You Say You Want A Revolution, Well How About A Nerd Spring
"None of us live in the same world. And yet, all of us live in the same world."
Yesterday at SXSW, Sean Parker and Al Gore discussed democracy, tech and social media. Gore borrowed a techy term by describing the effect of special interest money in politics as a "hack" on democracy and urged the innovators in the room to start an occupy democracy movement. Parker pointed to the internet rally against SOPA as a hint of the power of social media-- calling the uprising "Nerd Spring".
I was inspired by the powerful, united online opposition to Susan G. Komen for the Cure decision to drop its Planned Parenthood grant. Clearly, social media has a seat at the table, but it hasn't harnessed its full potential to become the dominant force for truth, accountability and reform in politics, transparency and social good. I'm always on Twitter when I watch political debates, interviews or speeches because I want to tap into the unbelievable community of people who provide instant fact checks and point out hypocrisy. We have Google+ town halls and YouTube debates, so why not instant fact checks? Blatantly lying, dodging questions and manipulating facts shouldn't be tolerated, but the information age should also encourage people to be more tolerant of compromise and changing one's opinion.
The politicians of my generation are going to have to defend Facebook photos, status updates, tweets and videos. Much of our lives is public so we are going to be forced to accept that people are flawed, people change their minds and learn how to judge people in more nuanced ways. To use a term from my psych 101 class-- we will have to learn to fight our deeply ingrained fundamental attribution error.
I hope that we are up to the task. Information is power, but there is the chance that with so much information people will become overwhelmed and cling to anyone who can simplify it for them (enter bumper sticker politics). It's the paradox of choice and information, but if democracy is about serving the interests of the people, then it needs to be the people's responsibility to develop their own convictions, thoughts and opinions.
photo courtesy of
99 Portraits Of The 99%
For the past two months, photographer Steven Greaves’ took portraits of the protestors down at Zuccotti Park. Here are a few of my favorites from his beautiful collection,
Dan Singh, 25, cameraman
"Greed and injustice can no longer be abided. Now is the moment."
Abdul Basit Kahn, 21, student at Johns Hopkins
"Agree with general discontent. Specifically corruption of money and political power and the indentured servitude surrounding student debt."
Ana Abiodun, 34, artist
"Because revolution is beautiful!"
Ken Brady, 46, realtor
"Support fairness."
Victoria Murray, 18, student
"I think this idea is great and inspiring and makes me think I can also make a difference."
Amy Roberts Wilson, 39, college professor
"Because I believe corporations wield too much power in our society."
Audrey Hollingsworth, 19, student
"To evolve individually so we can evolve together. To create a new world where everyone has what they need and can live and progress in a content and fair society. Essentially, I want everyone to be happy"
Unexpected Hero
Retired Philadelphia police Captain Ray Lewis stood in full uniform with the Occupy Wall Street protestors this morning holding up a sign that read, "NYPD Don't Be Wall Street Mercenaries". When he he was arrested fellow protestors cheered.
Captain Lewis's bravery is a reminder that the Occupy Wall Street is a movement that encompasses people from all walks of life, from senior citizens to public servants, hippies to college grads and everything in between. The protest is about insisting that we, as a country, as Americans, can and must do better. And who doesn't support that?
photo via @Matthew4300
Operation: Do Better
On a recent 60 Minutes, they did a segment on a program called Operation: Proper Exit, which takes soldiers suffering from PTSD back to Iraq to get closure. While I am a firm believer in therapy and doing what we can to repair the mental and physical wounds of our soldiers, I couldn't help feel like this was a high profile gesture of extraordinary compassion extended to a select few. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, but what's done is done. First, we need to think about how to more evenly take care of the hoards of veterans with problems. And Second, we need to rethink war, defense and armies because there is no way to fix a broken soldiers and we can't afford to give every soldier the kind of closure that Operation: Proper Exit may offer. This war has been marred by reports of poor or misuse of limited resources and to me this is just one more example. We need to cut our loses, get out, decide how best to treat and care for our veterans.
Millennials, we need to think different. We can do better.
Millennials, we need to think different. We can do better.