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<back | home Why do People Change or Not Change: An Ongoing Series, Part Two by Bob Banner The series is ongoing because I sense it can be a healthy way to discover how we change, what factors turn us on to such a degree that we become activists. The first part of this series was in issue #44. It spoke about what is invisible to the human eye not often being a factor for any change. Why would it be? But sometimes what’s invisible to me may not be invisible to someone else. Also, often we do not connect the dots, leaving us unaware of the World’s problems. Part two is an ongoing reflection of this process. Here I am again at a beautiful resort/retreat center where rather than golfing, skiing, sun bathing and swimming in the ocean I opted to spend the next few days reading books, reviewing them and perhaps writing an article or two. I’m surrounded by flowers, valleys, mountains, creek, orange groves, vegetable gardens. With hummingbirds dancing from flower to flower, it is difficult to absorb how tragic the planet is right now. Even though I may not see it with my own eyes, I learn about the problems of the world through the internet, magazines, books and documentary films. I’m fortunate to have the TIME to pursue global events and try to understand them. I, like anyone else, live on that edge between illusion and reality, denying the reality (when we can’t take it anymore) and opting for the illusion (or the fantasy of being someplace else). The tension can be exhausting. To balance the two; figuring out how to stretch my denial into reality, can be overwhelming. Of course there is a crisis, but it always appears to be OUT THERE, only to be acted upon when it gets really close to home, but as the favorite Martin Niemoeller quote goes [“First they came for the Communists....], we might not have anyone left when it comes time to help us out since we didn’t do much when it came to helping other people in their crises. So, how do we move and act as if it’s really here? Or has it come home, yet I’m still deluding myself? Do we need to go to Iraq to see the bloody war and its Occupation to truly see how it’s affecting us? Can it become invisible because we are not there? How much can television really bring it home to us, especially since the administration has created laws for certain images not to be shown on television. How many people do you know who’ve come home in coffins or are in jail because of the Patriot Act or homeless because they lost their jobs due to outsourcing or farmers losing their land because consumers buy produce from cheaper wage resources? Will we act only if it begins to affect us or our loved ones? And even when it does affect us, will we act? BUT WAIT A MINUTE! It IS all around us. Who am I trying to kid? We have a city council that wants to pave over prime ag land for more shopping. We have development run amok. There’s no dialogue between policy makers and sustainable developers. People are leaving the area. We have inherited an antiquated dangerous energy source of Diablo ad Duke. Vacant storefronts are becoming more visible. Schools are not teaching a thing about how to survive in a post-fossil fuel economy. Mortgages are skyrocketing. People still go to church clueless about the many social problems. Libraries are cutting back their hours. Corporations want to grow GMO crops in our area. GE medicines are already given to newborns. Oil has peaked and I hear nothing about it in the press. And Bush et al think they can distract us from our domestic problems with this stupid war on terrorism. As Gore Vidal writes, this war is as nonsensical as a “war on dandruff.” It’s as if we continue going along with the crowd and not alter a bit unless the crowd begins to change. However, I’m inclined to believe that more and more people are against this war and the Bush cabal but our voices are still threatening to these people in power until we become a critical mass. I don’t think we have truly understood how malleable we are and how easily we discard and ridicule the pioneers and visionaries who are warning us of the inevitable changes that will be tumultuous, to say the least, whether or not we have a Kerry or a Bush in office. Why do we deny the inevitable? Why is denial so prevalent? Why is the bubble (especially the American bubble or as Nicholas von Hoffman calls it, the “American terrarium or dome,” totally insulated from the world) so seductive? Why do we shut down when confronted with too much damaging information? I’m not blaming people. I simply want to be curious when it occurs so I can feel its texture, its power, with eyes wide open in order to understand it. I also wish to understand its drug-like power for practical reasons. I don’t want to be unprepared. I don’t want to freak out and do something stupid like kill someone or myself. This is becoming not just a physical survival alarm but a spiritual crisis as well. So, let’s look at what’s happening now! With the plethora of books and films exposing the Bush administration as well as other major problems, we are encountering a resistance that’s an anomaly. It reminds me of the Tom Paine era in the early days of our country where pamphleteers were publishing diverse viewpoints. Especially in our current climate of Fox News’ lies and distortions with shocking and awful reporting, it is no surprise that the American public is going to the movies for their news. The current anomaly of documentaries becoming theater box office hits is truly astonishing. Super Size Me, The Control Room, The Agronomist, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Corporation, and Hunting of the President are being watched by an audience in need of truth. And new documentaries are in the works. We will soon see advertisements for The Yes Men, the newly released and updated Uncovered, the new edition of Unprecedented, Unconstitutional, Bush’s Brain, The Oil Factor and many more. I’ve heard that some documentary filmmakers who’ve been having a rough time getting investors are now getting the necessary financial resources. And they all thank Michael Moore for being the pioneer who broke the chains. Of course this exuberance for documentaries at the mainstream theaters may be just a fluke, a temporary spasm before Bush vacates the presidential premises. In that case we will still need to see documentaries. If the main theater won’t show them, we can’t simply rely on moveon.org to act as house party conductor each time a blockbuster radical documentary hits the news. We need to create traveling theaters throughout the country so we can show films on big screens, in bigger auditoriums rather than in a home (check out what we have been doing; we are now in six cities and growing). It appears that when there is a vacuum (no real news), there becomes a need (from audiences) for a product (real news, documentaries). But the question remains: Do we change after seeing these documentaries? Did we register to vote? Did we read the Impeach Bush insert that activists passed out at the big lines of F:9/11? Did we subscribe to periodicals that are part of the independent media lineage? Do we remember what we saw and how we felt about the film? Did we sign up for FreeSpeech TV? Many people are waking up, getting upset and getting disillusioned. When a president lies and continues to lie, it becomes a great impetus to wake up. But the question arises: Will the wake-up be short-lived? Will it last until the election? Do we get involved for the long haul to put liberals and progressives back in the mainstream? Or do we simply vote and call it quits and return to our lifestyles of distraction and non-connecting the dots? If we are serious about the long haul we need to consider truly our so-called lifestyle, since most often that peculiar American/western life style is embedded with the causes for this war, and past and future wars, as well as the neocon agenda. We need to look at our local elections, the movement to privatize our water and votes, the corporation as a psychopath in relation to many of our social and environmental ills, the genetically engineered conundrum, our health insurance fiasco, and to look at how we purchase food, clothes and technical gadgets. Hopefully Bush-bashing and the incredible wake-up call as a result of the lies will be an ever-widening awakening that will include all the problems, not just the war in the Middle East. But, hopefully, all the problems won’t shut us down again because of their seemingly inevitable depressive nature. Hopefully, these problems (when presented) will include their solutions. Hopefully, people will choose a specific issue they resonate with and take action, whether it’s media reform, challenging corporate personhood, challenging privatization of anything, becoming a farmer or any of the many vitally necessary actions....Take it on!!! As one newly converted activist in Seattle said when asked how he was doing, “Overwhelmed and happy!” These truly are exciting as well as intriguing times! Bob Banner is publisher of HopeDance and owner of The Window Washers. He can be reached at 544-9663. <back | top^ |