Why Micro Demonstrations?
Every day I go out and I walk downtown with a sign. The sign may say “peace has a chance” or it can say: “campaign finance reform.” I make new signs every few days to communicate messages to people that I think we all need to talk about. I also make signs that offer services to people. I believe it is through this kind of work that we can make up for what the internet lacks.
“The Internet is a technology that has the power to let everyone in the world understand each other”
Edward Snowden says this in Oliver Stone’s recent film. This is true, but we need to emphasize the “let.” So far in the history of the Internet we have not gotten to understand each other. Perhaps this is where the old media had been better. The problem, I believe, is that many of us have bet the farm on the internet, but the internet is just a machine. It lacks human intelligence and sensitivity.
I’m not some kind of kumbaya singing activist from Boulder who knows nothing about business machines. I say this as a programmer and as person who cares how organizations are run. IT can be wonderful, but most IT projects fail. We have not learned what Ohno Taiichi and Toyota Motors have achieved: giving our automation a human touch. Human intelligence is what is missing from much of our automation and AI still isn’t good enough. I go out everyday with my sign because it is still the best way to communicate with others.
People of every political color and background come up to me and just want to talk about what’s going on. We share ideas. I ask them what they care about. They tell me. I tell them why I think what they care about could better affected with different solutions. I ask them for what kinds of sources of news they use. If they make a good point, I want to know how they came to it. That way we can share it with others.
I also try to gage how well my Micro Demonstrations work. I ask people what they think the sign means. If everyone paraphrases it accurately, I have done my work and am getting my message across. For my original “Peace Has A Chance” sign, two people thought I meant: “Pence Has A Chance.” I was floored. I sometimes ask people who are far away if they can read the sign well. I’ve never got a thumbs down on that one. I would love it if every customer understood the message the first time they beheld it.
I also offer services. I bought a cheap cell phone that I can afford to have stolen. I have signs that say things like: “Dial-A-Senator. No seriously use my cell phone right now.” I want to make it easy for people to participate in what is left of our Republic. Sometimes people are just happy to see that somebody is taking action. I want people to interact in ways that change their thinking. I also hope that I can inspire people.
This is the most important part: my Micro Demonstrations almost do not matter. They are an excuse for me to teach everyone else how to do their own. I am offering free mentorship to anyone who is committed to non-violence, avoiding conflict with the law, who will share their media in the public domain, who does not bother people and who have a message that is not-for-profit (that’s not to say that businesses won’t eventually want to do Micro Demonstrations). This mentorship may include topics such as:
- how to design a sign
- how to test a sign’s effectiveness
- how to research sound policy
- using comedy
- how to be service rather than an annoyance
- harnessing the power of social media
- how to write computer code for an organization
- how to test the effectiveness of your work
- how to produce professional media (photos, podcasts, video)
- how to run an organization
- how to teach someone else to make their own Micro Demonstrations
I suspect that my generation has been more micromanaged than perhaps any generation before it, yet we see through the BS so well. MBAs have made most jobs miserable. Most corporations are wasteful and are often ineffective. Most of the managers are decent enough people, but don’t even know that there is a better way. We have been demoralized, but we shall be demoralized no longer. We have been told that our opinion matters, but have not been taken into account. We have not been listened to even if we were heard. Now we may share with our neighbors exactly what we think and not feel like we have compromised our integrity.
One of my great regrets over the past eight years was not participating in Occupy Wall Street so that I could try to find a way to bring Occupy together with The Tea Party, because they agreed on some big issues. I never really felt that I fit in with Occupy. For the past two years, I have felt more solidarity with them than ever. The issue was that I worried they would break the law. I don’t like getting in people’s faces. This is not to say that most Occupy people broke the law or got in your face. I know people who did get in trouble during Occupy. Perhaps Occupy and I could have really benefited each other.
I’m just not sure that I fit in anywhere very well. I don’t think I’m alone. For me it took the Military Reform Movement and Campaign Finance Reform to wake me up. Not everyone gets that chance. I would like to be available for help. I want to give a new definition to working within the system. I don’t want revolution. I want evolution with integrity. In this case we are working within the system to serve what remains of our Republic. There are many of us who have been looking for a way to be good citizens AND get things done. I believe that most activists want this, but aren’t sure how. That’s why I started InstaMarch.org.
