It has been such a busy day today that I am just really getting started on my Steem work. I do see this as work even though it is much more engaging, enjoyable and perhaps important than my real job. I enjoy my real work too but, I think in the grand scheme of things, this might have more reach and impact on our futures than what many of us are doing in our day to day.
I am not just talking about value, I am talking about changing the way society views governance, economics, money, work, community, responsibility and hopefully, how empowered individuals are to actually engage and take part. I think there are a lot of people in this world who feel somewhat disenfranchised and powerless to enact change, even in themselves.
Today I was talking with a client about something some of these things including morality. We ran through some hypothetical scenarios and even the basic ones that seem innocuous, if you follow a slippery slope, can lead to some very damaging areas. That is for another day though.
This lead into responsibility though and this is something that I think is a vital part of any individual and definitely any individual within a community. Responsibility has almost become a dirty word in much of our society now as it is almost always connected to paying the consequences for poor behaviour but, it actually works both ways.
We also need to take responsibility for our positive behaviors also and sometimes that is very difficult to do, especially when there are so many excuse not to. We seem to constantly be fed ways to shirk the responsibility while feeling like we are actually taking responsibility. In the class today I used the example of Fast-food and body image.
There are so many campaigners that fight for McDonald's to introduce healthy foods and Fashion magazines to use real models but, it is quite simple to get them to change their ways or disappear if they don't. No campaign is needed, just stop going there, stop reading the news stands, stop buying from services you do not agree with. Simple.
The problem is at the moment that the way to make things go viral is to spread the negatives about it and although people seem to think that this should have an effect on the various topics, what it really does is drive more attention and traffic to the sites and the stores and gets them more support not less. I would say that this process is quite engineered, marketers are much smarter than consumers. Obviously.
Now, this is unlikely to immediately change the situation and it isn't a panacea but, it goes a long way to helping individuals take back some control and once that happens, have a chance to review and adjust other behaviors too and with enough making this simple choice, a community has formed. A community of like minds looking to improve their well-being. They may not know each other yet but, they have started a movement. Albeit, silent.
We are always looking to fix issues and of course, these things must be taken care of but, when it comes to individual health, we need to take the responsibility for ourselves first. We need to work out what we need to work out and discover what is blocking our own development and when we find it, remove it from our lives if we think it has control over us.
This is especially true of negative influences yet, this is not what we do. For the most part, we spend a great deal of energy trying to make something bad, not so bad so we can still do it and not feel guilty about it. We want McDonald's to introduce healthier menu items when, there are already healthier options available, just not at McDonald's. We want magazines to introduce different models when there are plenty of options for that too plus, what is the point of those magazines. It is not like the information in there is of any great value. So, why buy?
I think it is our guilty little secret. We want to feel bad, we want to eat junk and look at pictures of people deemed better than us so we can justify our feelings, so we can have a target to blame. Turn it off, cut it out and then look into the mirror and take responsibility.
I wonder what the world would look like if one could by a pair of augmented reality glasses that would censor the world. Perhaps it could be set to put a black bar over all the possible advertising or, perhaps it would replace it with alternative text and images that empowered people rather than deflated.
At the end of the day, the power is ours, the first step is realizing we must change before the world.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
The power has always been with the people. They have to want to change or better themselves. You mentioned Mc Donalds as an example. Can't remember when last I visited one. That was just a decision I made years ago that the food is crap and has no health value. People have to think for themselves and not be sheep and just follow the flock. Change has to be made in lots of things but people need to want to make that change. Small steps lead to bigger steps. Smaller steps have started here.
Yep, and there is a pretty good chance that the steps here are going to lead to some leaps and bounds. I do hope that we are still there for that future too.
Another inspiring read.
We live in a time where the socio-economic environment is such that all attention is considered good attention and all publicity is considered good publicity. The media and every other organizations exploits this fact.
What you mention in the post is a matter of realization but more so a matter of deliberate choice. Your words are perfect when you say 'our dirty little secret'. Even as our subconscious realizes it, we choose to look the other way to justify our state of inaction.
I think the grab for attention and 'lack of quiet' also drowns out our inner voice that says, take a step back a moment.
It's as if the opportunities to take that step back are becoming scarcer and that just feeds this cycle. The onus of finding that quiet to get a better perspective now lies solely with us. Earlier the society itself would allow us these moments. Not now.
We have been hacked. For me, writing is my slowdown and has helped to discover and reduce a lot of the useless from my life.
Edit: my wife scraped through ;)
For me reading is.........
I heard that, LOL!
I think this statement is a good summary for me. Taking responsibility is exactly about this. Sometimes we have to take the frustrating and hard route in order to get the long-term advantages. Long-term isn't a very good motivator though, so that's where a lot of people fail over and over again. The mind can play tricks on us, and it does it very well, that's for sure.
We are not wired to filter all of this well, we are not able to differentiate and judge good, bad and bad presented as good at the speed it is delivered and we rarely have a chance to take a half breath before the next injection comes, the next hit. We need to pull the needle out of the arm, not slow the drip.
True stuff. It takes a lot of commitment and determination to do it the right way. And I personally think we don't have enough energy to constantly take the correct path. We have to prioritize things in life, and it's about making the right choices and setting priorities straight for the most part.
This is why we need to switch off and turn away from at least the obvious things as then we have a chance to discover the less so that might be hiding in plain sight right next to it.
A stunning photo again. One does not simply go to the woods to look for something like that. :) Congratulations on finding that thing.
And yes, this
is a good point.
Thanks, it was on a lake walk while the sun was going down :)
Take personal responsibility .
It's not my fault , My friend said it was OK to jump off the bridge , the box of soap pods didn't have a warning label saying do not eat . The government will take care of Me.
It is easier to pass off our shortcomings to someone or something else . Today we are bombarded with advertising and all sorts of things to manipulate our actions . If people would just slow down take a look at their actions things might be a little different . But with this fast pace and constant bombardment , With the " I need it now mentality " change is far off I fear .
People have the power collectively they just don't know it . The ones that do use the others like sheep for their cause .
Well put, I fear that using a flock of sheep to bleat your command is far less time consuming than trying to train those sheep individually to bleat for themselves. So I suppose in a way very often even those on a crusade for what they consider right are as guilty as those doing the manipulation to begin with.
But, you know, my friend said it was ok to lead the sheep, so... 😉
Them problem is that the sheep on the crusade can only defend their position / opinion with the talking points provided to them by the so called leaders . no debate can be had with them do to their lack of knowledge and only their conviction which are shallow .
Zombies just walk to the noise .
That's life advice both before and after the collapse of civilisation! I need that framed! 😆
You touched a sensitive fiber in each one of us, it is the hidden part that drives us in secret, we know that the power is in our hands, nothing more powerful than the power of our mind to help us change prototypes that we already have through information inculcated as children, we can choose, there are thousands of options, we just lack the will to do it! Thank you for sharing.
As always, a fantastic read.
I wonder how many couldn't handle that responsibility after a life of blaming someone else for their shortcomings. It's easy to ride on a wave of self esteem when only focussing on the good parts of the self, but I wonder how many would be crushed by even the thought that a minor failing was their own.
Just to play devils advocate...
If everyone were critical in their thinking, do you suppose that would make progress slower?
Not in a scientific way, but for culture or politics, anything that generally requires more discourse than something that can be proven as fact. The current way allows a few, loud, bold or confident, to lead a tacit hive mind of willing, blameless participants. I'm not suggesting the progress would be in the right direction, however it surely would be quicker when met with less resistance.