Chapter 5
“And we’ve all likely seen (or possibly created) artwork that seeks to perform a similar function: using bold images to “visualize data” and illustrate important information that, again, is hoped to awaken people to what’s really going on.” (172)
I find works like this to be very significant because everybody learns differently. Well some people can hear numbers and data and understand with full comprehension, a lot of people are visual thinkers or need something to explain to them linguistically. I see myself as a visual thinker and struggle with numbers, especially equating numbers to people. Images and even words in bold text may not only bring more attention from a visual standpoint, but also make information a bit easier to access. Finding different ways to communicate with people is essential when you are trying to get across an idea.
“We think in stories. Stories are simply data that is woven together in ways we find meaningful, and they are the way we effectively process and retain larger amounts of information … We might not remember the words verbatim, but we are able to understand some- thing far more valuable: their meaning.”
I can only remember things based on specific ideas or images. I struggle very hard to remember phrases, dates, times and numbers. I'm sure a lot of us remember our childhood through either stories being told to us from other peoples perspectives or through reliving an experience by watching it on a VHS tape for example. I think this is an interesting way to go about art and activism because I recall in another chapter how they mentioned the best way for a teacher to impact another person is to make it unique to their own experience. Keeping this in mind, if we remember things in a story like a pattern, stories are personal to us. Narratives are important and strong. Stories can be personable, relatable, expressed in specific ways. If we think in stories, we as artists can visually and linguistically depict the stories in a way that the narrative is easily accessible and also contains valuable information to the viewer. Lessons, calls to action, narratives, and experiences can all be seen as stories in the way we take their information in.
“Instead, most of the associations we make and actions we take happen seemingly automatically, without much thought at all.” (181)
Not to be too personal or anything but in past therapy sessions when I was young we talked about automatic thinking. A lot of our automatic thoughts are unquestioned, based on our experiences, and can even be laced in trauma if it's something personal. For instance, if someone is advocating for something specific and a viewer sees it and finds it goes against their beliefs, they can be angry. If they are given factual information, they can experience cognitive dissonance and feel immense discomfort and as a result may lash out. There may not be much thought behind unpacking that feeling or the facts, but the automatic thought is still there. I feel that's one of the main reasons why a lot of older people are set in their ways and don't like being told their perspectives may be factually incorrect. Of course this is a more generalized extreme but in thinking about snap judgements, it can either be used to help inform an audience or can be a limitation or distraction from a true message.
Chapter 6
“We like to invert the conventional order and lead with the benefits, thinking of all the positive reasons for people to adopt a certain idea or behavior before considering the negative reasons for why they shouldn’t.”
I think a lot of people struggle with these back and forths. Generally, it someone is comfortable or complicit in something, they're not going to want to look at the negatives at all. Sometimes people see positives and see that as a green light rather than a yellow light. If you're trying to change somebody's habits, the way they perceive and issue, what it costs, and so on is individual to them and might not be so easy to change.
“We also need to under- stand why, even in the face of all the good arguments we put forth, and why, even when there’s seemingly “nothing to lose,” people are so resistant to change. Not because they’re bad, dumb, or stubborn, but because they, like all of us, experience loss aversion.”
I do think there is a lot of shame toward people who refuse to change. On one hand, someone like an abuser may not change because of mental health issues and inability to seek professional help. On another, someone may (for example) find it difficult to become vegan despite ethically wanting to do so due to accessibility, pricing, and not enough time to cook, the alternative being cheap fast food that's usually non-vegan. That's a wild little example to put here but it's an example to show the way people can be influenced toward their original comforts even if they do seek change. What can be “worth it” to one person may not be the same for someone else. For older people with their cognitive dissonance, they may feel more comfortable not challenging their beliefs as it may uproot their entire perspective of their lives. There are many layers. Sure, there are some bad people out there; and people can do bad things, but that doesn't always mean they ARE truthfully bad people. Some people just struggle to change for one reason or another.
(I'm sorry I can't really find the artist or title for this?)
I chose this artwork not only in reference to my quotes above regarding our seeking change but having restrictions, but also for the story written about. In 2012, Muslim American activist Linda Sarsour went door to door offering assistance in the NYC neighborhood when she encountered a woman who was against the construction of a local mosque. The old woman accepted help from Linda and began talking with her, to which she admitted she regretted her decision to go against the mosque. I chose this picture that was portrayed near this same story as it compiles the structure of these past two chapters in a cohesive way.
The older woman’s perspective against the mosque was likely fueled by her own misconceptions about Muslims and thus she used her own individual power to go against someone different from herself. Having met Linda, she realized “oh that's an actual nice person” and now categorized her as Muslim but also.. possibly neighborly. Logical fallacies are something we all struggle with in one way or another. To take several examples, such as veganism, overpopulation, and so on shows how we may have bigger intentions of society but can fail in our own front.
An artwork like this can pose inner reflections and make us ask what we're doing that's also double minded. It isn't portrayed harshly, even kind of humorously, and allows us to think. No one specifically is being targeted for attack. They're all human. I believe this is meaningful because no human is perfect and it's really easy to scrutinize someone for being illogical, for messing up, or for being a hypocrite. We don't have to dismiss peoples mistakes entirely, as we should take responsibility for our actions, but we should allow people room to grow without feeling ashamed for their actions. Even if you think someone's a terrible person for supporting someone or doing something, saying they will only cause anger and resentment. While I am still thinking about my final intervention, maybe I can think about perspectives and how that impacts activism.
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