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This is the first time I've heard the phrase "Guiltlessness As A Service" - from a google search I think it may be your own term? Regardless, I like it. I thin

This is the first time I've heard the phrase "Guiltlessness As A Service" - from a google search I think it may be your own term? Regardless, I like it. I think you're using it to describe businesses that do things like sell carbon credits or do humanitarian work?

radiantswirl 8y ago
Companies with an "eco" or "humanitarian" angle are rly just selling newfangled Catholic indulgences.
- jeremyjh 8y ago
  Except they might also actually be helping some people, or improving the environment, even if its very inefficient.
  - thatfrenchguy 8y ago
    But they also are a cop out to not solve the real problem. If you give tuition money to a few poor kids via a non profit, you don’t solve the college debt and education accessibility problem, but it makes people who did it feel better.
    - cardiffspaceman 8y ago
      > If you give tuition money to a few poor kids via a non profit Or pay someone to plant a tree when you fly to offset the carbon.
    - ghettoimp 8y ago
      Is it not... something? One could always not give tuition money to a few poor kids. That fails to solve anything too. I really dislike the knee-jerk, blanket dismissal of people who are trying to do small but good things. "If nothing we do matters then the only thing that matters is what we do." - Joss Whedon
      - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
        > Is it not... something? Basically, it isn't. The theory that everyone should do a little bit is based on the idea that if 1000 people each solve 0.1% of the problem then we solve 100% of the problem. Which in general isn't a bad idea. The problem comes when somebody tries to sell it with bad math. Because then you have a hundred million people each solving one trillionth of the problem, which accomplishes effectively nothing. And worse than nothing, because then you have a hundred million people each thinking they've done their part and no further action is required, even though no one has made the slightest dent in the actual problem.
  - jdietrich 8y ago
    Slavoj Žižek makes a very persuasive argument against this sort of tokenism in "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDgxH8aRGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDgxH8aRGs
    - hcs 8y ago
      I watched the video but I didn't notice any argument against the practice, unless I synthesize "one should always feel bad about participating in consumerism", is that it?
guelo 8y ago
Or maybe he meant companies destroying the environment, or anything else, for you so you don't have to feel guilty about it.
jgroszko 8y ago
Well Deserved is a (parody) marketplace for privilege https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoK4_dQbfuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoK4_dQbfuU

radiantswirl 8y ago

Companies with an "eco" or "humanitarian" angle are rly just selling newfangled Catholic indulgences.

jeremyjh 8y ago
Except they might also actually be helping some people, or improving the environment, even if its very inefficient.
- thatfrenchguy 8y ago
  But they also are a cop out to not solve the real problem. If you give tuition money to a few poor kids via a non profit, you don’t solve the college debt and education accessibility problem, but it makes people who did it feel better.
  - cardiffspaceman 8y ago
    > If you give tuition money to a few poor kids via a non profit Or pay someone to plant a tree when you fly to offset the carbon.
  - ghettoimp 8y ago
    Is it not... something? One could always not give tuition money to a few poor kids. That fails to solve anything too. I really dislike the knee-jerk, blanket dismissal of people who are trying to do small but good things. "If nothing we do matters then the only thing that matters is what we do." - Joss Whedon
    - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
      > Is it not... something? Basically, it isn't. The theory that everyone should do a little bit is based on the idea that if 1000 people each solve 0.1% of the problem then we solve 100% of the problem. Which in general isn't a bad idea. The problem comes when somebody tries to sell it with bad math. Because then you have a hundred million people each solving one trillionth of the problem, which accomplishes effectively nothing. And worse than nothing, because then you have a hundred million people each thinking they've done their part and no further action is required, even though no one has made the slightest dent in the actual problem.
- jdietrich 8y ago
  Slavoj Žižek makes a very persuasive argument against this sort of tokenism in "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDgxH8aRGs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDgxH8aRGs
  - hcs 8y ago
    I watched the video but I didn't notice any argument against the practice, unless I synthesize "one should always feel bad about participating in consumerism", is that it?

guelo 8y ago

Or maybe he meant companies destroying the environment, or anything else, for you so you don't have to feel guilty about it.

jgroszko 8y ago

Well Deserved is a (parody) marketplace for privilege https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoK4_dQbfuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoK4_dQbfuU