[MD] Altruism: Play The Greed

[Mike Craghead]

Craig Said,"Rand's industrialists were not altruistic, even by your 
definition.  Their end was to maximize profit.  That everyone benefited 
was only a means to that end, not the aim itself."

Mike replies:
I think this is key to creating social, economic, ecological change. 
Business is hardly ever altruistic just to do good; only to appear to do 
good, which is more important to business. The true altruist doesn't 
need publicity. As soon as your name is on the plaque or is read between 
shows on public radio or TV, you're really  just buying your advertising 
from a different ad rep. Of course it can be argued that it's much 
better to spend advertising dollars on something that benefits others, 
just like it's better not to drive a Hummer, but to call it altruistic 
is a bit of a stretch.

But my question is, so what?

We can't realistically expect everyone to truly come together on the 
same page and work toward quality, both because quality is subjective 
and because a lot of folks aren't too keen on change anyway. It's the 
ultimate act of subversion to work a system into changing according to 
its own laws. Railing for change from the outside (preaching to the 
converted) works as therapy for those involved, but doesn't work toward 
common ground; it's divisive. Why not figure out ways to make change 
profitable? Does that somehow invalidate positive change? I don't think 
so, as long as we don't fall into "ends justifying means" 
rationalizations of moral impropriety.  ..

Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite "protest" songs. I find it 
vastly superior to other such offerings, because it's practical; it 
doesn't just rant about how bad things are, and it's not divisive. It's 
perspective is pragmatic, and maybe has it's own brand of altruism... 
manipulative altruism? Perhaps I'm endorsing the Manipulative Altruist: 
"Hell, when change comes Let's let 'em take the credit..."

******************************
"Play The Greed"
Dar Williams

I finally learned that the market's righteous holler
Comes from a pale face on a paper dollar
And I betcha got few bucks in your hemp wallet
So throw a tiny wrench in the fiber optic wires
Morals are cheap and you can be the buyers
We can let 'em poison and pillage foreign lands
Or we can play the greed right into our hands

Everybody says it can't happen here
Everybody says it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, things change and they all take credit

So ask why there's only forty songs on stations
And ask your cafe about their coffee's plantations
And why is it Arizona hasn't gone solar?
And tell your print shop that hemp grows faster
And it doesn't mean a back room clear cut disaster
The market doesn't care but it wants to understand
And you can play the greed right into your hands

Smiling man says it can't happen here
Channel 4 says it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, the change comes and they all take credit

So roll up your pennies and do your battle
The chairman will start quoting Chief Seattle and
Put little tree frogs on their letterhead
'Cause the market resists and the market absorbs
With a five-pointed leaf on the cover of Forbes
The very same people turned valleys to dams
These are the ones that drain prairies to sand
And they'd just as soon you didn't know this land is your land
But we can play the world back into our hands

Malcom's gonna say it can't happen here
Rupert's gonna say it can't happen here
Things'll turn around just as sure as they said it
Hell, things change and they'll always take the credit

Hell when change comes
Let's let 'em take the credit

******************************

Mike Craghead

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