Caution--I am passionate about this! One of my really good friends, Holly, and I have been talking quite a bit the past few days about the objectification of the poor, especially those in the developing world, especially those in Africa, especially the children. She coined a term that I am adopting and incorporating into my vocabulary in reference to this issue--poverty porn!
I mean, where do we find permission either in our affluence or religion to travel to those "poor places" and "love" everyone out of their poverty? You know what I'm talking about, we all hear about Somalian refugees, or we see commercials on tv that make us feel guilty, or we run across the occasional movie trailer on the Internet for a non-prof that is doing "special work" that we all need to know about. And instead of sharing the goodness of their work or the need that is present or recruiting volunteers on a factual level, instead people are objectified, children are portrayed void of human contact making them look like caged zoo animals, and the casual observer is left to mourn the atrocity of the human condition alone with no outlet to grieve properly. It is all about emotion, desperation, and guilt. Maybe, that's a bit extreme, but you get the point.
Now, hear me out. I want you to read this as less of an accusation and more of a question...(And I'm not including in this post those organizations and non-profits that do a GREAT job of communicating such difficult news and needs without the objectification factor.)
What are appropriate ways to relay the direness of the developing world's message of need and appropriate assistance from first world citizens? Surely we can do better at preserving the worth of the individual who is in need. Would it not be better to recruit volunteers and financial offerings from a sense of urgency and a willingness to contribute to the growth of humanity rather than from a sense of guilt or shame? Is it fair to even try to separate the two? Again, how can this best be done, and who is already doing it well? I just don't think Jesus was about the business of making us feel bad about ourselves for doing wrong or neglecting important matters. He was more interested in the problem itself, right? Please, I invite you to share your insights.
The image is a portrayal of guilt. It makes me ask the question, maybe we all need a little bit of guilt in order to help us get off our rumps and up working for some justice. Then again, let's not confuse guilt with conviction and the motivating force behind each of those emotions. Finally, maybe I'm just a bit too emotional for my own good and the only one who feels this way...am I overreacting?
--Maybe a better title for this post is Rant #1!
2 comments:
Hey L - Great post. I went to a workshop a few weeks ago on marketing. I know it's probably silly to bring up concepts in marketing on a post like this, but the presenter discussed ways to present your message based on people's core needs. People want to feel included. People want to have hope for the future (hence the tremendous success of Obama's campaign.) You can read a summary of the workshop here: http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/2008/03/notes-from-seven-things-everyone-wants.html
A concept that really struck me from that workshop is the idea that fear, gloom and doom DO NOT motivate people to take action. One of the participants in the workshop used the example of a lung cancer commercial that showed everyone talking out of tubes or something gross like that. After the commercial, someone said, "I really feel like a cigarette." It was almost like the scolding prompted people to WANT the behavior. Katya, the presenter, discusses this concept on her blog:
"The last thing we want to feel is helpless. Remember that, and tap into those human needs as much as you can. Sell, don’t scold. Pair negative consequences of inaction with the uplifting image of action. Show the solution. Convince people that, together, we can handle the challenge, not just hand-wring our way into despair. In other words, break those chains of negativity. We want out of them."
Full post: http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/gloom_and_doom_are_downers1/
Non-profits can learn a thing or two from marketers.
In the context of our faith, hope is always a motivating factor. Christian communities have practiced and embraced resurrection hope thousands of years before it became trendy to be hopeful. I fundamentally believe people are motivated by hope for the future. If we are to motivate people to take action on the issues of poverty, we must provide stories of projects that are working to alleviate poverty, stories of triumph.
Yes! I totally agree. Hope is a great response to this. I think this is also why I get frustrated when, at the end of a long commercial of confronting perpetual disaster and perilous situations, the few rolling credits of what is being done to rectify the problem is never enough for me. So rather than focus on the sadness to create moods of helplessness, it's more fruitful to focus on the work at hand as an avenue of creating hope and belief that goodness will and does prosper. This seems so much more in tune with the Christian way (whatever that means). Thanks, Holly. And yeah, there is a bit of irony in learning from the marketing world on this one. hmmm...I'm thinking again of American Idol giving back.
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