“We live in a world awash in information. The democratic dream of a public with full access tp the facts has become in our internet age, a reality. But facts are not enough... Nothing will happen unless people can make sense of the facts you are giving them”
We are all able to open our phones and read horror stories about school shootings or learn facts about global warming but that is often not enough to get people to “step off the curb.” I remember asking Danielle Scott about her decision to insert herself into the shoes of her ancestors when she could have easily done research from her home, and she explained that she would have never really understood what they went through unless she made sense of their reality. This was very eye opening for me and inspired me to go experience things instead of just watching a video or reading a book about it.
‘Researchers have also found that we tend to only consider information that fits into what we already believe. That is, we don’t create our sense of reality based on the facts we come across, we find and bend the facts, so they conform to what we think we know”
I like this quote because I am reminded everyday just by normal conversations that people only want to believe what they think is true and not actual facts. It is sad to think that there are scientific studies and easily accessible facts about global warming out there and people still think it is a fallacy.
“Understanding that people often have more than one mind when it comes to an issue is not about pointing out their logical fallacies... We need to recognize that people are full of contradictory ideas, then bypass the ideas and associations that run counter to our objectives” (193)
In the book they use the example of being pro life but also being pro war. It is contradictory because it is inevitable that war causes death and saying your pro life means you do not want anyone dying. We all have contradicting ideologies but it is impoartant that we can decipher what we truly believe and stick to one position. When trying to persuade someone, you need to make a strong argument against their positions that run counter to our arguments to have an effective conversation
Chap 6
“Activists too share a general aim with marketers; to influence human behavior in order to have a demonstratable impact.” 213
As a marketing major, I was pleased to read this chapter because it opened my eyes to the similarities between marketers and activists. I am taught everyday that what we think of as customers are actually consumers; real humans that make decisions based off different variables. I believe that treating your target audience for your activism work as consumers and real humans can make your activism work even more memorable and create real change.
Countless activists and artists have described the purpose of their work to us as being to “raise awareness” or “start conversation” Is that really the outcome they are after?
In marketing, the term “raise awareness” is used very frequently when talking about the communication goals of a firm. The goal is to always raise awareness but a marketer's job is to find out HOW to increase awareness and actually persuade people to buy the product. I do not think an activists job is to raise awareness, but it is to create real physical change. For example, change does not come just by people knowing about global warming, we actually need to practice sustainable living to create change.
We shouldn’t expect to move people through the whole process at once- a few stages is a substantial accomplishment. In fact, trying to make a piece that achieves everything will leave you burned out and depressed
I faced this problem with my intervention because I wanted to include every aspect of war activism in one project and I nearly pulled out all of my hair trying to find the perfect project. I then realized that in order to bring real change I needed to relax and take small steps. Instead of including everything in one piece, I used my personal experiences and created a project that gets people thinking about war in a specific way, but also inspires people to go out and protest for themselves. I used fashion to get my point across but that is not the only route I could have taken. There are so many ways to be an activist and trying to fit all your ideas in one piece can often lead to a huge mumbo jumbo of confusing and overwhelming work.
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