I recently had a chance to catch up with a friend from the east coast, J.T. Liss who is working on Photography For Social Change, a project I recommend you check out:
In his words:
If a new thought can enter the mind, even for a brief moment, then change has a chance. Photography for social change was created out of a need to do something bigger than photography. Using photography and turning it into advocacy, helping others in need, and allowing art to spread positivity.
25% of all photos sold will be going to unique nonprofit organizations that are striving to help others in need. Organizations that have teamed up with Photography for social change are Hear The Hungry (NYC), Hug It Forward (CA), and Saint Joseph Music Program (NYC). More TBA.
Our beliefs become our thoughts.
Our thoughts become our words.
Our words become our actions.
Our actions become our habits.
Our habits become our values.
Our values become our destiny.
-Mahatma Gandhi
But where do we get our beliefs? We develop them from the words and actions of the people around, the books we read, the movies we watch, the music we listen to and the games we play and the feelings those things cause within us. More simply put our beliefs are a combination of the world around us and our genetics. Who we are, where we are and what happens there.
And where do other people get their beliefs? They come from the words and actions of the people around them. When you speak, when you write, when you create a work of art you are affecting the thoughts and beliefs of the people around you, the people who hear you, read you or see your art. You are affecting our destiny. Therefore, it is our belief that writers and artists have a responsibility to the people they influence with their creation. Since art and writing has great power to influence, artists and writers have great responsibility. We choose to use our responsibility as writers to do our best to influence people around us to be healthier, more peaceful and to act in a more environmentally friendly manor. While we are not encouraging censorship of any type of expression we are trying to inspire others to use their favorite form of expression for positive change and to help promote those who do.
- Will
Hidden deep within the Mendocino Woodlands miles beyond the reach of Dr. Asphalt’s tentacles lies a top secret facility shielded from the watchful eyes of AT&T and Verizon. It is in this secluded campsite where the great California redwoods stand guard over the formation of a new league of superheroes for a new generation of challenges.
It is here that on June 17th, one hundred brave recruits began their training, gaining the skills, the support, and the inspiration to make their mark on the world. Some of these weekend warriors had been working on their “cover” for decades. They were well established consultants, engineers, and designers. Many worked for nonprofits and others for Fortune 500 companies. But they all worked for Mother Earth.
It is here that our heroes learned to be creative, to communicate through visual recording and charades, to dance like no one is watching, and to trust themselves as much as well as others. They accomplished amazing feats of cooking (and eating). They honed their skills with fire staffs and poi, practiced ninja sustainability while slacklining between trees, and tossed biodegradable organic grenades safely across remarkable distances.
The term “killer robot” was likely coined approximately 3 seconds after the first usage of the word “robot.” The concept of mankind’s creations turning into our own demise is a story as old as time, and one that has had a rather successful history in science fiction. So many of us have enjoyed watching humanity’s fight with the Terminator robots, Battlestar Galactica’s escape from the Cylons, and Neo’s slow motion kung-fu against the Matrix’s agents, but most of us have missed one thing: the underlying theme here is not that far from our own reality.
I don’t mean that there is literally a humanoid robot waiting outside your door waiting to enslave you. But that’s largely because we haven’t focused all our technological efforts on making metal things that look like either humans or very large bugs. Yet we have created entities that have their own autonomy, their own simple programming, and are growing more powerful every day, so powerful, that mere humans bow before their will. Yes, we have created corporations.
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I remember first hearing the term “media consumption” long ago and thinking, “what an odd phrase.” But now, many years later, it has proven to be EXACTLY the right phrase. I don’t consider myself to be part of the generation of massively multitasking youth, the generation that, according to some Stanford studies, can only do homework while consuming some other form of media (mostly TV and IM). No, I’m old school. And yet, I also constantly turn on my phone to check email that doesn’t need checking, watch way too much TV and HUNGER for youtube videos regardless of topic or relevance. I just want to snack.
So what does this mean for writing? Like food, writing has always existed. But back in the day, literacy was rare, and the ability to publish even more rare. As such, there was a relatively high bar to get published, and really, people read the same 10 books for hundreds of years (reference: this is a blog, so no data, just a point to be made). Likewise, in the food industry, each meal was made by hand, and if not delicious, at least it wasn’t made primarily from ingredients that you couldn’t pronounce.
Then enter the food industry. As Food Inc, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and countless other books and movies will tell you, Food underwent a tremendous transformation. Essentially, we learned to SCALE food, enabling food to become ridiculously cheap. And lo and behold, we began to consume all this cheap, delicious food, not because we needed the calories, but because we hungered for that spark of stimulation. Consumption took on a whole new meaning as we consumed. And like it or not, processed foods have become the true winners in this new form of consumption because it embraced SCALE.
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The recent devastation in Japan is horrible. And yet it’s a boon for the news industry. CNN and other news sites are swamped by visitors clicking on the most updated statistics and by the millions of viewers who sit transfixed, watching videos of the ocean’s seemingly slow but unstoppable march through towns and fields and the panicking supermarket workers who quickly move from trying to hold up the shaking shelves to just running for cover. The whole thing looks like a movie, and not just any movie, but a genre that Japan crafted into perfection decades ago: the Godzilla movie.
I finished my most recent dance choreography recently. You can see the video here. It’s the story of a man reminiscing about a relationship that has passed set to the song “Part of the List” by Ne-yo. I like to make dance choreographies that have meaning. But I do note that most art, be it songs, dance, art, etc. have to do with the human condition and express our most personal emotions, the primary one being love.
At the hip hop dance fest, I saw a choreography about human slavery in the modern world. It was very blunt, giving its message in voice-over narrative, but it was powerful. As a result, I’ve decided that my next choreography will need to have global meaning. I’ve been looking for good songs, but it’s hard to find one that says what I want. I care about environmental disaster, challenges around the scaling of government and corporations, and finding the hope and courage to try to make a difference. Anyone have any suggestions?
You cannot make someone stop believing something. You can only make him believe something else even more.
This thought has been kicking around in my head for a while. It’s a single thread that I’ve pulled out of a whole host of articles, books, movies, and (yes, I put this last) actual real-world experiences.
Have you noticed how 99% of debates (whether personal or political) don’t ever result in someone changing their mind? This article from Slate talks about how once people become disposed to believe something, they hold onto that belief regardless of logical argument or hard evidence. This is very evident in the political sphere. Shankar Vedantam asks, “when was the last time you heard about a liberal who was persuaded by Rush Limbaugh? Or a conservative who switched parties after watching a Michael Moore movie?” The truth is that almost all the effort that goes into debating and trying to change people’s opinions is completely wasted.
But I want to be able to change people’s minds, not just reinforce their existing beliefs. But how? I find that lots of our beliefs, whether it’s that we should tax the rich, that housing is a good investment, that you should buy things on sale…. most of those beliefs can be attached to a famous saying or adage. I believe it comes out of our need to create structure around the way the world works. Gravity pulls down and patience is a virtue are both simplified representations of our world. Most interestingly, for any famous adage or proverb, it isn’t too hard to find something that is its opposite:
