Culture, Violence, Isolation and Change

We wonder why unspeakable unthinkable tragedy’s like Sandy Hook are growing in our culture.  We are not connecting the dots to SEE that all of the violence we are experiencing is a symptom of the state of our culture- or a LACK OF IT.  The ABSENCE of a robust forward leaning culture is what we are experiencing.

Culture can equally grow from repeated experiences of horror, fear and ugliness, or from the sharing of our values, our excellence, our beauty, our highest purpose and best use. Culture is reflected through the development of our mind and our ideas. Garbage in, garbage out. Great ideas and experiences in, great ideas and experiences out.

And if from this unimaginable tragedy we now, finally, choose to use it as fuel to begin to become a better people?  Then we need to begin with banning violence in movies, television and video games. We need to NOT REWARD those who profit from the glorification of weapons, violence and killing. It is time for Hollywood to enact its OWN self-imposed ban on sensationalizing destruction in films and television productions.

We are in a crisis of cultural identity because our social and emotional health and ability to express who we are lives increasingly in isolation. We as a people are living, working, and sharing our lives in isolation from one another.

The biggest social moments of our days live in reading facebook and posting pictures and comments. This is the “community” we are closest too. We live largely unknown to our neighbors, our co-workers and even, now, our families thanks to the same technological revolutionary advancements we revere, from the internet to the iphone to Youtube to Facebook to text chat.  We no longer need to share our feelings, hopes, desires, fears, or needs with anyone. We can hide behind our computers and sink into ourselves and choose the companionship of our phones to conversation at our family dinner table. We increasingly avoid meaningful human interaction and emotional engagement.

This is not new new news and yet meaningful change does not happen in isolation! We need to grow a culture of change!

Isolation does not give us the collision of ideas we need to innovate, to create or fall in love. These are the ingredients of change.  Legislation, gun bans and police officers in schools is not our path forward.

It is time to restore the value we place on growing our identity squarely on dramatically improving our culture. Fully integrating the arts and creative self expression into our lives is THE ONLY SUSTAINABLE WAY forward to create the change we seek.

About Lisa Canning

“Vowels are to words what creativity is to the world~ basic and necessary.”

Lisa Canning is the founder of IAEOU, the Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (IAE) and Entrepreneur the Arts.

What motivates you to explore your creativity? Follow me @IAEOU