Minutes for the 158th meeting of the Freethought Association
of West Michigan
for March 24, 2004.
Remember that
our meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each
month, which is not always on an every other week schedule. Therefore
our next meeting will be on April 14. The topic for that meeting
is “The Problem of Circumcision” to be hosted by Norm
Cohen, Director of NOCIRC of Michigan.
Our Annual
Board Meeting will be on May 2 from 9AM-1PM at Jeff Seaver's house.
Our next three
Freethought Movie Nights will be on April 11, April 25 and May
9, at 7PM, hosted by Jason Pittman. For more information call
616-634-2471 or e-mail jpittman@backpacker.com.
July 10 is
the date of our Freethought Picnic for this year. It will be at
Johnson Park (near Wilson and 28th St.) from noon to 5PM. Coordinated
by C.A. LaRue (this Secretary for these minutes).
August 15-21
is the week of Camp Quest of Michigan, 2004. Camp Quest is a non-religious
youth camp program. For information, visit: http://michigan.camp-quest.com/.
October 30
is the date this year for our group's Hallowe'en Party to be hosted
by Jeff and Cathy Seaver, starting at 6PM.
We have many
very interesting topics coming up for the year. Visit our newly
updated and improved website: www.freethoughtassociation.com <http://www.freethoughtassociation.com/>
for more information on these and other items of interest to the
freethought community.
Our topic
for this meeting was “Why Traditional Values May Not Be
Beneficial to the West Michigan Economy” presented by Ben
Rudolph, Professor of Marketing at GVSU's Seidman School of Business.
Bennett Rudolph is an expert on marketing strategy and management,
and is the past president of the West Michigan Chapter of the
American Marketing Association. He was introduced by FAoWM member
and friend of Rudolph's, Bill Van Oosterhout, who was instrumental
in getting him to speak to our group. Van Oosterhout called attention
to the Seidman business school as an example of something that
began small but grew into something good and robust. He referred
to Professor Rudolph as a “...sensitive, aware, outspoken
but kind...” man whose views do not always get a hearty
endorsement from some factions, including the CRC. He went on
to talk about Rudolph's other accomplishments and involvements,
including but not limited to his monthly column in Michigan Business
magazine, his research in market management and strategy, and
his earning of the Teacher of the Year award in Marketing.
Professor
Rudolph began by saying that many of the things he had to say
were less likely to strike a negative chord with our group than
with the typical West Michigan groups he speaks before, and that
he respects our association and what we do. In a recent talk before
the Grand Haven Jaycees, for example, he was asked if they were
supposed to give up their ethics and values in order to do business.
While the thrust of his presentation to us was in regards to making
our part of Michigan more attractive to businesses by adopting
a different attitude, he maintained that such a change in business
practices here would not only benefit business and the local economy
but also be the moral, ethical and “right” thing to
do.
He talked
about how this area is seen as a wholesome Conservative, Republican,
Christian one with a docile labor force that won't make trouble
or ask for raises, and therefore we are prosperous and attractive
to others for doing business here. We are actually average in
prosperity within the state and below the average nationally.
Inc. Magazine reported Grand Rapids as the second worst city in
which to do business.
Professor
Rudolph laid out five main challenges to economic growth that
we face that are directly related to our traditional values mindset.
The first he mentioned was the push in teaching creationism in
our schools. Our country in general is amusing to other industrialized
nations for our childlike love for things that are unscientific
and our Third World religiosity in an otherwise First World country.
But even within the US, areas where the creationism/ evolution
debate is most heated and where concessions are made to the Bible-
based creationists (to the detriment of acceptable science education)
become a national laughing stock.
People want
to do business in a progressive environment where intellectual
freedom flourishes. They want to know that education in the area
is strong and unimpeded by stifling parochial agendas. In particular,
Rudolph predicts that the bio-tech industry is one that will see
good, ongoing growth and economic success. A city that not only
has no major research universities but also denigrates the foundational
understanding of all medicine and biological sciences is seen
as an impoverished one for this area of research. He compared
the anti-evolutionary thinking here with that of declaring that
wee gremlins run up and down copper wire to produce electricity.
Imagine how hard a sell that would be, if the mindset in a region
held to this view, and they were vying for a big electrical company's
business. Those businesses involved in cutting edge bio-related
research assume the basics—including a sound grounding in
biological evolution and scientific methodology for generating
empirical data—and simply cannot be bothered with wasting
time setting up shop where ignorance in these basics is prevalent.
He also mentioned, in this light, the endemic resistance to stem
cell research and other viable medical and scientific pursuits
to be found in West Michigan.
The second
concern associated with our traditional values is the belief that
family members make the best business associates. This can indeed
be the case in some instances, but most often is counterproductive.
The process of selecting people for particular jobs begins with
a poor premise, that of subjective nepotism rather than an objective
search from a broader base for the best qualified applicant. It
also short circuits the practice of being rewarded for proven
loyalty, diligence and by working hard to make it through the
ranks and rising by dint of effort to higher level positions.
The poor, unrelated slob, starting out in the lower rung of a
company may languish there, while a family member of an executive
is speedily promoted. It has been noted that most businesses that
remain exclusively family run, disintegrate within two to three
generations. He remarked on how, when you go to other cities,
you see so many more people from diverse cultures and backgrounds
holding important jobs. Here, the power structure is more exclusive
and with a more uniform ethnicity, etc. predominating.
The third
factor on Professor Rudolph's list was that we got national attention
here for public book burnings in church lots. The popular J.K.
Rowling books about a young English lad named Harry Potter, who
discovers that he is a wizard were among those cast into the fire
so that young people who might read them will not be destined
to the same fate for all eternity. Our speaker noted with amusement
that not only were books promoting imagination burned but even
religious literature saw a fiery doom, if they contained writings
on the “wrong” religion. This included not only non-Christian
books but even works on Catholicism!
Bennett Rudolph
wondered how this this would cause us to be viewed to prospective
companies who might have once thought of relocating here. What,
he asked, was our intended target audience? Alabama? Mississippi?
The angry, ignorant, intolerant mob carrying torches to set ablaze
anything controversial, is not an attractive image for enticing
more sophisticated people, companies and institutions to our area.
Fourth on
his list was how we tend to make gays and lesbians feel unwelcome,
to put it euphemistically. When you exclude a segment of a community,
you squelch the energy, creativity and any other potential for
a positive impact on the local economy from those who are relegated
to second class citizenry. Besides practices and an atmosphere
that negates the success of the group being discriminated against,
there is a probably sapping of the person's full actualization
in a business if s/he feels pressured to keep a lower profile.
Quoting Richard
Florida, Rudolph said that people have discretion where they want
to move to, or set up companies. In some places in the world,
people are more tied to roots by staying close to families but
in the US, generally, there is more emphasis on moving for work-related
reasons. But people want to like where they live as well as where
they work. Many people from outside our somewhat insular part
of Michigan want to live in a more exciting and diverse area.
Places where any group is submerged and attacked are simply not
desirable in attracting new businesses and individuals who could
be good resources for our economic vitality.
The fifth
issue ties into the last one, as it deals with other issues of
diversity besides sexual orientation. When a wider population
is embraced, it gives more people hope for a chance to make a
better life for themselves and their families. In this vein, Professor
Rudolph spoke of the antagonism here regarding Affirmative Action.
He also spoke of the economic elite; a club that is hard to break
into, and gain a foothold in, in this area and the support for
policies that drain public schools, infringe on rights and give
special favor to groups that are more homogeneous in their religion,
ethnicity, political party affiliation, views on social issues,
etc.
While it has
gotten better here over recent years, it used to be, and Rudolph
asserts still is to too large an extent for our city's size, a
problem in finding a good variety in dining experiences here.
He called us a real “steak and potato” town. The sameness,
blandness and predictability is all part of a resistance to change
that is ingrained in West Michigan. People feel threatened by
differences and exploring other ways of doing things. Not only
does this hurt our chances for outside influences having a positive
impact on our city but it leads to stagnation from within as well.
As the world moves ahead, the practices of same-ol'-same-ol' retard
the stimulation of growth and innovation.
We discussed
the paucity of variety in the arts and entertainment category
here. This too makes us a less attractive place to settle into
and makes our entertainment venues serve as a conduit for tepid,
comforting, non-controversial fare. Films, art, ideas of any kind
that spark debate are anathema. The threshold for what is seen
as controversial, or as not receiving the family values stamp
of approval, is set quite low, insulating the population from
fresh thoughts and bold avenues for expression. He mentioned how
even in countries with far longer histories than ours, when the
older (more classical) forms of entertainment were more popular,
there were also newer forms that found fertile ground in which
to grow and compete. This Secretary thought of the movie “Pleasantville”
when listening to Professor Rudolph's remarks.
Ben Rudolph
turned to another challenge that we face here that is not so directly
linked to the first part of his talk. That being, that our state
has been too dependent on manufacturing at a time when the manufacturing
sector has been taken to the cleaners. Nationally, the hit from
job loss in manufacturing is about 9%, whereas in Michigan it
is 35%! He does not see a return to a time where job growth can
come about in this sector, since manufacturing more and more becomes
mechanized. In such an environment, productivity can actually
maintain or even grow while labor goes down. He said that we're
operating as if we are still in the '50's and were simply not
well prepared to weather the economic changes well.
He sees us
as too phobic when it comes to trade, giving many examples of
how international trade has forced companies to not arbitrarily
raise prices on their products without also improving quality.
Meeting demands in foreign markets has made change inevitable,
overhauling some industries, and Rudolph would argue, for the
better. He said that when things were properly factored, that
only 1% of job loss was due to trade. He believes that people
have to be retrained for transitioning into the new workforce
while ethically we must also help those who are suddenly shut
out of it. Job creation generally comes on the wake of job losses
and this makes for a dynamic economy which is ultimately positive.
He said we must realize that the economy cycles; downturns and
upturns, some that can be prepared for better and capitalized
on, while others-- the burst bubble of the dot coms being a good
example, create a more harsh shock to recover from. Taking a longer
view of the economy helps put things in perspective, and Rudolph
gave examples of this as well.
He regarded
China as a driving force in the global economy but with a weak
banking system. If sudden, drastic changes are made in trade,
their system could be destroyed which would in turn affect our
economy negatively. Free trade has to be balanced with fair trade.
Rudolph touched upon the extreme disparities now seen between
executive pay and worker earnings-- a 400 to 1 ratio currently!
And he asserted his opposition to the current administration's
tax cut policies and the damage he sees this wreaking on our national
economy. Some areas where he believes there will be more robust
job growth will be in the aforementioned bio-tech industry, healthcare
field and in military research and development for technology
and weapon systems. He talked about how, as some sectors fade
while others grow, money that can no longer be spent in the etiolated
avenues is then available to push the economy down the newer paths.
We had discussion
regarding “socialized” medicine, how the drug pricing
is spurring more Americans to get their medications from Canada,
and how there are both horrific and wonderful examples to be found
globally in socialized systems for medicine. He spoke of the awesome
level of American medicine and medical technology but that access
to it is unconscionably too limited to the privileged few. We
are a rich country, he noted, but our distribution of wealth is
poor. Globally, there is an ever widening gap between the richer
and the “developing countries” just as there is between
the most wealthy and the poor in the US.
Looking locally
again, we discussed our major “givers” but noted that
their philanthropy comes with a price. Not only are they providing
merely the “icing on the cake” for places developed
in our city, where the taxpayer picks up the freight, but they,
who lend their name to the places, also have more clout in setting
the agenda of how they will be used. They get, in effect, more
ownership of the city and can place their offspring on controlling
boards, etc.
We talked
about how hard it is to pay off student loans and the very real
concerns about gaining good paying jobs post-college to begin
paying them off. Rudolph mentioned that in some countries the
value of education is better appreciated and supported. People
are actually paid to be students, as this is seen as a good investment
in the future prosperity of the country.
Privatization
came up in discussion. The idea that businesses, conscious of
“the bottom line” will strive to make services that
were government run more efficient is valid in many cases but
Rudolph cautioned that when the attention is focused only on profit
rather than the actual services, safety, and other important issues,
then it can be highly problematic. Corporate tax loopholes need
to be closed too, he maintained.
The lesson
to be learned seemed to be that we are all in this together, globally,
and cannot kick one country down without hurting ourselves in
the long run. Similarly, our own West Michigan insularity, xenophobia
and resistance to change can only lead to our detriment.
Secretary:
Charles LaRue
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