On An Organic Social Construct In A Technolgical Civilization

Written by: Aaron M. Watkins

As we are all aware, the age in which we live requires that each and every citizen be an informed citizen, and dare I say a proactive citizen. The shady policies and actions of the American government created the environment under which the peace movement began, and certain peace orgainizations were formed. The creation of such an organization is the indicator that there is a core group of concerned citizens who choose to remain informed, proactive, and involved in the future of our country. As such a citizen, I, Aaron M. Watkins, born during the Reagan-era, and having come of age under an environment reminiscent of a dictatorship with the noose of citizen slavery ever tightening around the throat of America, have come to the understanding that it is up to us, the citizens, to keep in check the powers that be. If left to its own devices, the current administration would undoubtedly evolve into a totalitarian regime, whereby the citizens of this country would be stripped of every freedom and liberty set forth by the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution in fact has become so irrelevant in the minds of the Bush administration that George W. Bush actually referred to the Constitution of the United States (the basis of every American freedom, mind you) as “a goddamn piece of paper”. This is the mindset under which the current leaders of this country conduct the affairs that determine the fate of the world. It goes without saying that the Founding Fathers of this country would defend to the death the ideology of the current administration. The extraordinary men who founded this country risked their own freedoms and in fact their very lives for the ideals contained within the Constitution, and would surely take exception to its reference as “a goddamn piece of paper”.

As an informed, proactive human being, it is with an obligatory attitude that I pursue educating the public at large; and I encourage others to do the same. However, I look upon the social landscape of America, wondering how we have gotten to such a point that nobody seems to care about what is happening, or what will happen if the current course remains. With the American community eroding (or at least evolving) it is important for the proactive citizen to retain personable communication to an ever-increasingly isolated public so that the informed maintain a dialogue with the not-so-informed. When I say an isolated public I don’t necessarily mean isolated from the goings on of society. Today’s technology allows for anyone (save they be willing) to know about any event happening anywhere in the world at any time. The problem is that not every avenue of obtaining information contains objective reporting, with informing the public of the truth as its number one priority. When the priority of a media entity becomes profit over accurate information, anything coming from that source becomes tainted with profit prioritized propaganda. Ideally, each and every citizen should care whether they were being indoctrinated with truth, and would take the necessary steps to wade through the murk of misinformation using the ever-expanding technologies at our disposal as a tool for the gathering of information. However, the trade off that inevitably occurs with increased access to, and use of technology seems to be the loss of an organic social construct that has historically been necessary for the creation and implementation of a social movement. With this in mind, we need to approach our mission creatively, remaining aware of the fact that the social landscape of America is ever-evolving into a condition of what has been dubbed by Polish-British sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman, “liquid modernity”. Bauman defines liquid modernity as “the condition of a society that lacks a clear sense of orientation”; almost exactly defining American society as it exists today. While technology has played a major role in alienating people from one another, and in the evolution of liquid modernity, it can paradoxically be the very tool by which American society can re-solidify, and regain a sense of direction and collective orientation. Hypothetically, what peace organizations can do is to use this technology to partner with alternative media sources and social networks, cementing a relationship between the proactive citizen, its respective peace organization, alternative media sources, and other proactive citizens, thereby creating an organic social construct with clearly defined goals, containing built-in alternative media sources necessary for an organic society to remained accurately informed. Let us imagine for a moment how such an idea would work. The peace organization would be the center of the network, defining goals, connecting people, staging events, etc. Next, imagine a social network whereby each person is responsible for maintaining a dialogue with five different people in the network. Each person would maintain daily contact with their respective five people, sharing everything from new ideas to daily news. If structured like this, information would reach every person in the social network within one day organically. What I mean by organically is that the information would be passed along person to person, and not by automated means.

This is, of course, just an idealistic notion but it is at least a start. All great movements and revolutions start with just that; an idealistic notion that grows into a tangible movement involving people and whole communities. This country is in desperate need of change, and that change (just as a flame begins with a spark) begins with a notion, and I indeed have a notion. I have a notion (perhaps naively) that change is just around the corner; that the people will soon wake up and see what is being done to them. All that is required for change in this country is an informed public, willing to come together to stand up against oppression, to speak out against totalitarianism, and for God’s sake, to get out there and to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.