Posting and Writing: Abandoning the Echo Chamber of Despair

excellent film watch it! please read this piece that I wrote in its spirit.

Recently, I did not post or write for several days due to trips and holidays. It gave me a chance to absorb and receive writing rather than to give. I came to a conclusion that surprised myself. Those of us globally who are trying to change the world for the better with our words (unlike classical journalism which is about reporting harsh realities) must commit to writing less and less on what cannot be changed, on what is essentially outrageous and dispiriting, UNLESS, we include a practical step that anyone reading can readily take. For example, no more stories on voter registration prevention, unless there is a link to what I, me, myself, can do in some way–not by giving money only–to go and help someone get registered. No more about Muslim kids being kidnapped for global war, unless there is a link to some organization or teacher or preacher who is reaching out to those same kids successfully.

I realize this is a tall order, that it is hard to find such links to practical work, and I am not talking about no more posts at all that are despairing without a practical outlet. We, like the journalists, above all must expose the bitter truths of the world. But scientific evidence is overwhelming that we may be shooting ourselves in the foot by depressing our readers and driving them to inaction, when we offer no way to change impending disasters or moral outrages. Therefore, every post on climate degradation should come with one practical step to reverse it. These steps can be very simple, not earth shattering, but something important to do. I want to shift the nature of our global intervention as a community of social change through writing and reporting, shift it toward every single human being who reads being empowered with at least one way to take his feelings and turn it into practical and positive ways to change the earth for the better.

We writers must not be an international echo chamber of despair, but rather a global symphony of social action.