CONVERSATIONS
Check Yourself
Before you go apeshit
In a passionate conversation with my boss from over the summer (she’s a CSR rockstar and goddess), I was venting about the lack of responsibility in the entertainment world. I blabbed on and on about how big entertainment companies aren’t doing anything to help their communities and the millions of consumers that support their existence. I proposed all my brilliant solutions to solve this and aired my grievances about how I couldn’t believe this all wasn’t already happening. And on and on I went.
She stopped me. Then asked how much research was behind my loud overtures.
Unfortunately, I had to honestly reply with “Not much,” but continued venting anyway, claiming “I just know that this is how it is!”
She look at me and started talking about several initiatives by Warner Brothers, Disney and NBC (all companies I had just told her weren’t doing anything). She then broke the hard news that the arts rank low in the list of causes that people care about. Though this saddens me, it is true. Food, clothing, housing, healthcare are all more pertinent needs than the arts. As a result, these big entertainment companies focus their CSR efforts on those causes that provide immediate and necessary help to their communities (see my CSR RIGHT NOW post about WB).
“Do your homework before you go apeshit,” were her closing remarks. And she is so right.
Any of you with a passion will understand how easy it is to get caught up in a flurry of zeal. You will understand the undying drive to change something. And you, like me, might forget to check yourself. To make sure your proclamations are tried and true.
But we must.
The minute I returned home I began my research and found so many obvious issues with my grand statements. My arguments were ignorant and uninformed. I realized, “How am I going to change anything if I sound like an idiot?”
You can’t redirect a river if you don’t even know where the water is.
Are you a radical? Do you have any methods of checking yourself before you boldly claim what no man has ever claimed before? (forgive the cheesy Star Trek reference)
