I hope everyone is listening, because interesting things are happening. I’m talking about the “occupy” protests that have been springing up around the world. I’m sure you’ve heard of them and have formulated some sort of opinion on them already.
What I’m asking you to do is not to treat this movement with the same flippancy that we treat other media fads, whether they are political or cultural. I believe that this one is different.
In our culture we tend to think that we are more clever than everyone else, more streetwise, not as likely to be hoodwinked as the rest of the suckers around us. This individualism and cleverness can be very useful, but it can also lead us to dismiss ideas very quickly. Once we’ve tweeted about something, we’ve made our quick judgement and we don’t think about it again.
Obviously it is the accelerated media environment that we are brought up in that causes or at least exacerbates this mentality. And it is this mentality that makes the “occupy movement” difficult for the media to handle. This is because of the movement’s plurality.
If a story is too complex and cannot be defined coherently and quickly, it cannot be easily judged or dismissed. Most of the mainstream coverage that I have seen focuses on the lack of coherence in the movement. This lack of a central ethos or clear leadership seems to bother and confuse a lot of people, especially its’ opponents.
Why are we so hungry for “one voice” to ring out, echoing the united will of the people? We live in a democracy, which by definition contains a multitude of voices and values. It’s confusing, noisy and messy. But it also has the potential to be an equitable way of living together peacefully.
Why does this movement have so many demands? Perhaps it is because the systems that we have been using are failing. It’s not just Marxists and hippies that recognize this; it is people from every corner of the globe. The demands of this movement are huge because the greedy have controlled power for almost all of human history. But democracy is a seed that was planted a long time ago; it has grown alongside the powerful and destructive part of civilization and now, maybe, it is mature enough to bear fruit.
This cannot be done overnight. The time of feeling powerless is over, the mentality that I described earlier has often held us back by making us feel like outsiders, whose only agency in the world is to comment wittily and feel superior to others because we are smart enough to see what’s wrong when others can’t. This feeling discourages the sense of responsibility that every citizen of a democracy must have towards society.Every human alive is in the same boat. We are all connected to each other now, and we are all in the mainstream. We can no longer sit on the sidelines; it’s time to get in the game.
I’m not asking you to go to camp in a park (but go ahead if that’s your thing,) I’m asking you to think about what you’re doing with your life, how do you want the world to look now, and how about in the future?
There is a great deal that is wrong with our world, the challenges that this generation face may well be the greatest that human civilization has ever seen. But I truly believe that we can solve many of them, with human ingenuity and co-operation. To do this; however, we have to admit that a problem exists, and that we have some responsibility to solve it.
The problem in our society right now is that those in power are denying either the existence of problems or denying their responsibilities. The people in power have to either respond to the demands of the people, or if they are too addicted to 20th century capitalism, they need to move aside.
People are taking to the streets to do just this, it has the makings of a worldwide revolution. But the pushing aside of leaders is not the important part, what is important is that we replace them with something better, and that we take the responsibility of democracy seriously. You do have power, use it ethically and judiciously. This is not a movement that will disappear after a news cycle. If we are serious about solving our problems, it might take the rest of our lives. Democracy is hard work, go forth in peace and love. Create and replace.
