Promotion

Vince, Famous TV Promoter

The collision of IT technology, production technology and overpopulation has produced a culture of self-promotion. Shouting "Look at me!" has become a standard practice for pawnbrokers, plumbers and professors. Marginally interesting Linkedin connections pour into email boxes. Facebook befriending is an extension of business networking. The lines between commerce and relationships are blurred everywhere.

Years ago there were a number of ways a restaurant became popular. One way was through promotion. There was a popular, mediocre Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, MA for years that was promoted with the name of its owner, a woman with a TV cooking show. In the same city, there was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that did no media advertising and became just as popular due to the high quality of its food, its charming proprietors and its low prices. 

Promotion today in a virtually driven world of information can be very hollow. What looks great on a Facebook site or standard Web site often disappoints in three dimensions. Self-made stars are often black holes in reality. Some non-profits which promote themselves as self-sacrificing saviors of the down-trodden are actually money machines for high-paid administrators, who never have any contact with the poor. 

Promotion, unsupported by worth, is fraud. This is not a popular notion in these times of entrepreneurial enthusiasm. The cries of "Get government out of business!" sound to me like an imagined P.T. Barnum saying "Get government out of the circus!" Business has become so much illusion piled on top of both good and horrible products. Just believing in the promotions is a good way to get ripped off, as many have been over the centuries by organized religions. 

This blog is not about promotion. As you can see, there is no advertising on this blog. That is intentional. I have no interest in selling humanism or humanist practice. If I did, I would be a huckster or a fool. Humanism is discovered, nurtured and practiced by individuals with their own minds and by their own actions. That is the beauty which is immediately evident in the true humanist. All the trappings of humanist organizations, humanist logos and humanist products are promotion, albeit for a potentially good purpose. In most cases, those who participate in these promotions are truly practicing humanists. However, some may be content to be promoters on their way to a career of promotion. The simple promotion of humanism, in other words, is not in itself humanist practice.