Three Bad Ideas

Money makes people happy. Congress should represent the diversity of the US population. Juries should look like the accused. What do you think of these ideas? Why? Well, her is what I think:

Money = Happiness: This is true to a limited extent. Up to a certain income level happiness does tend to increase, then the rate of increase slows down. At some point (An average income of maybe $3500 a year) the change in happiness for a nation's population does not increase rapidly. Individuals are the same way. Beyond a certain income level increased income does not significantly increase happiness. Of course everyone wants to believe that a huge payday will make them happy, happy, happy.

According to an article in Tuesday's Washington Post Express, lottery winners and people who are paralyzed from the neck down report being equally happy one year later. I'm not convinced that this finding supports a genetic "happiness point" but it does suggest that we tend to return to a modest level of happiness after a high or low.

Congress: Isn't Congress the opposite of Progress? That one was too easy to resist. Anyway, I once heard a colleague opine that Congress should represent the diversity of the United States population. Why? "Why not?" was the answer. Well, why not stick with the idea that Congress shall consist of the individuals that the people send to Congress as their representatives? Anyway, our diverse Congress would only satisfy people until we realize that there aren't any African-American lesbians or Hispanic midgets. Statistically, there should probably be one of each in Congress.

Our Peers L:ook Like Us: We have the right to a trial by a jury of our peers. What does that mean? Why doesn't someone go and look it up! I am pretty sure it means that we have the Constitutional right to have our fates decided by fellow citizens rather than professional jurists, a milirary tribunal, or a lone judge. Or maybe it does mean that a black defendent needs to have a mostly black jury? Oddly, I find some merit in that particular idea. There is a long history of slavery and systematic oppression of black people in he United States after all. Nobody else has any excuse for thinking a jury should look like them! The rest of you are just SOL if the jury isn't mostly Asian, mostly female, mostly white, or whatever you are.

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The Benefits of Social Pollution

Like water pollution, global climate change, and toxic waste, social pollution generates costs and benefits. Like pollution of the natural environment the costs and benefits are not spread evenly. The costs and benefits of social pollution aren't as clear as one might think, if one thought about the subject of social pollution.

Who benefits from social pollution you might ask? Well, almost all of us benefit from social pollution at one time or another. Some of us obviously benefit much more than others do. Men, women, government officials, social activists, entrpreneurs (including this blogger). nonprofit staff, the clergy, and writers all benefit from social pollution in some way, at some time.

Consider the belief that wealth equals happiness. Businesses make money by printing the tickets. Government workers get work regulating the conduct of state lotteries. You get to fantasize about lounging on a tropical beach. Conservative preachers and liberal social critics get plenty of ammunition for their speeches/sermons/polemics/rants. Social workers and counselors get work when the myth of lottery jackpot bliss screws up peoples' lives so severely that outside help is required.

Policies and programs can be based on good ideas or on bad ideas. It doesn't matter which policies and programs are based on what ideas; the equation stays the same. We benefit psychologically when one of our preferences is realized in the form of a government program. Government contractors, police, social workers, and nonprofit staff benefit regardless of whether a social program is working or not.

A sense that things are "going the right way" or that something is being done often trumps the need to create rational and reasonable ideas, programs, and policies. The chance tt make money or to exercise power over society (or some part of it) also plays a part.

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Fighting Social Pollution (Again!)

Again with the social pollution! I'm also going to say a few things about celebrity "news" shows, ginned-up social problems and health threats, Q-Ray bracelets, and talk radio. My comments could apply to other specific things that don't occur to me at the moment. The general categories of things that I have in mind here are corporate fear-mongering, political fear-mongering, crass commercialism, and political "thought" that hardly qualifies as thought at all.

You should already know that bad ideas can have three kinds of consequnces: wasted money, wasted energy, and opportunity costs. Keep those costs in mind as you read. I also want to invite you to consider how much money is wasted (and time too!) on health practices, like colon cleansing, that have no value, and may actually be harmful.

So, what's a concerned citizen to do? I have several suggestions. Thanks for asking. Some of these ideas are meant to be taken seriously but not all. I was brainstorming  on the subway.

1. Keep reading my blog!

2. The FCC should require that all television shows start with content warnings: The ideas you will be exposed to by watching this program may be harmful to your relationships, finances, career, or intellect."

3. Calculate how much money is wasted on crap like Ehinacea, Q-Ray bracelets, ID theft insurance, or (fill in the blank, it doesn't really matter). Take out an ad in the local paper or in a magazine.

4. See #3, but use a billboard or two.

5. The anti-social pollution movement needs a mascot and a spokesperson. I was thinking we could follow the lead of PETA and get an adult film star.

6. Pass a law requireing that all TVs be powered by hand-cranks. (Pedal-powered generators would be a reasonable alternative.)

7. Calculate the real risk of ____________ (insert overblown health or safety risk) to the average citizen. Post this information on billboards, or take out advertisements.

8. Start a campaign to get critical thinking skills in the curriculum.

9. Boycotts are good - Find out who advertises on/in offensive media and don't buy their stuff. Write in to tell them about your concerns. We could follow the lead of environmentalists and create form letters people only have to flesh out and email from a Web site.

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The Costs of Pollution

Yeah, we can all agree that bad ideas are, well, bad for us. But what does that really mean? What are the consequences of social polution, in time, energy, and dollars? This morning I happened to glance at the celebrity news section of the Washington Post Express. (Guess what? Brangelina was mentioned. Ditto, two drug-addicted and useless rock stars.)  This unfortunate encounter led me to expand the scope of this post a bit. Now I also think its important to cover the social costs of frivolous things...

The costs of social pollution fall into three basic categories. You may even recognize this stuff from economics classes.

1. Money wasted - How much do people spend on  questionable services, products, social programs?

2. Time wasted - How many hours of labor are wasted each year on pursuing all manner of dubious schemes, both social and personal?

3. Opportunities missed - What else could we have done with the labor and money we squandered?

So, how do the costs add up in real life? Let's say, and this is based on a real-life social program, that we decide to budget $300,000 to set up a program aimed at reaching kids who have been negatively influenced by Goth subculture. Let's say that after $230,000 have been spent we find no young people who need to be rescued from Goth subculture. The social cost of this silly social program is $230,000 plus the 160 hours of staff time spend not locating any young people to help. The social pollution here is the idea that we can/must set up a social program to "rescue" people from a subculture that's labeled as "harmful" in some general way.

What quantifiable and known-to-exist social issue could the time and money have been spent on? Maybe a program to intervene in the lives of teens who are at high risk of suicide? The social value of this sort of intervention is generally not questioned and there are scientific grounds for sorting people into the categories of "high risk" and "not high risk."

So, that's the impact of social pollution on society. Now, lets turn back to the subject of celebrity news for a minute. And a minute is about all I can stand!

How much money do people spend on celebrity gossip magazines and newspapers? How much money gets spent on the reporters, freelance writing, photographs of stuff that's really none of our business? How much labor time and money is spent on creating and distributing those periodicals. One could ask the same questions about celebrity "news" shows like Access Hollywood. What could fans of this stuff be doing with the (conservatively estimated, by me) 2,000,000 hours a year spend consuming useless information that's generally none of our business anyway? What could the writers and editors be doing that keeps them working while providing some social value? (Yes, I know the stuff makes money, but that does not prove its social value, you capitalist tool.) 

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More Pollution Cleanup Tips

Political posturing, crass consumerism, religious fanaticism, and other signs of problems in society all need attention. We need alternatives that people will really adopt. We need tools and strategies to overcome all forms of social pollution.

So, what can you do to fight social pollution? I can offer several strategies and some specific ideas.

I've mentioned the need to come up with alternative ideas that people will actually accept. Those two popular activism tools -- calling for a ban, calling for more regulation -- also have their places in a good social pollution cleanup strategy. Yes, this ignores the question of what should be regulated and what should be banned. The more people affected, and the more severely they tend to be affected, the more reasonable an outright ban becomes.

And here's something completely different...

The Free Thinker's Guide to Congress would be an annual analysis of the quality of thinking in Congress. Yes, I think people could compile such a book without being overcome by despair. Congress isn't that bad! People and legislation, whether passed or not, would be evaluated. There would be a one-pager on each person and piece of legislation. OK, maybe this needs to be done in two volumes not one.

People could also vote with their wallets. This is a reliable old activism strategy. Except in this case we look for programs and magazines that spread social pollution. Just keep in mind that social pollution isn't just any old thing you disapprove of. Social pollution is an idea (policy, program, tradition, behavior, belief, similar things I may have left out) that are unscientific, illogical, or that undermine widely-held human values.

By the way, I finally found a list of those values. Here they are (from a 2000 Roper poll): Protecting the family, health and fitness, honesty, freedom, self-esteem, self-reliance, justice, friendship, knowledge, and learning.

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(Social) Pollution Cleanup

Again with the social pollution! Well, I promised to write about pollution cleanup and I'm going to get to it now. Keep in mind that social pollution can come in two basic flavors: philosophical ideas ("Homosexuality is a sin.") and practical ideas (Work on a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.).

Social pollution has four consequences, each of which provides a pretty good reason to be interested in pollution cleanup.

• Bad policies, social or economic ("bad" meaning ineffective, wasteful, counterproductive, or completely useless)


• Bad social programs (see previous bullet point)


• Personal habits - useless ones that waste time, energy, attention develop and spread


• Harmful beliefs - beliefs that cause problems for individuals, and by extension for society, develop and spread

I've even got some timely examples of the social pollution problem. Some people believe that natural things are better. This is social pollution because the idea is both illogical and counterfactual. A sex education policy that only teaches about STDs and abstinence is probably counterfactual and illogical. Buying identity theft protection is social pollution because the statistical probability of being a viictim is really rather low, as is the likely financial loss.

I only have time now to introduce the elements of a cleanup strategy now. The outline I offer should give you a pretty good idea of how things will work.

1. Assess the damage from the idea in question

2. Look for the source of the pollution

3. Publicize the damage, the cause, and the source.

4. Come up with an alternative

5. Sell the alternative

Next time I'll say more about specific cleanup strategies and tactics, and I'll add some flesh to that bony outline!

.

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TV Worth Watching, Really

Ever wonder about the effects of our ideas about nature, relationshiops, work, money, and religion both on society and on our personal lives? If so, you might be interested in my latest idea for a television series.

Ideas and the Modern World would be a one-hour newsmagazine show. Each episode would be organized around a broad topic area, such as education. Segments would examine the impacts of ideas on the decisions we nake, the problems we encounter in life, and the social policies we suffer with or benefit from. Of course there would be some human interest stories. There would also be expert interviews. The question of who benefits from an idea and who suffers would certainly be worth considering in each episode.

Another version of the show employs a host, or chosts, who lead viewers through an exploration of how one idea shapes modern society. You avid TV watchers may remember Connections (with James Burke) or Cosmos (with Carl Sagan). That's what I have in mind! No, I don't have myself in mind as a host.

Who wants to help me make this happen? I'd be open to working on a public access cable show, or something online.

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TV Worth Watching, Really

Ever wonder about the effects of our ideas about nature, relationshiops, work, money, and religion both on society and on our personal lives? If so, you might be interested in my latest idea for a television series.

Ideas and the Modern World would be a one-hour newsmagazine show. Each episode would be organized around a broad topic area, such as education. Segments would examine the impacts of ideas on the decisions we nake, the problems we encounter in life, and the social policies we suffer with or benefit from. Of course there would be some human interest stories. There would also be expert interviews. The question of who benefits from an idea and who suffers would certainly be worth considering in each episode.

Another version of the show employs a host, or chosts, who lead viewers through an exploration of how one idea shapes modern society. You avid TV watchers may remember Connections (with James Burke) or Cosmos (with Carl Sagan). That's what I have in mind! No, I don't have myself in mind as a host.

Who wants to help me make this happen? I'd be open to working on a public access cable show, or something online.

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Fighting Social Pollution

Immigration reform, global climate change, global poverty, the left-wing media, the right-wing government, voter apathy, and our spiraling national debt all need our attention. We need new ideas, in some cases. Mostly, we need to work harder at selling ideas that already exist.

What do I mean? Well, we could use better ideas for government policies, social programs, legislation, and education. It might be good for us if some of our philosophical ideas and traditions were replaced with new things. This all requires considerable creativity and salesmanship by somebody, or lots of somebodies.

Maybe my social pollution prevention groups could get into the creation and selling of these new ideas. I have a few concrete suggestions for how that would work:

1. Know what you want to change -  This should be obvious in most cases. Philosophical ideas may be a bit harder to pin down. How do you develop an sell a viable alternative to SUV ownership?

2. Be a salesperson - Think of yourself as having something to sell.  If you have a great new idea to promote you need to think like a marketer. What is the competition for this idea? What does the competition offer? What makes my idea better, in ways that matter to my audience? Who is my audience anyway? Where can I reach my audience?

3. Study - Read a book that contains a strategy for gettting and evaluating ideas, like Thinkertoys, How to Think Like Einstein, or The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox.  Study social marketing and the psychology of persuasion (or selling; either one should be helpful). You can find books at Amazon.com or at bigger public libraries. You'll have to look to university and college libraries to find anything on social marketing.

4. Be a thief - Steal ideas that you can use as-is or in modified form.

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Measuring Social Pollution

Ideas are as important as the air and water that we depend on. Wihout a steady stream of ideas that are new, at least to the individual, life would be pretty miserable. Luckily, many ideas are good, or relatively harmless. Unluckily, the more powerful an idea becomes the more damage it can cause.

My last couple of posts described a network of community groups that could fight those powerful and harmful ideas. This post is about a tool the groups (or a solo fighter against bad ideas) could use to evaluate ideas, policies, proposed legislation, and other sorts of ideas.

(Maybe our traditions should be scrutinized using this evaluation tool. That's another post though.)

What sort of evaluation tool do I have in mind? I'm thinking of a worksheet and checklist that would guide people through evaluating a book, speeh, essay, radio broadcast, or whatever. Use this tool to as part public education or social change efforts in your community.

Now, what would be in my Social Pollution Evaluation Guide? Four elements are important to evaluating the quality of an idea.

1. Logic - The Guide would include a list of common logical fallacies, such as the slippery slope, "red herring", ad hominem attack, and unspported assertion.

2. Facts - Are all cited facts relevant? Are they used correctly? Can you think of/dig up any facts, that if they existed, would weaken the idea? Can you think of relevant facts that have been omitted?

3. Values - Some ideas won't be relevant to any of the major/fundamental values like health and material sufficiency. What about the idea under consideration? Do a little thought experiment? Might the idea undermine one of the values?

4. Assumptions - What are the assupmtions? Are they valid? Commonly used assumptions that are often wrong include: We know the source of the problem. The government must intervene. We had better not look to the government for a solution. The many variables that contribute to this problem are both understood and controllable.

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