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Deeper Thoughts
Deeper Thoughts
Well, Well, Well....
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Actually, it's only 2 "Wells" - Malcolm Gladwell and Mark Kingwell, who was speaking at the Well Well event (A Dialogue on Social Change) @ U of T that I just attended.

A few quick thoughts:

a) always bring a pen...I forgot mine and thus am relying on my memory...but a friend of mine took notes, so I'll be able to crib off her and provide more indepth analysis later this week.

b) Gladwell talked about putting action before awareness - that raising awareness amounts to advertising - sure we may get our message across, but if no-one is actually changing their behaviour, then what difference does all that energy expended make? He cited how forcing children under the age of 5 to wear seatbelts was a subversive way of getting adults to buckle up, raising the percentage of seatbelt use from 15% to 70%. On the flip side, he also talked how Al Gore - who could arguably have been the 2nd most powerful person in the world for 8 years - could have actually done something about climate change, but only after out of the power does he become a campaigner for the cause. What it boils down to is that awareness and talk only do so much, and that at the end of the day, social change comes with actions being taken.

c) Kingwell, on the other hand, took the stance that social change happens because we share a space of empathy between those who need help. He used the conversion story of Paul the Apostle as a way to illustrate that social change relies on the connection one can make with another being. Where the doctrine of "Love thy neighbour like thyself" should first and foremost be the driving force for change. Where caring about others is what compels you to reach out and help your fellow human being.

d) Watching the interplay between a journalist (Gladwell) and philosopher/journalist (Kingwell) can be entertaining. However, while both playfully threw barbs and derided their counterparts profession, I would suggest that journalists and philosophers both play the same role of describing the world, with different levels of language. One does so relying on facts, everyday occurrences and reportage; the other drills down and employs a "higher" plane of thinking, extrapolating from instances.

e) Couple of other topics thrown out - Bill Gates, the role of money, the role of journalists, changing governments...

A Marx quote used to kick start the whole evening serves as a great summation: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” The point of TIG is to change the world - it's the actions that we all take together that allow more people to be aware of the problems in the world and the solutions that are being used to address them.

Hopefully I'll get more notes to share what else was discussed tonight!

May 13, 2008 | 10:42 PM Comments  0 comments

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