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No big deal ... but I guess I'll help you get to the bottom by asking a question:
As ignorant as I sound, I'm not *exactly* sure what you mean by publicity stunt. So I was unclear if you thought it was stupid, or if you thought it was a neat idea that Chicago (and others) were going to do this?
I know I'm jumping in here, but nonetheless..
Politicians in 20 cities (including Chicago) want to engender goodwill amongst voters by appearing to do something about a perceived problem, but without actually doing anything.
An environmental activist in one of these cities might increase support for the city government in general or a particular politician who supported it because it sends the message that they really care about the environment. From the politician's view this potential increase in support comes at no cost - they haven't had to allocate any resources or take any controversial stands, they only have to turn the lights off for an hour. As suggested in other posts, even if you're not on the environmental bandwagon, you probably support the idea of awareness of how much gov't spends on things and potentially finding more efficient ways to spend.
In other words, the event actually has no practical purpose (as in most events where "raising awareness" is cited as a purpose), but has the potential to gain some goodwill for politicians at little cost - hence, publicity stunt.
So the event may be stupid, but that does not mean it has no purpose.
JC - exactly. I'm not saying that the event is a fabulous idea or that I am 100% behind it, in fact, I think it is a bit of a hollow effort. That being said, the problem that this event is attempting raise awareness of is a real one (that of how cities waste energy). And my confusion was that people didn't seem to understand the reasoning behind the event (regardless of how they felt about it).
I can think and even or a publicity stunt is a stupid idea or a fruitless act even if I fully understand why it is being taken on (or even support the underlying reason it is being taken on).
JC - exactly. I'm not saying that the event is a fabulous idea or that I am 100% behind it, in fact, I think it is a bit of a hollow effort. That being said, the problem that this event is attempting raise awareness of is a real one (that of how cities waste energy). And my confusion was that people didn't seem to understand the reasoning behind the event (regardless of how they felt about it).
I can think and even or a publicity stunt is a stupid idea or a fruitless act even if I fully understand why it is being taken on (or even support the underlying reason it is being taken on).
Yeah, people are pretty dumb. It's soooo easy to understand. That's why I question if this is best forum as it doesn't attract the brightest bunch...I'm with you J33...
Yeah, people are pretty dumb. It's soooo easy to understand. That's why I question if this is best forum as it doesn't attract the brightest bunch...I'm with you J33...
I agree with this entirely. A lot of chaff to wade through here in the General U.S. forum. Moderator cut: links to competing sites not permitted
Last edited by tahiti; 02-19-2008 at 12:57 PM..
Reason: links to competing sites not permitted
Good God people, don't you guys understand the meaning 'publicity stunt' or are you all being intentionally obtuse ... and like I said before, even if you freakin' hate the environment and don't care at all about energy preservation and think we should just exploit the hell out of everything, it is something as a tax payer, that it would make sense to draw attention to, unless you really hate the environment and like paying unnecessary taxes too.
I seriously sometimes wonder about the people who post here.
I agree, this kinda "movement" stuff is done all over the world all the time.
It's just something random to bring a hot issue to light for an hour and hopefully have people take something away from it.
It's too bad that the politically correct dunderhead politicians of Chicago don't have the brains nor the cajones to advocate a politically incorrect policy that might have a real impact--advocating a national effort to reduce the nation's population or to at least slow the rate of the population explosion.
Sadly, for various reasons (perhaps related to a large donation with strings attached that the Sierra Club received) environmental groups like to stick their heads in the sand and don't want to acknowledge the existence of the population issue.
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... but I guess I'll help you get to the bottom by asking a question:
