Recently Chris Hedges posted a video and wrote book about the downfall of America. Now Chris is more than likely 100% correct. He's a smart man and his evidence of the upcoming collapse of America is for many of us truly heartbreaking. However, I do have to reprimand Mr. Hedges because he failed to mention any detailed solutions to these massive issues America is just now beginning to come into grips with. Let's break this down into manageable problems we can tackle. Many generations have come face-to-face with complete catastrophe, they did not back down, neither will we.
Besides, I'm tired of all of the bitching and fussing. Let's fix stuff. We like challenges, that's when we excel.
ISM'S IN MY OPINION ARE NOT GOOD - FERRIS BUELLER
An "ism" is a form of control by one smaller group over another larger group, end of discussion. Socialism, communism, capitalism, feudalism, are all methods of control, some much better than others. In a connected world we need to up the ante a bit and introduce some new "isms" or better yet, a new "cracy."
Let's look into a hybrid version of socialism, capitalism, and democracy which revolves around community and throw in a dash of real world limitations with a hint of virtual sociology. Not sure what to call it yet, not even sure what it means… but regardless let's not limit ourselves to archaic tools to solve today's problems. You don't use a buggy whip to start your car do you? One thing is certain, with the rise of the internet we can expect many radical changes, which just might become a game changer. We can also expect a revolt of the digital world with a longing for community interaction and real world experiences. The rocky marriage of the digital world and the physical world will define the 21st Century.
In terms of how we can form this new way of thinking, it's already happening… in towns and communities with their backs against the wall due to the economic crisis. We just need to provide outlets for these new ideas to grow and prosper. Which leads us to…
YOU ARE WHAT YOU SEE - A PICTURE CAN BE WORTH A MILLION WORDS
Mr. Hedge is quick to accurately point out that we are increasingly becoming a "visual society" and that these societies tend to be rather horrible. Very true. However, unless a solar flare knocks out the internet for a few centuries, that's where the world is headed.
But let's not look at this as a problem, it's an opportunity. Imagine if America experienced a 21st Century type Renaissance in the art world and thus increased the level of visual communication to a point where it had the complexity of language. Language, as wonderful as it can be, is a verbal abstraction. The sound we make for "dog" is not in the physical world our beloved pet. Yet language is constantly mistaken for "real world" and thus we experience a major disconnect with our life experiences in trying to describe them.
A highly complex artistic sense would not only defeat the simple one-hit minimalistic branding practices of giant corporations, it can also up the ante of how we understand the world around us. Think of it as symbolism with a complexity of string theory. Now granted, some may see this at elitism, as certain individuals are going to be more prone to processing visual information, and have better opportunities to educate themselves. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't move forward. Farming and reading were good ideas, even though not everyone could learn these skills at the time.
Let's change the perception that arts are nonessential. They are in fact critical to modern living. Also, increase access to experimental and theoretical sciences in the classroom which can expand early minds into non-binary thinking, something that hinders progress. How do we do this?
SCHOOLS NEED TO BE SCHOOLED
We always rate education by test scores, but test scores only cater to two out of the seven ways in which an individual can learn. And as stated earlier, industrialized school system feeds into binary thinking. Coke or Pepsi? Democrat or Republican? If we can have thirty flavors of ice cream we can certainly have more than two political parities. Even though the new internet generation does seem less influenced by old-fashioned "one or the other" ways of thinking, we'll see how this translates into the working world when field testing begins sometime in the mid 2010s when they graduate from college. That's if they even go to college.
Because why should they? Schools teach a lot of things, most that are not going be used in the student's life-time. Since education reform is a discussion in and of itself, let's limit the solution to three bullet points.
1) Regionalism - Students should learn about the world directly around them, their environment, the culture, the history, and their place in it. This will help increase cultural individuality in an internet connected world, and make education more relevant to the student, especially when communities become more vital in terms of mutual survival. (Remember our new "ism" we discussed earlier?)
2) Choose Wisely - Start encouraging career choices in early education, and take those answers seriously. If a kid wants to be an astronaut, encourage it immediately. He or she may not make it into space, but we can gear them towards sciences and provide a better platform for a future career. If they change their mind, so what? Most students do anyway, mostly due to constant discouragement. We need to provide better careers paths in the first place. When a student locks into a specific interest, encourage them to focus.
3) University Replaces Traditional News - Universities can become centers where internet news can be verified by experts. News on the net excels in the fact that it hasn't been chewed up and skewed by network television. We just don't know if the reporter is fair and honest. A University can confirm sources and information with their staff of experts. This can also increase the value of college education by introducing information as it happens, as opposed to dusty old textbooks which are getting replaced by the iPad in three years anyway.
Encouraging signs are that many more kids are getting home schooled and the Universities are starting to reclaim their stature as information hubs. And there currently is a university news verification program in its infant stages. In the world of the internet where someone can learn from home, schools will have to adjust quickly. Whether or not this particular scenario occurs, we can being to mobilize and start a major push to…
TURN OFF THE IDIOT BOX BECAUSE OUR PROBLEMS WON'T BE SOLVED IN THIRTY MINUTES
Seems so simple doesn't it?
First of all, there's a lot of unemployed and disillusioned marketing experts and designers out there, with talent and a little bitterness towards the old way of doing things. We need to give them something new to do. And with traditional media revenues dropping rapidly, there's a real possibility for dramatic change. I think there needs to be clever advertising people that can use their talents to help equate traditional corporate news outlets with that of "Junk News." Imagine if we felt the same way about Fox, CNN, or MSNBC in the same way we look at smoking, or McDonald's. We know it's bad for you, but at least a Big Mac can taste good depending on your experience. A clever ad campaign funded by internet/college news outlets wanting to pull viewers away from the boob tube can sway public opinion dramatically. In short, let's hope the right people can lead the internet revolution into the upcoming critical 3.0 phase. Nicholas Negroponte indicates the right creative people are currently getting involved with the web. Let's hope he's right.
Also, let's look at the ruins of celebrity culture. Michael Jackson gets a lot of ink, but so did the Donner Family back in the day, and you probably don't even know what that mess is all about. Let's hope Mr. Jackson is a turning point in our weird obsession. The nice thing about celebrities, they do disappear. And I believe there is a general understanding that the life of the celebrity is not glamorous. People are attracted to the opportunity to do what they want, and the allure of a multi-million dollar lifestyle. As the funds dry up, we are going to have to adjust our perceptions quickly, and understand that infinite success is not just for the rich. By removing yourself from the expectations of corporate/celebrity culture, you can experience true freedom celebrities never see. Much of this has to do with our perceptions of duality, polarization, and our refusal to understand that the positive and negative elements of an observation are in fact the same observation. The most successful celebrities sway their image between the boundary pushing sinner and the redeemed saint. We just need to see through the manipulation. As of now I have no definite answer to embedding multi-dimensional thinking into society, but we'll work on it.
Part of which can be a start to cracking the celebrity infused infotainment world, we can mainstream a "long term" way of thinking. The Long Now Foundation, a Fora.Tv darling, is specifically geared towards progress for the next ten thousand years. If certain leaders and socially-conscious celebrities can have the foresight to see that we are directly connected to the events of even just the next few hundred years, people will follow suit and change their behavior. To understand our own happiness is scientifically-proved to be rooted in the seeds we plant for future generations, and not just our own lifespans. Corporations became so short-sided, focusing on quarterly returns, they forgot how to build lifelong customers. This mentality can be changed right now, especially while the public fumes over bankers collecting large bonuses and the anger is still fresh in our minds. Look at the fisherman of the Pacific Northwest that undergo heavy regulations, but understand that it is necessary if they want to keep their jobs for a lifetime, and not suffer the fate of their East Coast counterparts that ran out of fish to catch. If we want to fix the next few years, we need to consider the next few thousand along with it.
FINAL RANDOM OBSERVATIONS AND CORRECTIONS
1) Media tends to be liberal because government by nature tends to be conservative. We basically hire people to act like parents and tell us what to do, set rules, and spank us when we step out of line. News needs to be vicious, honest, and with teeth. Media IS the check and balance for the government, let's never forget that. After all, it is a major focal point in the founding of America.
2) Religion is important. I'm a Roman Catholic and although I have beliefs rooted in several religions I know that if God is infinite in His wisdom all of the Holy Books we have might only be the first nine chapters in a trillion page novel. My only complaint with Atheism is that it can alienate by suggesting we are all the result of, as Alan Watts describes, a "cosmic idiot." How do we know nature isn't intelligent? If string theory is correct and we live in a universe of eleven dimensions… there's a lot we don't know. Let's be humbled by this, and inspired to learn more.
3) Not all entertainment is bad. Just because I indulge in an episode of 30 Rock or Mad Men, it doesn't mean I am betraying my country. However, if we can integrate a more "survivalist" mentality to our intake of media, we can curb a few bad habits. With the influx of media we will be processing in the next few years, this may happen automatically. More and more of us are becoming "media snobs." Let's hope the trend continues. The fact that a weirdly-complex show like Lost (which requires its own wikipedia) survived six seasons is a sign of progress.
4) Do not count on our government to help. If they do great, but assume they'll just keep making everything worse. In this case, better to assume the worst, hope for the best. Smaller governments have more flexibility and concern to do the right thing, let's look for opportunities for state and city governments to gain some political ground from the gridlock in Washington D.C.
IN CONCLUSION
I do not know if this is a real solution, but I hope it's a start. In the Pacific Northwest, where I call home, there is a movement to do the things described above. In my hometown, I am frequently meeting with local business owners and have created with them a CBC (Creative Business Co-Op) which we truly hope can become a template for how our country can form collations and turn this tide of despair around. We have the ability to use the tools corporate culture has provided for us and use them to our advantage, not theirs. As we make progress, we will document our successes and our failures. One thing is for certain, we need to completely re-imagine business, community, and commerce. Expect terms like hyper-meaning to enter our vocabularies, new words to define our new world until our visual vocabularies begin to unfold. We can turn this around, if we want to. We need to move quickly, and we simply cannot fail. If my town is ready to take on the challenge, yours can be as well. Otherwise the soup line is right around the corner.
