Further below I talk about the amazing experience of attending the Women's March on Washington, and my experiences before and afterwards to continue attending marches and rallies for causes I care about. There are so many good reasons to join in the movement with your actual bodies, or as Rep John Lewis says "find some good trouble", or as Gloria Steinem said at the Women's March "put your bodies where your beliefs are." My feelings on climate change are extremely, super, duper, really, insanely, obvious.
But I wanted to start this blog addressing the elephant in the room (I do lurve elephants, but that's not connected to this post!). And that's the criticism that rallies don't do anything, they are pointless. I want to put aside the really stupid and ignorant comments like Women's Marchers are running around naked (<-actual comment from someone on my Facebook, we're not in the 60's kids, and even then I don't think bra burning = running naked on the National Mall #justsaying)....and I want to put aside my typical reaction which is "haters gonna hate, ainters gonna ain't" (courtesy of the movie I got cyberattacked by North Korea over and am proud to have part of prevailing in the face of terrorism #freespeechrepresent). I'd like to spend a minute and focus on the root of what they are saying. They are ultimately questioning whether protests and marches are a valid way to lead to real change.
If any message has been pounded on the liberal/progressive side since 11/9, it has been that we're in an echo chamber. That we do not listen, we don't understand the economic ravaging of rural America, that we do not speak for "real" Americans. But the media is a filtered version of everyone's reality, and an increasingly, insanely skewed one at that (I will save the actual problem with fake news for later). For example, in microcosm, how do you square there being clearly over 100 people (see my video on Twitter) with a report by my local Denver Fox affiliate as "dozens" with a weak photo of 1/5 of the crowd? It's inaccurate and bias. The media is a funnel in which the news pops out with biases.
In a polarized world we are looking for something, but I'd like to differentiate once and for all. There's a HUGE difference between looking for media that validates your position or self-soothes you on your views...and the search for truth with a scout mindset. People have labeled some news outlets as liberal because they often support the liberal and progressive side in op-eds and so forth, but that just politicizes and polarizes. The fundamental issue I have with outlets like Fox News or even Breitbart is not that they are championing a conservative viewpoint, but that they are entirely unleashed from facts and from the search for truth.
So how do we combat this?
But I wanted to start this blog addressing the elephant in the room (I do lurve elephants, but that's not connected to this post!). And that's the criticism that rallies don't do anything, they are pointless. I want to put aside the really stupid and ignorant comments like Women's Marchers are running around naked (<-actual comment from someone on my Facebook, we're not in the 60's kids, and even then I don't think bra burning = running naked on the National Mall #justsaying)....and I want to put aside my typical reaction which is "haters gonna hate, ainters gonna ain't" (courtesy of the movie I got cyberattacked by North Korea over and am proud to have part of prevailing in the face of terrorism #freespeechrepresent). I'd like to spend a minute and focus on the root of what they are saying. They are ultimately questioning whether protests and marches are a valid way to lead to real change.
If any message has been pounded on the liberal/progressive side since 11/9, it has been that we're in an echo chamber. That we do not listen, we don't understand the economic ravaging of rural America, that we do not speak for "real" Americans. But the media is a filtered version of everyone's reality, and an increasingly, insanely skewed one at that (I will save the actual problem with fake news for later). For example, in microcosm, how do you square there being clearly over 100 people (see my video on Twitter) with a report by my local Denver Fox affiliate as "dozens" with a weak photo of 1/5 of the crowd? It's inaccurate and bias. The media is a funnel in which the news pops out with biases.
In a polarized world we are looking for something, but I'd like to differentiate once and for all. There's a HUGE difference between looking for media that validates your position or self-soothes you on your views...and the search for truth with a scout mindset. People have labeled some news outlets as liberal because they often support the liberal and progressive side in op-eds and so forth, but that just politicizes and polarizes. The fundamental issue I have with outlets like Fox News or even Breitbart is not that they are championing a conservative viewpoint, but that they are entirely unleashed from facts and from the search for truth.
So how do we combat this?
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