Caption: Expand Your Mind on a Minute (or so) a Day!, Credit: Janet Hayes
Image by: Janet Hayes 
Expand Your Mind on a Minute (or so) a Day! 

An Inconvenient Tooth

Series: Your Philosophy Minute with Prof. Andrew Pessin
From: Andrew Pessin
Length: 00:02:01

You are a terrible person for going to the movies. Read the full description.
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Piece Description

Think about the 15 dollars you spend whenever you go to the movies.  Then think about those wide-eyed, hungry children you see on those late night commercials, staring at you while you're reminded that just pennies a day could keep that very child from starving to death.  You are moved, you resolve to do something -- and then you are chuckling over Joey's latest antics on the Friends rerun you are seeing for the eleventh time.  Can you really justify satisfying your popcorn tooth at the movies while these children are starving?

Transcript

There’s something about movie popcorn. My sweet tooth I can satisfy anywhere, but only movies can satisfy my popcorn tooth. I also firmly believe that you should try to do some good in this world.

And that is the problem.

Think about the roughly 15 dollars you spend whenever you go to the movies. You’ve seen the commercials: wide-eyed, hungry children staring at you while you’re reminded that just pennies a day could keep that that very child from starving to death. You are moved, you resolve -- and then you are chuckling over the Friends rerun you are seeing for the eleventh time.

You are spending 15 dollars munching popcorn while children are literally dying.

It’s easy to rationalize your behavior. “What could my $15 do against the all the world’s problems?” Answer: It could save a child’s life. “Hey I do plenty of good already. Can’t I just go to the movies?” Answe...
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Additional Credits

Music by Arthur Kreiger