Secrets and Hope in Our Mad World

Early in 2017 I read George Marshall’s book ‘Don’t Even Think About It: Why We are Wired Not to Think About Climate Change’ and I decided I would think about it. And I would read about it. Then I would write about it.

I write as a 'non-expert' and I'm hoping that your comments will help me to see whether the insights I've

gained make sense, whether the conclusions stack up and whether it's realistic for me to start feeling

hopeful about the future .

Nostalgia sells a product

Sitting in a sunny teashop garden recently I felt a warm glow from my can of 'Ben Shaw's classic cloudy lemonade'.  The company was established in 1871 by a Huddersfield entrepreneur who used his home-made recipes.  I was invited to 'relive the taste of days gone by.'
But I had a problem in simply enjoying the taste of Ben's home-made recipe because I reckon things have changed a bit in the intervening 140 years ...   His original recipe didn't include  sodium benzoate and an acidity regulator as it does today.  And,  instead of his lemonade making a nice profit for his family business it is part of a huge multinational corporation with HQ in Canada and marketing Ben's lemonade in countries worldwide. 
Does it matter I ask myself?  Why let such a thing spoil even a few minutes of my day?  Some might say 'get a life!'   I'm a great believer in instinct and I was uncomfortable with it.  
After some musing I've decided it felt wrong because it seems symbollic of what's wrong in our world:  It is selling us lies.  It is suggesting the ingredients are as they were 140 years ago.  It is hooking into our primitive need to feel an attachment to our place in the order of things -  we can identify with a bloke in Huddersfield - much more difficult to feel anything for a board of managers in far off Canada.
Clever that, hey?!


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2 comments:

  1. Fiona14 September 2017 at 10:08

    I commented on this post at the time but fro some reason it didn't show. Posting it again.

    Excellent blog Eileen. Says perceptively and succinctly what is wrong with the concept of 'nostalgia'. Nothing wrong with a wistful or happy recollection of times gone by in the faraway sun filled (as we recall them anyway) days of youth. But this kind of false nostalgia, as in the Hovis ads - (odd, one can even feel nostalgia for ads!)is just a cynical ploy playing on our emotions in order to sell us things. Nobody empathises like the global salesman. Most of the time we don't even notice but we must notice and resist the seductiveness of the PR and sales industries and the vast profits they make.

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    1. Finding & Harnessing Hope14 September 2017 at 22:55

      Good to hear from you Fiona. Yes, I reckon the Hovis is a good example of misplaced nostalgia. I've not been blogging recently because am busy writing what I hope will become a book. Almost finished so will continue blogging. Hope to get lots of comments on that because I'm fine tuning what I have been writing for the past year and would be good if people could point out where I've missed an important point or misrepresented something. Writing is a lonely and difficult business so I very much appreciate your input.

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