How often do we hear that people just don't care? How many times have you been told that real, substantial change isn't possible because most people are too selfish, too stupid or too lazy to try to make a difference in their community? I propose to you today that apathy as we think we know it doesn't actually exist; but rather, that people do care, but that we live in a world that actively discourages engagement by constantly putting obstacles and barriers in our way.
Koliko često čujemo da ljudi jednostavno ne brinu? Koliko puta su vam rekli da stvarna, značajna promjena nije moguća jer je većina ljudi presebična, preglupa ili prelijena kako bi pokušali napraviti promjenu u svojim zajednicama? Namjeravam vam danas objasniti da ravnodušnost kakvu znamo u stvarnosti ne postoji, već da ljudi mare, ali da živimo u svijetu koji aktivno obeshrabruje angažman stalno stavljajući prepreke i barijere na naš put.
I'll give you some examples of what I mean. Let's start with city hall. You ever see one of these before? This is a newspaper ad. It's a notice of a zoning application change for a new office building so the neighborhood knows what's happening. As you can see, it's impossible to read. You need to get halfway down to even find out which address they're talking about, and then further down, in tiny 10-point font, to find out how to actually get involved. Imagine if the private sector advertised in the same way -- if Nike wanted to sell a pair of shoes --
I dati ću vam neke primjere onoga na što mislim. Počnimo s gradskom vijećnicom. Jeste li ikada ranije vidjeli jednu od ovih? Ovo je novinski oglas. Ovo je obavijest o primjeni promjene zone za novu uredsku zgradu kako bi susjedstvo znalo što se događa. Kao što vidite, to je nemoguće pročitati. Morate proći kroz pola oglasa kako biste saznali o kojoj se adresi radi, i onda još dalje, fontom 10 piše kako se možete uključiti. Zamislite kada bi se privatni sektor oglašavao na isti način -- kada bi Nike želio prodati par tenisica
(Laughter)
i stavio oglas poput ovog u novine.
And put an ad in the paper like that.
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Now, that would never happen. You'll never see an ad like that, because Nike actually wants you to buy their shoes, whereas the city of Toronto clearly doesn't want you involved with the planning process, otherwise their ads would look something like this, with all the information laid out clearly. As long as the city's putting out notices like this to try to get people engaged, then of course people aren't going to be engaged. But that's not apathy; that's intentional exclusion.
To se nikada ne bi dogodilo. Nikada nećete vidjeti oglas poput ovoga, jer Nike stvarno želi da kupite njihove tenisice. Dok grad Toronto očito ne želi da se uključite u proces planiranja, u protivnom im oglasi ne bi izgledali poput ovog -- sa svim informacijama jasno iznesenim. Sve dok će grad stavljati ovakve oglase kako bi uključio ljude, do tada, naravno, ljudi neće biti uključeni. Ali to nije ravnodušnost; to je namjerno isključivanje.
Public space.
Javni prostor.
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The manner in which we mistreat our public spaces is a huge obstacle towards any type of progressive political change, because we've essentially put a price tag on freedom of expression. Whoever has the most money gets the loudest voice, dominating the visual and mental environment. The problem with this model is there are some amazing messages that need to be said, that aren't profitable to say. So you're never going to see them on a billboard.
Način na koji zlostavljamo naš javni prostor predstavlja ogromnu prepreku prema bilo kakvom obliku progresivne političke promjene. Jer smo u stvari stavili cijenu na slobodu izražavanja. Onaj tko ima najviše novca njegov glas se najjače čuje, dominirajući vizualnom i mentalnom okolinom. Problem tog modela jest da postoje neke nevjerojatne poruke koje bi se morale kazati ali nisu profitabilne. Tako da ih nikada nećete vidjeti na oglasnoj ploči.
The media plays an important role in developing our relationship with political change, mainly by ignoring politics and focusing on celebrities and scandals, but even when they do talk about important political issues, they do it in a way that I feel discourages engagement. I'll give you an example. The "Now" magazine from last week: progressive, downtown weekly in Toronto. This is the cover story. It's an article about a theater performance, and it starts with basic information about where it is, in case you actually want to go and see it after you've read the article -- where, the time, the website. Same with this -- it's a movie review. An art review. A book review -- where the reading is in case you want to go. A restaurant -- you might not want to just read about it, maybe you want to go there. So they tell you where it is, the prices, the address, the phone number, etc.
Mediji igraju važnu ulogu u razvoju našeg odnosa s političkim promjenama, uglavnom ignorirajući politiku i fokusirajući se na slavne ličnosti i skandale. Ali čak i kada govore o važnim političkim problemima, govore na način da se osjećam obeshrabrenim angažirati se. I dati ću vam primjer: Now magazin od prošlog tjedna -- progresivni, urbani tjednik iz Toronta. Ovo je njihova naslovnica. Ovo je članak o kazališnoj izvedbi, i započinje s osnovnom informacijom gdje se igra, u slučaju da želite sami otići i pogledati izvedbu nakon što pročitate članak -- gdje, vrijeme, web stranica. Isto s ovim -- to je recenzija filma, umjetnička recenzija, recenzija knjige -- gdje se odvija čitanje u slučaju da želite otići. Restoran -- možda ne želite samo čitati o njemu, možda želite otići do restorana. Tako vam kažu gdje se nalazi, koje su cijene, adresa, telefonski broj, itd.
Then you get to their political articles. Here's a great article about an important election race that's happening. It talks about the candidates, written very well, but no information, no follow-up, no websites for the campaigns, no information about when the debates are, where the campaign offices are. Here's another good article, about a new campaign opposing privatization of transit, without any contact information for the campaign. The message seems to be that the readers are most likely to want to eat, maybe read a book, maybe see a movie, but not be engaged in their community. You might think this is a small thing, but I think it's important, because it sets a tone and it reinforces the dangerous idea that politics is a spectator sport.
Onda odete do njihovih članaka o politici. Ovdje je sjajan članak o važnoj izbornoj utrci koja se odvija. Govori o kandidatima -- jako dobro napisan -- ali bez informacija, bez nastavka, nema web stranice kampanje, nema informacije o tome gdje se debate održavaju, gdje je ured kampanje. Ovdje je još jedan sjajan članak o novoj kampanji koja se protivi privatizaciji tranzita bez ikakve kontaktne informacije o kampanji. Poruka je čini se da bi čitatelji vrlo vjerojatno željeli jesti, možda pročitali knjigu, možda vidjeli film, ali se ne bi angažirali u svojoj zajednici. I možda ćete misliti kako je ovo mala stvar, ali ja mislim da je važno jer daje ton i osnažuje opasnu ideju kako je politika sport za praćenje.
Heroes: How do we view leadership? Look at these 10 movies. What do they have in common? Anyone? They all have heroes who were chosen. Someone came up to them and said, "You're the chosen one. There's a prophecy. You have to save the world." And then they go off and save the world because they've been told to, with a few people tagging along. This helps me understand why a lot of people have trouble seeing themselves as leaders -- because it sends all the wrong messages about what leadership is about. A heroic effort is a collective effort, number one. Number two, it's imperfect; it's not very glamorous, and doesn't suddenly start and suddenly end. It's an ongoing process your whole life. But most importantly, it's voluntary. It's voluntary. As long as we're teaching our kids that heroism starts when someone scratches a mark on your forehead, or someone tells you you're part of a prophecy, they're missing the most important characteristic of leadership, which is that it comes from within. It's about following your own dreams, uninvited, and then working with others to make those dreams come true.
Heroji: Kako gledamo na vodstvo? Pogledajte ovih 10 filmova. Što imaju zajedničko? Bilo tko? Svi imaju heroje koji su izabrani. Netko im je prišao i rekao, "Vi ste izabrani. Postoji proročanstvo. Morate spasiti svijet." I onda netko ode i spasi svijet jer mu je netko rekao da to učini, s nekoliko ljudi koje obilježi. To mi pomaže razumijeti zašto veliki broj ljudi ima problema vidjeti se kao vođe. Jer to šalje skroz krivu poruku o tome što vodstvo uistinu jest. Herojski napor je skupni napor, pod broj jedan. Broj dva, to je nesavršeno; čak i nije glamurozno; i ne započinje naglo niti završava naglo. To je kontinuirani proces koji traje cijeli život. Ali najvažnije, to je dobrovoljni koncept. Dobrovoljni. Dok god učimo djecu da taj heroizam započinje kada netko stavi oznaku na vaše čelo, ili vam netko kaže da ste dio proročanstva, njima nedostaje najvažnija karakteristika vodstva, a to je da ono dolazi iznutra. Radi se o slijeđenju svojih snova -- nepozvan, nepozvan -- i onda radeći s drugima radite na ostvarivanju tih snova.
Political parties: oh, boy. Political parties could and should be one of the basic entry points for people to get engaged in politics. Instead, they've become, sadly, uninspiring and uncreative organizations that rely so heavily on market research and polling and focus groups that they end up all saying the same thing, pretty much regurgitating back to us what we already want to hear at the expense of putting forward bold and creative ideas. And people can smell that, and it feeds cynicism.
Političke stranke: čovječe. Političke stranke bi mogle i trebale biti jedna od baznih ulaza za ljude koje se žele angažirati. Umjesto toga, one se postale, nažalost, nekreativne organizacije bez nadahnuća koje se oslanjaju jako na istraživanja tržišta, anonimne glasove i fokus grupe tako da na kraju sve govore iste stvari, vraćajući nam ono što smo već željeli čuti na račun provođenja snažnih i kreativnih ideja. I ljudi to mogu namirisati, što hrani cinizam.
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Charitable status. Groups who have charitable status in Canada aren't allowed to do advocacy. This is a huge problem and a huge obstacle to change, because it means that some of the most passionate and informed voices are completely silenced, especially during election time. Which leads us to the last one, which is: our elections.
Dobrotvorni status: Grupe koje imaju dobrotvorni status u Kanadi ne mogu javno zagovarati. To je veliki problem i velika prepreka promjeni, jer to znači da su neki od najstrastvenijih i najinformiranijih glasova potpuno ušutkani, posebno tijekom izbora. Što nas dovodi do zadnje teme, a to su naši izbori.
As you may have noticed, our elections in Canada are a complete joke. We use out-of-date systems that are unfair and create random results. Canada's currently led by a party that most Canadians didn't actually want. How can we honestly and genuinely encourage more people to vote when votes don't count in Canada? You add all this up together, and of course people are apathetic. It's like trying to run into a brick wall.
Kako ste mogli primjetiti, naši izbori u Kanadi su jako smješni. Koristimo se zastarjelim sustavima koji su nepošteni i stvaraju nasumične rezultate. Kanada je trenutačno vođena strankom koju većina Kanađana u stvari nije željela. Kako možemo iskreno i savjesno poticati više ljudi da glasaju kada se glasovi ne broje u Kanadi? Spojite sve to zajedno i naravno da su ljudi ravnodušni. To je kao da se trudite zabiti u cigleni zid.
Now, I'm not trying to be negative by throwing all these obstacles out and explaining what's in our way. Quite the opposite -- I actually think people are amazing and smart and that they do care, but that, as I said, we live in this environment where all these obstacles are being put in our way. As long as we believe that people, our own neighbors, are selfish, stupid or lazy, then there's no hope. But we can change all those things I mentioned. We can open up city hall. We can reform our electoral systems. We can democratize our public spaces.
Ne želim biti negativan spominjući sve te prepreke i objašnjavajući što nam je na putu. Upravo suprotno: mislim kako su ljudi nevjerojatni i pametni i da se brinu. Ali to, kao što sam rekao, živimo u okruženju gdje su nam sve te prepreke nametnute. Dok god vjerujemo kako su ljudi, naši susjedi, sebični, glupi ili lijeni, do tada nema nade. Ali možemo promijeniti sve te stvari koje sam spomenuo. Možemo otvoriti gradsku vijećnicu. Možemo reformirati sustave glasovanja. Možemo demokratizirati naše javne prostore.
My main message is: if we can redefine apathy, not as some kind of internal syndrome, but as a complex web of cultural barriers that reinforces disengagement, and if we can clearly define, clearly identify what those obstacles are, and then if we can work together collectively to dismantle those obstacles, then anything is possible.
Moja glavna poruka je, ako možemo redefinirati ravnodušnost, ne kao neku vrstu unutrašnjeg sindroma, već kao kompleksnu mrežu kulturoloških prepreka koje potiču neangažiranost, i ako možemo jasno definirati, jasno definirati, koje su to prepreke, i onda ako možemo raditi zajedno na njihovom uklanjanju, onda je sve moguće.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
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