Thinking about Awareness

This past year I've been struck by several types of awareness raising which I think the effectiveness meets one or more of the following outcomes:

1.  It has no actual long term effect because nothing is learned and no opinions or behaviors are changed.

2.  It produces a backlash, or the opposite effect of what is desired.

3.  It creates confusion or cognitive dissonance about an issue.

4.  It spreads an incorrect view (one not based in fact).

5.  It promotes the idea that someone is doing something about an issue when indeed they are not.

So here are some examples.  I'm willing to admit that there are effects of an awareness campaign that I'm not aware of, but that is the only disclaimer I feel that I can make.

1.  Facebook campaigns, such as the recent one asking users to change their profile pictures to cartoon characters from December 3-6, 2010, to fight "against child abuse and violence." This is a modern version of the internet petition, but of the worst kind.  It contains no information about the issue, confuses the issue by suggesting that the problem is 'human faces,' and does not name either its creator or any potential benefactor.  Isn't Child Abuse Awareness Month supposed to be in April?  Snopes.com has a good article about internet petitions like this campaign here:  http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp 

2.  The Tea Party movement.  As the 2010 elections showed, this movement has not been ineffectual.  But it has spread the incredibly false belief that government is the source of problems for Americans.  Largely funded by individuals and groups that seek to dismantle environmental and social protections that have improved the lives of poor and vulnerable, Tea Party candidates emphasize personal responsibility and self-determination.  The problem with this is that people who are disenfranchised, marginalized, and are in economic or political or social minorities are in no position to organize their communities without assistance.  The only guaranteed assistance offered by the Tea Party is tax relief, which mainly benefits those who own property and have access to capital, not those without.

3.  Vegan bashing.  A personal pet peeve of mine, some supporters of locovorism have begun to target their ire against vegetarians and vegans claiming that eating a meat and dairy based diet which is locally based is by definition more sustainable to the planet than a meat and/or dairy free diet which is not locally based.  Lacking details, and contradicting the United Nations as well as authors such as John Robbins of Diet for a Small America, those who are taking this approach are providing a major disservice to many vegans and vegetarians who are in fact supporting the most unselfishly sustainable dietary practice that is possible.

4.  Nationhood.  This extremely dangerous idea has been around for a couple hundred years, with extremely negative consequences.  Not to mention the loss of lives and destruction of the environment from wars, the concept of sovereign, individual nations which have supremacy over their own domestic affairs prevents collaboration and problem-solving on a global level.  Every parade, bumper sticker, presidential address, and t-shirt that boldly proclaims that one country is the best over all others simply emboldens the idea of sovereignty and independence, rather than interconnection and interdependence.

5.  Religion.  It serves as a protector and sole possessor (sovereign) of moral law.  Humanity cannot have their own values because supreme and higher beings (Gods and Deities) have already claimed them all.

6.  Advertising.  This is a really dangerous issue because it is so omnipresent.  You cannot get away from it, unless you live in a foreign country where you don't understand the language.  Or you live in the country and have immunized yourself against its powerful reach.  It is very effective - many of our actions are controlled by what admen hired by corporations want us to do.  Everything from driving to buying milk.  It's the aggressive and tempting voice of materialism, which is something that those of us in rich countries are so beholden to.

Before you think that I think these things are necessarily bad, I'd like to leave you with one last idea (some might call it a meme, even if it's not an obvious one), and that is...

7.  We often think or say things are good or bad, when actually values and opinions more likely lie along a continuum of viewpoints.  There are venn diagrams, tables, linear representations, and all kinds of ways to visually represent the ways we think, believe, act, and behave.

This essay is simply my attempt to say that I think raising awareness involves, and requires, ways to think about the effectiveness of the action or campaign.  Costs and benefits, including effectiveness and how the action might be counter-effective or confusing, should (must!!) be considered.

I know that taking positions against nationalism and religion and simplistic Facebook campaigns will not win me many friends.  I respect those who are involved in supporting these causes.  I just think that they're not what they purport to be.