[tinwhiskers] Very Bad Dream

From: "Gordon Davy" <gordondavy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 11:32:05 -0400
Bob Landman asks, "How in Heaven's name did we ever get to this horrible 
situation?  It appears to be a very bad dream that we shall never awake 
from...." How can we hope to awake from this very bad dream if we don't know 
how we got into it? Here's my analysis; I invite others to comment. 

We got into this situation because (1) environmental activists, needing a cause 
so they could solicit contributions to maintain their cash flow, decided to 
target the electronics industry, and (2) upon learning that they had been 
targeted the leaders of the electronics industry, due to failure to recognize 
where it would lead or fear of retribution, did not oppose the activists' 
efforts with vigor. 

The most successful environmental activist groups are the ones not with the 
best environmental scientists but with the best public relations officers and 
lobbyists (propagandists). The most successful electronics manufacturers are 
the ones not with the best environmental scientists or public relations 
officers and lobbyists, but with the best products and product marketing. 

So even though the struggle may be portrayed as David vs. Goliath, recall that 
David won because he was better prepared for that battle. (If you are 
unfamiliar with the story, you can read it in 1 Samuel 17. Goliath, while 
contemptuous of David because he was so much smaller and didn't even have 
conventional weapons, never saw what hit him.)

How can we expect things not to keep getting worse? The activists still need 
contributions flowing in, so they will keep inventing crises in their 
"struggle" to, as one of them put it, "rid the biosphere of toxic materials." 
And so far, perhaps because from their perspective the pain is not intolerable 
and is shared by all, the captains of the electronics industry remain 
inattentive or fearful.

While those of us who have to deal with the bad dream may find it satisfying to 
blame the politicians, the reality is that the politicians are acting in 
accordance with what they have to work with: lies and pressure from the 
activists and silence from the activists' target. I don't think that, even 
though we have the truth on our side, we technical weenies will be able to 
reverse the trend by seeking legislative relief without eliciting an effective 
and collective response from industry leadership.

I will leave it to others to offer suggestions about how we might do that. 
Corporate leaders deal daily with all kinds of demands for their attention. 
Those reporting to them are gatekeepers, screening out all but the most 
pressing issues. And before we are too critical of the leaders' fear of 
retribution from the activists, we might consider how brave we are willing to 
be and how effective we might be in confronting them - the people who pay our 
salaries.



Gordon Davy
Baltimore
[tinwhiskers] Very Bad Dream

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