and listen to each and each.
August 4 at 1:42 p.m.,
chick writes: "'Sobriety happy', just because the term cult. 'Fullness' 'Conviviality', 'simple beauty'. It is an article of economy, or a speech by New Age guru? The next step will certainly 'that you will not consume your needs and your needs, it is we who define'. A blend of communism, anarchy and eco-libertarian austere Catholicism. With this I really need a new couch (mine is fucked) and not by growing sprouts that I can buy it from me :-) :-)."
26, July at 10.22,
ded writes: "I read all the reviews and I note with satisfaction that comments like those made by or Arnsperger others are beginning to make their merry way into the minds of many commentators ... except a few diehards who are watching the finger of the wise when it means the moon. "The wise? Well, okay, but only for the beauty of the gesture ...
soon,
CA
