Trash Talk

We consume too much in this country while recycling too little. It is one reason why we only constitute 5% of the world's population, but consume 24% of the world's energy. The average American creates 1,600 pounds of trash each year. I decided to reduce my carbon footprint by stop buying so much; recycling or repurposing what I have, or obtaining what I want free from either Craigslist www.craigslist.org/ or Freecycle www.freecycle.org/ But I was unable to accomplish that modest objective because site administrators, owners, moderators and, more importantly members on these two websites erroneously believe a member offering a free item has the right to pick and choose who to give it to. It is not true, though, under the ancient premise of "first dibs," which states "there are a number of occasions where the first person to claim ownership or interest in something actually gets it. Such is the case with the term “first dibs,” or in some cases simply “dibs.” Calling first dibs or being offered first dibs by someone else generally leads to the same conclusion - one person has acquired the right of first refusal. A person with first dibs may choose the most desirable of several options, or even elect to pass on the situation altogether. What matters most with first dibs is the exclusive ability to accept or deny ownership rights without competition." In the matter at hand, Freecycle members believe - and the group implicitly shares the sentiment, which has now become reinforced as a direct consequence - that because they are "offering" an item free, that ostensible generosity enables them to rudely ignore members expressing interest in the item, respond vaguely, or coyly frustrate the recycling process. In one example, a member "offered" a 61" Big Screen television on Saturday, July 14, 2012. I immediately responded although I never saw this "offer" until yesterday. She did not respond until relatively late yesterday evening around 8:30 PM informing me it was still available "as of now," although I specifically asked her to call me so I could obtain details and, of course, allay any anxiety she may have had about inviting a stranger into her living space. I wrote back immediately respectfully asking when I could pick it up. Her vague response sent very late at 11:30 PM with not one shred of contact information was "sometime today or Wednesday." If a member is not going to respond in a timely fashion (2 - 4 hours) with the information needed to obtain an "offered" item, after exchanging emails with no conflicts for whatever reason, they need to either delete the post or be barred from posting, period. Simply put, the follow up response was unnecessarily 'vague'. What is "sometime today or Wednesday...?” Now I do empathize with the need to protect one’s person and, concomitantly, property. Since I was neither "rude" nor "creepy,” and included my telephone number so she could actually speak with me but neglected to get a better sense of who was "coming to [her] house," I do not believe her tardy responses were merited. Simply because Freecycle [redacted] has been doing something for 3 years and has 3,000 members is not very persuasive to me as a social scientist because it is not statistically significant. And, more importantly, a single moderator’s experiences with those members (a very small percentage I would guess) would be anecdotal at best, biographical at worst. Slavery existed for 400 hundred years in this country and hundreds of thousands of people agreed with it before it was grudgingly abolished. So, ignoring an ancient rule of exchange does not make it right. But we are not a literate community any longer; people simply may not know actual rules (governing conduct) exist when offering property; a model that has served commerce well for thousands of years. This "its-mine-and-I-do-what-I-want-with-it” mentality is unique to American culture, which has always been individualistic as opposed to collectivistic. President Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act known derisively as “Obamacare” immediately comes to mind here. The issue also illustrates an even broader culture war in this country where a statistically significant segment of Americans across the political spectrum are hell bent on sacrificing “tradition” altogether on the altar of political correctness. It portents a very slippery slope that has given way to the moral relativism we as a society have rushed to embrace in order to justify virtually whatever criminal, immoral, unethical and, in some cases, unnatural conduct with which we wish engage without fear of prohibition, reprehension, or inhibition... selfishness or self-centeredness masquerading as excusable rudeness included. Is it any wonder civility has left the building in our nation’s capital… or, more importantly, why I do not have my 61” Big Screen to watch the Miami Heat www.nba.com/heat wreak havoc in the post-post season…?