News comes flying in that Neil Young (and the latest version of Crazy Horse) will be playing New Orleans jazz festival this year. This news is met with consternation from some environmentally-friendly fans. 

Why? Because the oil company Shell will be sponsoring the event. 

Their question: 

Does environmentalist Neil really want to be involved in effectively using his music to promote the oil industry?

My thoughts: 

The problem here is that once we enter the world of commerce—or the big wide world at all—it’s very hard to do anything that is squeaky clean. 

One of many reason for this is that corporations with extreme amounts of money are good at getting their hooks into everything they touch. 

This results in all sorts of mad situations that only make sense seen through a cynical lens:

For example, a fast food burger company like McDonald’s sponsoring the Olympics (essentially branding themselves as “healthy”; establishing innocence by positive association. Clever!). 

Similarly, Shell sponsor British Cycling. (A bit of a weird pairing, on the face of it!).

And as touched on in my previous blogs: factory farm corporation Tyson Foods invested in family farm activist group Farm Aid back in the 80s (“hey, we’re not really the bad guys. And now we’ve bankrolled you, are you really going to attack us that hard?”).

See how this stuff works?

In the midst of this bullsh!t, guerrilla-style activists (e.g. the actually effective ones) and regular folks alike have to find a productive way forward in a chaotic, very imperfect world.

Which raises the key issue here:

The world is wildly imperfect. That means our interactions with it are going to be imperfect, too. 

Sure, the athlete who objects to McDonalds sponsoring the Olympics can pull out of the event altogether. That sounds like a great way to begin a career as an activist, or a charity fundraiser… but it probably also signals the end of her mainstream career as an internationally recognised athlete.

Compromise, compromise, compromise. Chaos, chaos, chaos. 

So what do we do? How do we move on? How do we nip the compromise in the bud? How do we make a difference and make a living, too?

I think the only sure answer we can give to that question is an imperfect one. One where there probably won’t be a sure way forward, won’t be a way that’s entirely ethically pure. But if we can do more good than harm, then that itself is a great definition of success. 

I’ve used this example before, but I’ve not eaten meat for many years. (For animal welfare and environmental reasons — though I think my health has improved, too.) 

But I have eaten some dairy products. I’ve eaten candy with gelatine in, without losing too much sleep over it. I have leather shoes that I haven’t given to the charity shop/thrift store.

In some people’s eyes, this makes me a hypocrite. If so, though, it also makes me a productive hypocrite. Because I’ve still done more good than the corporate shark who spends every day overseeing a business where chickens are mercilessly crammed into tiny cages. 

And how about the guy down the corridor from him, who authorises the order to pump the toxic waste into the river without even a moment of compunction?

He’s not a hypocrite. 

But maybe, for all our sakes, he should be.  

Back to New Orleans, back to Shell. We know Neil’s views on this. He might pull out. Or he might decide not to perform unless the stage is cleared of advertising for his own set, ala Hyde Park 2019. 

Or he might decide this is actually one of those “real world” moments where there is no perfect solution. And the show must go on. 

Some of those who accuse him of hypocrisy will be idealist friends. Others will be enemies who hope to use the imperfection of the situation as a means to silence him. 

Others still will not resort to name calling, but instead try and see some nuance in the situation — which is what I’ve made a stab at doing in the previous 20+ paragraphs.

By the way, I’ve attached the YouTube link to Green is Blue from Colorado. 

I fall more in love with this album every time I hear it:

It’s the most rock ‘n’ roll of the recent Crazy Horse trilogy. It’s also the most subtle, the most dark, the most dream-like, the most palpably angry, the most beautiful and the most influenced by the late David Briggs.

But listen to the words of Green is Blue. Tranquility and horror, side by side. 

A timely reminder that now, more than ever, we need more imperfect “hypocrites”, and fewer perfect corporate assholes.

-Scotsman.