Reading Responses
The World of Doublespeak -William Lutz
According to Lutz, doublespeak (the act of making the wrong sound right, and the bad seem good) is continuously being used “as the official language of public disclosure.” The reasons why he believes this is because of the enormous amounts of evidence of doublespeak being used in the press and government. Doublespeak pretends to communicate, but really all it does is distort information and deceive its audience, which in this case is the citizens of the United States. In a world where everything is sugar coated our officials think that we can no longer handle the straight truth. I’m sure they have recognized that their citizens live in a “culture of fear” so they know if they ever mention the cold hard truth they could cause a rouse. However, there comes a point where the actions of the government are unjustifiable, and they know the public cannot know because of the sure opposition they will receive. Doublespeak is as widespread, if not more widespread as when Lutz wrote this article. Now that I know what doublespeak is I’ve noticed that I have not heard of taxes in recent years, so I went taxes have come to be referred to as “revenue”. As history has shown us, Americans absolutely hate taxes! Those who thought about this doublespeak are brilliant, as the government no longer raise taxes, they increase “revenue!” With this change of terms I’m sure the government expects fewer objections from the American public to raising “revenue.” Another word which has been subject to doublespeak is “tolerance”. I surprisingly originally learned the meaning of the word in church from the Ten Commandments from the bible, which meant “love thy neighbor” but was later changed to what we now recognize as meaning “equality.” This term has been used all throughout the fight for equal rights, and now that “gay-marriage” is legal or technically just marriage now, the meaning of “tolerance” may likely change once again. Lutz fully agrees with the thinking of George Orwell’s, and with good reason, by quoting his statement “in our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” Lutz advocates that the public should no longer fall for the language of doublespeak; we should inform others of the dangers of our language being used as a tool of oppression. As knowledge of doublespeak spreads, so does the mistrust and the majority will be heard.
Be It Ever so Homespun, There's Nothing Like Spin -Kim Severson
Often times when something works out surprisingly well, the positive effects only last for a short amount of time. For example when Monsanto, the chemical company that sells Round Up and is also the world’s largest supplier of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) seeds. These seeds were first considered a great advancement for human kind in terms of crop production. However, now that it is public knowledge that these GMOs have harmful effects on humans, consumers have shifted to finding alternatives to GMO produce. This same situation is presenting itself with the greenwashed design paradigm and those in the design world see it approaching. Severson explained “But when a trend starts to show success, it’s a design pileup.” Just like every trend in society, it gets “played out” as the urban youth saying goes and eventually becomes loathed. Especially when consumers start to realize that every product is representing themselves as “healthy” and begin to really consider what is truly a healthy alternative. Severson mentioned the “start of sincerity and authenticity in food package design in the 1970s because she wanted to show another trend that happened when companies tried to portray themselves less as big corporations. I believe Severson’s point of mentioning this was to show what led up to the trend of greenwashed designs. When consumers start to ask more and more questions companies need to be able to answer them. The consequence of this is that “green elite food consumers” will want to know more information about a company’s labor practices, what it does for the community and the impacts it has on the environment and how it plans to reduce it. An increasing amount of companies are already following this trend of displaying their impacts because more people are worried about they consume. I personally believe that mass-market consumers will continue to look for instant identifiers simply because it is easier and often times they don’t care, but my hope is that they will start reading food labels for the sake of their health and the environment.
Called Home -Barbra Kingslover
I’ve grown up hearing and eating about ethnic foods like Mexican, Italian, Indian or French food but I have never really heard anyone use the phrase “American food.” Whenever I go to visit my family in Mexico they’re only real idea of American food is our breakfast, the classic waffles, pancakes, sausage, bacon and scrambled eggs. Other than our breakfast they think we eat McDonalds or at some other drive-thru. What Kingslover considers “food culture” is to be the dishes that are made with the ingredients that are naturally meant to grow in the area. French food is obviously made from things grown in France but the original recipes came from the native vegetation that happened to flourish there. I personally see “American food” as the food they sell at county fairs, and this isn’t necessarily a good thing with almost every food there being sugary or fried, sometimes even both! With Kingslover’s meaning of “food culture” I would say that the dishes of the Native Americans would be the closest thing to “American food.” With our food culture being relatively unhealthy it has had its toll on the health of the American public. However, a recent movement of consumers buying local and organic has given evidence that our food culture may be changing. It’s not rare to hear about someone starting their own garden in their backyard. I myself have a, kumquat tree, peach tree, orange tree and a pomegranate tree in my backyard. With a growing amount of the population either growing their own produce or buying it from a local farmer can help improve our nation’s food culture.
Blue Gold: The World's Most Imbalanced Resource
For a very long time, we in the Western World especially the United States and Europe, have always thought of a water crisis only being an issue for poor countries. Nevertheless, a combination of growing inequality, climate change, and the mismanagement of water sources in Western Society has brought this water crisis home. The so called “solution” of privatization of our world’s most precious resource has increased the price and availability of fresh water in all places. Those who have the ability to pay will have access to water, and those who do not will have to live without. The prejudice and discrimination against those who cannot afford good quality water, is already occurring in many parts of the world. The United Nations has declared water and sanitation as a human right. Thus the inequality of access to affordable, safe drinking water to communities across the world is a direct violation of a basic human right. As fresh water becomes more difficult to obtain, those in the First World underclass will be the first to face the challenges of life without water.
Across the world, scientists have acknowledged the existence of human caused climate change. The human race’s constant emission of greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere causes warmer temperatures, in turn dramatically altering the planets water cycle everywhere. Humans are changing the climate and one of the most significant impacts of climate change will be on our water resources. Water scarcity is quite possibly the most important issue that exists, seeing as it is the one essential resource for humans and all other life. The concept of water scarcity needs to be understood by everyone. It is reported that currently about 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and this figure will increase to 2.7 to 3.5 billion people by 2025 if steps are not taken to lessen the water crisis (Zakar 1). Although the damage inflicted by climate change is global, the poor and less developed countries are the worst victims. Developing countries lack the resources and institutional capacity needed to treat contaminated water. As a result the health and economic inequalities both in and between countries are widening.
To the everyday individual, water plays an important role in ensuring positive social and human health development. Access to water helps prevent exposure to life-threatening diseases and improves public health. Almost one-fifth of the world’s population currently lives in areas under water stress and that ratio is expected to grow to almost one quarter of the world’s population. Here in the United States growing poverty has created an underclass that cannot pay rising water rates. A report done by Circle of Blue found that water rates in 30 major US cities are rising as much as 41 percent since 2010 (Barlow 1). Subsequently, the number of water cutoffs are increasing across the country. This inequality of water that’s been occurring around the globe has finally spread to the United States.
Most people in the United States have this perception that everyone in the country has access to tap water. The reality is that in many unincorporated communities (communities that that do not have a local government) throughout the nation lack basic infrastructure like clean water, sewage and emergency services. In California’s Central Valley the unincorporated communities experience extreme poverty, racial discrimination and has the highest environmental health risks in the state. These segregated communities are largely made up of people of color. The formation of these communities made up of low-income colored people was not incidental. In the 1900s policy makers intentionally regulated waves of migrants, including Dust Bowl migrants, Black farmers from the Great Migration, and Latino farm workers into the least attractive and least fertile regions in the Valley when they arrived. These communities that are separated from formal cities are a result of the staggering amount of racial prejudice and discrimination of policy makers (Allport). Up to this day the discrimination of these communities lingers, in informal interviews Valley residents said that water was the primary issue threatening their security and survival (Pannu 10). Even with these known issues, these communities receive little to no funding from the government to deal with the area’s lack of water infrastructure.
A case study in Bangladesh has also brought up issues of prejudice and discrimination in their distribution of clean drinking water between the individuals of society. In Bangladesh they have resorted to getting their drinking water from underground aquifers. Women and girls are usually the ones who are sent to tubewells (technology used to pump up groundwater), to collect water for their families. However, discoveries of an increasing amount of arsenic in the water has forced many households to switch to safe aquifers to avoid arsenic poisoning. Making a switch to another aquifer is not an easy one, as the women and girls tasked to fetch water are forced to travel farther distances. More poor households are forced to make this switch compared to wealthier households. This is due to the fact that wealthier households have greater access to their own, more expensive, tubewells that tap into deeper aquifers that are mostly arsenic-free. When women are not able to travel farther distances to another tubewell, they have no choice but to drink arsenic contaminated water. The symptoms of arsenic poisoning begin on the skin and those showing symptoms are often treated as contagious and discriminated against. In turn, poorer households are hit harder by the inaccessibility of clean water. Especially because the women showing symptoms of arsenic poisoning are often abandoned or denied marriage. The immediate prejudice of these poor ill women even extends to their very own family members and neighbors (Allport). With women lacking resources to deal with the complications of the arsenic contamination, it enhances the effects of their suffering, poverty and discrimination (Sultana 5).
Many parts of the world like India currently have a water crisis in their hands. India is the largest democracy in the world with a population of 1.2 billion people, and they have not been able to provide clean water for the majority of the population. Tens of thousands of people in every state of India die of water related diseases like typhoid and cholera (Ram 3). When private water corporations come in saying that they are the “solution” to their water crisis, the prices of water goes up and consequently only the wealthy can afford water while the poor have no choice but to drink contaminated water. As is the case in the state of Madhya Pradesh, the Asian Development Bank has given a loan for improvement of their water supply. However, one of the conditions of the loan was that all public water stand posts (where poor people draw their fresh water) were privatized and had to be closed down. (Salina, Flow: For Love of Water). Therefore, the poor are the ones that suffer the most from the increasing scarcity of the world’s water resources.
Here in the United States you often times see ads asking for donations to help people in developing countries. Countries like India receive funding provided by aid institutions and unfortunately that aid only delivers water to the politically and economically powerful sectors of the country. Once the powerful and wealthy get their drinking water their determination to provide safe water for the rest of the country almost disappears. Data from DLHS-3 reported that 93 percent of the richest households had access to improved sources of drinking water compared to only 74 percent of the poorest households (Ram 5). The discriminatory actions of the wealthy not giving potable water to those that need it the most is a violation of a human right (Allport). This mentality of “well I got what I wanted” of the higher class transpires in developing countries around the world.
In the last couple of decades there has been a lot of movement on the privatization and commercialization of the world’s water supply. The World Water Council is a group of big powerful water interests that have realized that water is the world’s most precious commodity and is to be distributed for profit. In 1997 they joined together to promote a vision of water being sold as a marketable good. These water companies are very powerful and have tried to alter the awareness of the world’s global water crisis by advocating that privatization will allow us to use our fresh water more efficiently. These corporations have the vision that water is going to be put out on the market and treated as any other saleable good. Food and Water Watch and other organizations have clearly documented that the rates for water and sewer services rise dramatically with privatization (Barlow 1). It’s evident that when a government water agency controls the water systems the public benefits more; than if a Private Corporation who is only looking to make a profit did.
In 1997 the World Bank told Bolivia that if they did not privatize their water systems they would no longer receive aid for the development of their water infrastructure. Bolivia, a country where 1 in 10 children will die because of the lack of safe drinking water had no choice but to privatize. In 1999, Bolivia’s water systems in the cities of La Paz, El Alto and Cochabamba were privatized. The people of these cities were promised that with the privatization of their water, they would receive safe drinking water and sewage systems. However, Bechtel, the company that made these promises only managed to pollute the rivers of Bolivia and raise the price of water. Those who have the ability to pay will have access to water, and those who do not will have to live without. Therefore it is a life and death situation, in the basis of profit. Along with the absence of drinking water there was also a growing prejudice between those who could afford water and those who could not (Allport). Often times the poor were discriminated against because they were “dirty” but the reality was they had no water to drink, let alone water to bath in. Eventually the citizens of Cochabamba stood up against their government when they took to the streets. The citizen’s main goal was to drive out Bechtel, the transnational company that owned their water. On January, 2007 Bolivia’s government ended privatization and returned the water systems to the people (Salina, Flow: For Love of Water).
The privatization of water is also an issue here at home, Nestlé who owns over 70 bottled water brands around the world has wells across the United States. Nestlé established a bottling plant in Michigan and began pumping water out of water systems in the area. It is a fact that no one owns the water so any landowner, including Nestlé has the right to use the water in Michigan. Nestlé at the time was being sued by the landowners of Mecosta county Michigan, on the basis that just because they have the right to use the water, does not give them the right to sell it. The judge ruled, “A diversion of water for selling somewhere else that diminishes the integrity of flow of water, is unlawful, it cannot be done.” and Nestlé was ordered to stop pumping. However, on December 2005 the court of appeals ruled that Nestle could continue to pump groundwater at a “reasonable” rate of 314,000 gallons per day. When citizens appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court of Michigan, they were overruled by the court when they favored Nestlé’s appeal saying it was unconstitutional for a citizen to sue them, unless their own property was affected (Salina, Flow: For Love of Water). This is a case that dives directly into the question of “who owns water?” and historically the answer has been “no one” it is a human right and should never be the cause of discrimination it needs to be available to everyone not just those who can afford it.
On July 28, 2010 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the human right to water and sanitation. In addition the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution furthering the obligations of governments two months later. The entitlement of the two basic rights of drinking water and sanitation, are way far from being universal. In fact, the enormous amount of water inequality and discrimination that exists today is only expected to widen with the privatization of the world’s dwindling water resources (Ram 6). Instead of being common and universal, profit is being made out of our fresh water. As Rajendra Singh a water conservationist in India stated “Water is a natural resource, water is a common resource. Water is not a property! Water is a resource for your life” (Salina, Flow: For Love of Water).
The water crisis which is now global, unites us in one common struggle. We humans have used the planet’s fresh water for our pleasure and profit, and created an industrial model of development based on conquering nature. We have to view water as the precious resource that gives life to us all. Water must be shared more equally, it is a human right that cannot be taken away from us, and our governments should do everything in its power to protect and manage it for the public good. With the protection of our water resources we may also be able to limit the increasing prejudice and discrimination we are experiencing. Without water, we have nothing, no life, society, or economy, without water the earth wouldn’t be what it is. Water has been nature’s gift to us, even though we have taken it for granted, its scarcity could possibly lead us into living peacefully with others and ultimately show us the impact we have on Earth.
Work Cited
Allport, Gordon. “The Language of Prejudice.” Language Awareness. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 324-333. Print.
Barlow, Maude. "The Water Crisis Comes Home." The Nation. 2015. 2-14. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Pannu, Camille. "Drinking Water and Exclusion: A Case Study from California's Central Valley." California Law Review. 2012. 223-268. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Ram, F., Abhishek Singh, and Usha Ram. "Human Rights Approach To Maternal & Child Health: Has India Fared Well?". Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2013. 721-727. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Salina, Irena. “Flow: For Love of Water.” Close Inspection Media. Youtube, 23 Jun 2015. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.
Sultana, Farhana. "Water, Water Everywhere, but Not a Drop to Drink: Pani Politics (Water Politics) In Rural Bangladesh." International Feminist Journal of Politics. 2007. 494-502. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Zakar, Muhammad Zakria, Rubeena Zakar, and Florian Fischer. "Climate Change-Induced Water Scarcity: A Threat to Human Health." South Asian Studies. 2012. 293-312. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
Advertising the True Value of Local
In the beginning of the 20th century advertisements were made by local businesses to get the sidewalk traffic into their stores. However, because of the increasing number of big corporations, today’s advertising has evolved dramatically. With the evolution of mass advertising by large businesses, local businesses have had difficulty obtaining costumers and keeping their doors open. When a company is created they have to be able to differentiate themselves in the consumer market, this is possible by creating a brand. Unfortunately, only large businesses with enormous amounts of capital can use marketing strategies to create their own brand. However, local businesses have several ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Local businesses offer more personalized services, better quality products, a smaller impact on the environment and a positive economic effect on their communities. Rising movements such as the shop local and food miles movement are also supporting independent businesses. Additionally, with the help of Small Business Saturday, local businesses may be able to compete with big businesses mass advertising.
The majority of people would like to believe that advertising works only if there is someone watching it. For example, when people are watching television and the commercial breaks some people run off to the kitchen or the bathroom. Those who stay on their couch don’t want to see the commercial, so they are not really paying attention. Every advertiser knows this, and yet they spend millions of dollars on content no one wants to see. The idea, which most people would point out, is the marketing strategy to create familiarity. People intuitively believe a familiar product is superior to a strange one. So, when you go shopping and see a line of cereals you choose Cheerios because you remember the commercial of an adorable baby eating a handful of cheerios. This works even if you don’t remember seeing the ad. So, television advertising can work because of the benefits of branding (Bryson 408).
Advertisements are now used to essentially sell a lifestyle. Every big corporation has its own “persona” and with this “persona” it can get almost anyone to buy its products. When a person buys something, he or she essentially sees the products as an extension of his or herself. Much like how a person’s fashion choices define who he or she is, and in some places the brand that you wear also represents you. Another example is if you want people think you have money to spend and are a healthy person you would only ever purchase and consume Fiji bottled water (Luntz 432). This type of buying where one only buys certain brands because he or she believes that it defines his or herself occurs throughout our consumer society.
What set the stage for the retail environment we have today, began in 1962 when the first Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart stores opened. These big-box retailers were created on the basis of being more convenient than local stores. A 2008 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated that the enormous and rapid expansion of Wal-Mart in the 1980s and 1990s was found to be responsible for a forty to fifty percent decline in the number of small discount stores. The same effect continues today, with an average of 14 retail stores closing near the opening of a new Wal-Mart (Leighton). Evidently big-box retailers like Wal-Mart are devastating to local businesses with their deep discounts and especially their two-billion dollars in spending on advertising in 2014 alone.
Total Wine & More, another large chain store has been crushing mom-and-pop liquor stores with their huge selection and cheap prices. Total Wine & More currently has 102 superstore locations in 16 states, with more on the way. Local liquor store owners in places such as Norwalk, Connecticut, and Coastal South Carolina fear the opening of Total Wine & More. With over 8,000 wines, 3,000 spirits, and 2,500 choices of beer all being sold at close to wholesale price, local liquor store owners will find it extremely difficult to compete against the superstore (Tuttle). Total Wine & More is expected to continue expanding especially with their marketing strategy of being a “Toys R Us for adults.” Total Wine & More is well on their way on establishing their brand and wiping out their mom-and-pop liquor store competitors.
Large corporations all establish their brands separating them from competitors and familiarizing consumers with their products. These large companies also tend to have nearly identical marketing and sales strategies. Take for example how the marketing strategies by Toyota, General Motors, and Volkswagen are all similar. The way they have been able to be successful is through “branding” which creates differences in between products. In turn small businesses attempt to replicate what these well-known companies did to become successful. However, the same tactics of big business unfortunately do not apply to small businesses (James). Large companies would clearly have the resources and capital for a great deal of advertising to set themselves apart. If a small company decided to put up a commercial it would not be able to get past all the other advertisements from larger companies while also spending an enormous amount of capital. So the only way for small businesses to create their own brand is by offering a unique good quality product. Customer loyalty and a steady customer base for a small businesses can happen with a more personalized product or service and how pleased the customer is with that product or service.
One of the most adverse effects of mass advertising by large businesses is by the supermarket chains that the majority of the population buys their food from. As humans, we believe we have evolved so much that we can just go to a supermarket and get what we need instead of scavenging through the forest as our ancestors did. Before, you could find everything you could possibly want at a supermarket. You would go to your local greengrocer who would receive their inventory through a local farmer. Those who were fortunate enough would have the opportunity to purchase their food directly from a local farmer. Today supermarkets are tough competition for local farmers because everyone has been conditioned to go there anytime they need something. Life for local businesses only worsened when big-box retailers like Target and Wal-Mart added their grocery department. Not only could you go shopping for groceries but for everything else you might need on top of all of your other impulse buys. “One of the ironies of modern life is that although we have more ingredients to choose from than ever before, much of it is not worth buying. In a way, you could say we have been blinded by plenty. We have so many choices that we’ve forgotten how to select only that which is best” (Blake 1).
A local food movement has gained traction with peoples increasing awareness of the state of the environment regarding the forecast of food scarcity, their concerns for local economies and over the quality and the source of the foods they eat. Another movement gaining momentum off of the local food movement is the food miles movement. The term “food miles” originating from the 1990s, aims to create a more sustainable food system by. Food miles promotes eating local produce with less food miles in order to reduce carbon emissions. Food miles measures the distance of our food from the farm where it was produced to the table where it is consumed. In the United States food miles have increased by 25 percent in the last few decades with an average of 1,500 miles traveled (Food Miles Movement 1). Though it seems obvious that less food miles release fewer greenhouse gas emissions, it’s a simplified assumption that miles alone are an indicator of what’s best for the environment. The environmental impact of food is reliant on several aspects, the most significantly being the production of food. A study published in Environmental Science and Technology, recognized that food miles accounts for four percent of the United States food system’s greenhouse gas emissions, while agricultural production is responsible for 83 percent of emissions.
With the growing local food movement big retailers have opted to get their cut off the local food market share. Of course, there are regulations on food labeling in the United States and in Europe, nevertheless, there are no regulations set in place defining what the term “local” food means. Subsequently big retailers advertise “local” food in their stores attempting to distance themselves from the negative connotations of processed food and in turn, altering the definition of the term local. Big-box retailers have advertised that “local” food is a better alternative than the “ordinary” food they sell. To combat this confusion over what’s local, farmer advocacy groups in the United Kingdom are pushing for a definition of local food, to differentiate food that is grown, processed, and sold within a relatively small area and that contributes to the sustainability of the area (Blake 15).
Adam Bedford a local shopper, has always told everyone how amazing shopping locally was compared to supermarkets. Adam then made the life decision to buy the food he needed locally and never set foot in a supermarket again. After months of not going into a supermarket he then had the thought. “If I could do it, why couldn’t everyone?” To make it easier for others Adam created the Shopping Challenge where he challenged his mother Judith, and mother in-law Julie, to not go into a supermarket for one month. Adams made what seemed to be a difficult transition into a challenge that both women were willing to accept. At first the women were worried about how they were going to go hungry in the coming month, but soon realized how pleasant shopping locally really is. After the month was over Judith and Julie both ranted about how much money they were saving weekly and how they now hated going to the supermarket (Bedford).
There are a number of other ways one could consume locally grown food. One could easily learn what foods are in season in the area and attempt to build their diet around them. There is an amazing interactive map on Epicurious.com that shows what types of produce that are fresh in one’s area (Food Miles Movement 1). One may also encourage your favorite restaurant to purchase locally grown foods. One could even host a harvest party in your community that features locally available and seasonal foods. What many have decided to do in the past, is planting a garden on their property and grow as much of their own food as possible. Everything I have just mentioned are all achievable, nonetheless the simplest act one could do is shop at a local farmers market. There is an economic need to support local farmers and an environmental need for countries to maintain some ability to feed their own populations. The proper knowledge of local food and food miles has given people power to choose what they consume. Sales of locally grown foods such as those sold through farmers markets are gaining huge momentum, paving the way for the reduction of food miles and the enjoyment of delicious, fresh food.
The shopping local movement can also be associated with the impact small businesses have on their community. Frank Knapp Jr., CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce stated “Shopping at a local boutique has three times the economic impact that shopping at corporate stores does” (Kutz). According to a small-business advocacy group The 3/50 Project, for every one-hundred dollars that consumers spend at locally owned businesses, sixty-eight of those dollars return to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenses. The increasing concern about local economies by consumers is also fueling the shopping local movement.
The current economic situation still has negative effects on mom-and-pop businesses, but holiday shoppers have begun to understand the value of shopping locally. The perks of holiday gift shopping at small businesses are being able to find something unique and having this sense of treasure hunting making the experience for the gift more special. For small businesses the holiday shopping season makes up about 20 to 30 percent of their annual sales (Kutz). So the holidays are a crucial time of the year for local stores to promote themselves and their community. Small businesses have chosen to focus on personal service and according to the NRF, customer service is growing in importance and is one of the “vital components in consumer’s decision making processes.” Three-quarters of the surveyed retailers said that customer service helps them stand apart from big-box retailers. “I keep track of what my customers like and don’t like, and I can suggest things based on those recommendations,” says Pamela Springer a local business owner (Kutz). The relationships developed between local businesses and consumers keeps them coming back.
The entire holiday shopping season is an important time for any type of business. Even with consumers making the conscious decision to support small businesses by shopping locally. Small retailers still have trouble competing with big-box stores big sales on Black Friday. To help local businesses Small Business Saturday was created by American Express in 2010, and since then it has only gotten bigger every year. Small Business Saturday is nestled in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and has racked up a whopping $14.3 billion in consumer spending at small businesses and is expected to continue to increase (Oliver). According to NFIB, Small Business Saturday is the important shopping day of the season for 36 percent of local retailers. Since Small Business Saturday has gone viral many local shop owners are happy to get some costumers on one the busiest shopping weekends of the year. However, just because of the growing publicity of Small Business Saturday, local business owners cannot sit back and wait for customers, they would still require some advertising to get people into their stores.
Local businesses may not be able to break through the mass advertising of big businesses, nevertheless, with the help of the shop local movements they may just be able to compete. However, it is up to us to continue to support small businesses for the sake of a better environment, quality products, and self-sustaining local economies. The deception of mass advertisements by big business can be limited. Our dependency on big business can also be broken, only if we continue our path to a more sustainable market where communities are able to feed themselves and no longer have the need for supermarkets. With the conscious decision of consumers to buy locally, no longer will small business be squashed by big business.
Work Cited
Bedford, Adam. "How I Converted My Mum Into A Local Shopper.” Farmers Weekly 146.17 (2007): 96. 8 Dec. 2015.
Blake, Megan K., Jody Mellor, and Lucy Crane. "Buying Local Food: Shopping Practices, Place, and Consumption Networks in Defining Food as “Local”." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 100.2 (2010): 409-426. 8 Dec. 2015.
Bryson, Bill. “The Hard Sell: Advertising in America.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 397-409. Print.
Kutz, Erin, Jayne O’donnell, and USA Today. "Why Holiday Shoppers Are Thinking Local." USA Today. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
"Food Miles Movement Fueled By Local Food." Environmental Nutrition 34.6 (2011): 3. 8 Dec. 2015.
James, Geoffrey. “Why Big Business Marketing Strategies Won’t Work for You.” Inc.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2015
Leighton, Walter Kille. “The Impact of Big-Box Retailers on Communities, Jobs, Crime, Wages and More: Research Roundup.” Journalistsresource.org. (2015) Web. 8 Dec. 2015
Luntz, Frank. “Be All That You Can Be: The Company Persona and Language Alignment.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Paul Eschholz. Alfred Rosa. Virginia Clark. Boston: Bedford St. Martin, 2013. 427-433. Print.
Oliver St., John. "Small Business Saturday a Hit." USA Today Nov. 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Tuttle, Brad. "Your Local Dinky Mom and Pop Liquor Shop Is In Major Trouble." Time.Com (2014) Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Dear Reader,
Upon the completion of my challenging English 101 course in spring 2015 came a monumental change on my perspective of the human race. So I decided to continue this perspective change by taking English 102. I knew the course would come with a heavy workload but the work was so thought-provoking that it out weighed my doubts. With the changes in perspective in English 101 laid the foundation to a change in my mentality in English 102. Throughout the English 102 course I learned so much about the negatives in the society I live in and the forces that drive them. Language is the first driving force, as it is the most powerful influential tool known to man.
The first assignment that really changed my way of thinking was the reading response to a paper written by William Lutz called “The World of Doublespeak” which was found in the class book “Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers.” Lutz described “doublespeak” as the act of making the wrong sound right and the bad seem good. He discussed how “doublespeak” has been used in a discomforting amount of government and media language. This paper made me realize the large quantities of deceit propagated by both government officials and corporations. I understand some of the reasoning of the government’s use of “doublespeak.” They’re attempts at “doublespeak” in some cases is an effort to avoid a panic of the public. While “doublespeak” done by corporations sole purpose is to deceive.
One of the first major assignments of this course was to write a value claim essay in which I would make an argument based on a value supported by a fact claim. I was instructed to base my argument in relation to the readings found in the “Politics, Propaganda, and Doublespeak” and “Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes” sections of the class book “Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers.” Throughout the course our focus continuously reverted back to the use of deceptive language by corporations in their advertisements. Because of the enormous amount of financial and influential power, that corporations have, the public is basically at their will and mercy.
I have always held a concern over the wellbeing of the environment ever since my second grade teacher Mrs. Green revealed to me how I made an impact on the earth no matter how small. Ever since then I have been a tree hugger. Along with all other issues that have been presented to me throughout my life, I have always held the environment above everything else. So as I was tasked to choose a topic for this this value claim essay all I could think about was human caused climate change. When I was exposed to the extent of influential power of corporations I was not very surprised when I discovered the negative effects these companies had on the environment and most importantly on the Earth’s water resources. I decided to conduct my research on the current water crisis and how corporations have been attempting to convince the public that the privatization of the world’s water systems is the solution. When in reality they are the main reason for the unavailability of drinking water to the poor and without water the poor had to endure to an increasing prejudice.
Finding the topic for my value claim was the simplest part of this assignment. The research parameters of this assignment were also easily met with the global water crisis being a major concern for scientists and journalists across the world. The research I conducted while writing this essay opened my eyes to the dangers of climate change that are upon us. I was glad to be able to write about these issues in hopes that I would make an impact on my readers. The part I had difficulty in was closely relating my topic to the readings found in the class book “Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers.” After submitting in my value claim essay I was absolutely horrified to see that my instructor was not satisfied with my essay because I did not relate it enough to the selected readings from the class book. Fortunately enough, my instructor allowed for me to rewrite my value claim and resubmit it with more elaboration on the themes from the selected readings from the class book.
Another reading response that had an impact on me was Barbra Kingslover’s paper “Called Home” wherein she discussed the food culture of America compared to those in other parts of the world. Before reading this paper, I was well aware of the bad eating habits of America but I had never considered how the absence of our very own food culture was to blame. Throughout history food cultures were created by the use of food naturally grown in the region. America’s food culture was not created by these same type of effects. Kingslover later discusses the recent movement of consumers buying local and organic and how this could improve our nation’s food culture.
Upon learning about the buying local movement I was completely enveloped by the idea of communities being able to sustain themselves. Around the same time of my fascination with the buying local I was also learning the parameters of the policy claim essay. With the objectives being similar to the value claim just with the addition of policy to help counteract the issues of our chosen topic. Of course with the main focus of the course being surrounded around corporations and advertisements I decided to also involve their influences. The topic I chose to discuss were the challenges that local business owners face competing against big business. While choosing this topic I was ecstatic to known that I would be able to closely relate to the selected reading sections of “Media and Advertising” and “What’s All the Fuss about Natural, Organic, Local Foods?” and not make the same mistake I did with the value claim essay. While performing the research parameters for this essay I was so glad to learn about the “food miles” movement gaining traction in America. This movement started with consumers giving thought on the number of miles their food traveled from the farm where it was grown to the table where it is consumed. With the limiting of food miles it will not only limit carbon emissions from transported food but also support local farmers and business owners.
This course has continued to change my perspective of the world and has even evolved the way I think about our present issues. Everything I have written this semester in English 102 has been surrounding the idea of a more sustainable future. This class has given me more insight into the possibilities of attaining a sustainable future and I dearly hope my readings will do the same for you too.
Sincerely,
Samuel Rodriguez