#MYLDN (468)

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

Ok, so looks like its protest week…we live in the age of the online petition and it seems that everyone is campaiging for something evil to be stopped. It feels that we have all become activists fighting for what we believe in. And yet there are studies to show that people actually do less in real terms as they feel they have ‘done their bit’ by typing their name and pressing send, never to think of it again. The rise of the internet meant that everyone got a voice but is any of it actually making a difference? Can our cries be heard?  When world leaders seem hellbent on ignoring everyone bar those whose pockets they lie in, what is the point?

I was interviewed last week for a U.S website and asked what the best thing about my death of conversation gallery being seen across the globe (yeah, yeah, stop going on about it) and I said that it had given me hope. It showed me that if you can package an idea in a way that truly connects with people you can spread it around the world in the blink of an eye. It made me feel, when so often you feel powerless, that change is possible.

I released my Help The Rich Charity Appeal film this week for the makers of the Spirit Level aimed to highlight the massive wealth inbalance in the world  and am really hoping that it also will go viral but its tough to make an impact as you are always fighting pets doing humaney things, Star Wars and Kardashian’s arse. Another website who featured my pictures  on their site had, as one of their top posts, footage a baby who was afraid of its own farts. While Ferguson burned this is what people were looking at. Is this really what we’ve become?

Yet whether it is a twerking dog (havent seen but there has to be one) or a charity appeal we are relentlessly inundated. One of the reasons the #helptherich film was a parody of charity ads, is that the worthy causes pile in as much as the unworthy ones and you start to wither in over-saturation (and yes, am aware I am part of that deluge). Maybe there is just too much incoming traffic and its too overwhelming to process correctly regardless of the value of its content.

Even if you do break through the endless sea of trivial nonsense and people actually watch what you are peddling, how long does it resonate? What action will follow? I read an article on the success of the Occupy movement and they judged its impact solely on google searches and hashtags but what did that have to do with genuine activity? Those people were at home with cups of tea, not fighting on the streets.

We did the march against the closure of Madame Jojos on Saturday (MYLDN 465) and we went there knowing it was utterly pointless but to do nothing at all would have been so much worse. Apathy and resignation are never the answers and we must continue to fight for fairness even in its absence. I will now descend from my soap box and let you go about your day…assuming you haven’t already moved on to something else…google search…twerking dog…13,700,000 results