Downright Dishonest

August 25, 2022 By Andrea Downey-Lauenburg

I do accept that turning to renewable energy is important. Living a more” sustainable” life is fine. I also acknowledge that the society has to find a way to be more “inclusive”. But the mushrooming overuse of these adjectives is ridiculous, annoying and sometimes downright dishonest.

Once the general public gets annoyed by finding “sustainable” and “inclusive” in almost every news article and – worse – in every advertisement, people start to shut down. The silent majority doesn’t like their language to be hijacked by business or political interests.

It happens to me already. When I want to buy something – anything – and the prospect or the advertisement contains one of these almost religiously repeated words, I turn to another product. I just can’t bear it anymore. Don’t they realize that we are in the overkill zone already? All of a sudden there are pans that are “100% sustainable” (they are made of 51 cans and the coating is only a little toxic), cars are “produced using renewable energy” (they found a provider who has a little green energy in the mix) and the workers of a software company enjoy an “inclusive environment” (because there is a gay guy on their payrole). WTF?

It’s dishonest. It’s annoying. It’s ridiculous.

I know I can’t stop the overkill. But I can try to buy somewhere else.

But there is one question left to ask those who talk loudest about sustainability and inclusiveness: How does the weapons they send to a warzone – paid with our money – fit in their big scheme of humanity? Are the tanks, grenades and rockets sustainable and inclusive too?