nomadlife an agent for change?
a while ago thomas friedman wrote an op-ed bitching about how america's youth is too idealist but extremely apathetic because we don't organize loud and obnoxious protests to try and effect change.
then my hilariously sarcastic high school friend rachel put aside her wit guns and wrote in the michigan daily about how we may be idealist but we are definitely NOT apathetic...we just understand that making ill-warranted noise just doesnt cut it:
"We may not gather together to yell and picket, but we do gather together to inform ourselves and make a difference in our communities."
[to read some of rachel's hilarious wit, go here]
i agree with rachel: we're doing things differently now-a-days because bitching and moaning just doesnt work. remember when you would annoy the shit out of your parents and complain that something "wasnt fair" or "so uncool"...did that work when you wanted to stay out with your friends past curfew? no. so why would it work when it comes to effecting change.
i also agree with rachel in that we are realizing one of the most effective ways to effect change is to focus locally and within our sphere of influence. a great example of this is ithaca's issuing of its own currency, called ithaca hours. each hour is worth the equivalent of $10. the purpose of the hour is for ithaca to "gain control of the social and environmental effects of commerce," by supporting local products and services:
"Tens of thousands of purchases and many new friendships have been made with this cash, and millions of dollars value of local trading has been added to the Grassroots National Product." [www.ithacahours.com]
why am i bringing this up now? because today i think i finally connected the dots between all of this and nomadlife:
"Within our small sphere of influence, no one can stop us from spreading peace." [sr. williams]
nomadlife is a form of activism. we are out to educate others on whats important to us and in the process educate OURSELVES as to whats important to us. we are expanding our sphere of influence whether we know it or not. i dont know these people personally, but everytime they update their blogs i stop studying or project-ing or job searching to read what they have to say.
i found out about blackle this summer thru nomadlife and it is now my startup screen. i have sent mass emails to friends and family with articles i have found through nomadlife. i have sent cornell professors and program coordinators information about international educational programs, the information for which i found through nomadlife-ers.
bottom line: nomadlife-ers are effecting change one anonymous reader at a time.
posted by syd @ 10:49 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting post. I have many reactions. First of all, I think that our generation has MUCH more information in just about every regard than any preceeding generation. Nomadlife, blogs, and the internet facilitate this knowledge increase. Information is more important and moves faster now than ever before.
I do not agree that protesting does not work. I think it could be a very effective tool to bring about social change. However, in the faster paced information age the costs of protesting greatly outweigh the potential benefits. We cannot focus our attention on social change in the same ways for this reason primarily.
Ultimately, I think our superior knowledge will bring about change. We can see this in the return to the sustainability movement, our demand for corporate responsiblity, and eventually government accountability.
To conclude I will quote Theodore Roosevelt when he said, "Walk softly, but carry a big stick." Our generation walks softly, perhaps too much so, but we carry a big stick in the amount of sophisticated knowledge we poses. KNowledge is useless and possibly destructive if it is not applied in the right contexts therefore, how we use this knowledge will create our legacy and perhaps one day redefine the cost-benefit relationship of affecting change.
We should be generation K for knowledge in my opinion, but that's
just my two cents.
so true about the friedman op-ed. glad someone, rachel and you, voiced some truth
ps- follow up to my post: if two converging realms of reality have completely different takes on things, ultimately, where is the line drawn between right and wrong?
could see something about what 'expanding sphere of influence' entails. assuming everyone knows every idea, a sort of 'best case practice sharing', would draw that line. still, this is highly theoretical
I liked your post!
I think nomadlife definitely can be a tool for change...as long as people eventually stand up from their computers and do something about it all...because at some point we need to take action based on the things we've discovered from the knowledge we've accumulated.
this post definitely makes me want to blog on more important topics then cows...hah see my last post.
also, there was just an international timebanking conference here in madison in fall: http://www.timebanks.org/
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home