Apologies if I've misread you Persephone, but what you've said sounds like a cop-out to me. There's no such thing as a "partial gesture". Or, more to the point, there's no such thing as a "complete gesture". The very fact that we're stuck living within a capitalist system dictates that since we can't get outside it (and if you're honest, would you really want to?), we should act to reduce harm where we can, rather than the opposite which you seem to suggest. It's not all or nothing. Everything you do has implications, and these implications, while they cannot be controlled by you, can at least be directed as far as possible to reduce harm.
At the very least, being vegetarian is not killing x number of animals a year, just as investing in a company listed in the "ethical" prospectus means not being involved in x number of unethical things. The fact that you still have your savings in a bank which invests in unethical things, or the fact that there are Stagecoach buses full of meat-eating unethical investors does not mean that it is worthless to reduce harm wherever you can. I contribute lots of harm with my actions, but I also do the odd good thing, and my lack of perfection does not nullify my good actions.
Again, it's not an either/or situation. There's only a danger of this kind of thing being a sop if you pat yourself on the back for the good you've done and then go back to your day job of microwaving babies. It doesn't matter whether these so-called "ethical" investments are the most wonderfully Right On ideas in the world. An improvement is still worth making, even if it cannot reach an illusory totality. The fact that, for example, the women's movement has not achieved 100% success does not negate the many successes it has enjoyed.
While I don't expect the world (or myself - I'm certainly no knight in shining share portfolio) to turn ethical overnight, if there are easy ways to identify certain business practices (surely there must be some specific info on which activities are allowed and which aren't?) of certain companies and tick a box on your investment portfolio thingy which sends your money to approved companies, then surely that's a tiny little bit of improvement in the world. Just like buying shampoo with a cruelty free logo. You don't need to wait until you have a guarantee that everyone on your block is going to commit to buying that shampoo at the same time you do. All gestures are partial, as all aspects of life are partial. In my view that affirms rather than negates the value of small ethical actions. |
