Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy

Prevoditelj: Mislav Ante Omazić - EFZG Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

How often do we hear that people just don't care?

Koliko često čujemo

da ljudi jednostavno ne brinu?

Koliko puta su vam rekli

How many times have you been told

that real, substantial change isn't possible

da stvarna, značajna promjena nije moguća

jer je većina ljudi presebična,

because most people are too selfish,

preglupa ili prelijena

too stupid or too lazy

kako bi pokušali napraviti promjenu u svojim zajednicama?

to try to make a difference in their community?

I propose to you today that apathy as we think we know it

Namjeravam vam danas objasniti da ravnodušnost kakvu znamo

doesn't actually exist;

u stvarnosti ne postoji,

but rather, that people do care,

već da ljudi mare,

but that we live in a world that actively discourages engagement

ali da živimo u svijetu

koji aktivno obeshrabruje angažman

by constantly putting obstacles and barriers in our way.

stalno stavljajući prepreke i barijere na naš put.

I'll give you some examples of what I mean.

I dati ću vam neke primjere onoga na što mislim.

Počnimo s gradskom vijećnicom.

Let's start with city hall.

Jeste li ikada ranije vidjeli jednu od ovih?

You ever see one of these before?

Ovo je novinski oglas.

This is a newspaper ad.

It's a notice of a zoning application change for a new office building

Ovo je obavijest o primjeni promjene zone za novu uredsku zgradu

kako bi susjedstvo znalo što se događa.

so the neighborhood knows what's happening.

Kao što vidite, to je nemoguće pročitati.

As you can see, it's impossible to read.

Morate proći kroz pola oglasa

You need to get halfway down

to even find out which address they're talking about,

kako biste saznali o kojoj se adresi radi,

i onda još dalje, fontom 10 piše

and then further down, in tiny 10-point font,

kako se možete uključiti.

to find out how to actually get involved.

Imagine if the private sector advertised in the same way --

Zamislite kada bi se privatni sektor oglašavao na isti način --

if Nike wanted to sell a pair of shoes --

kada bi Nike želio prodati par tenisica

(Laughter)

And put an ad in the paper like that.

i stavio oglas poput ovog u novine.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Now, that would never happen.

To se nikada ne bi dogodilo.

Nikada nećete vidjeti oglas poput ovoga,

You'll never see an ad like that,

jer Nike stvarno želi da kupite njihove tenisice.

because Nike actually wants you to buy their shoes,

whereas the city of Toronto clearly doesn't want you involved

Dok grad Toronto

očito ne želi da se uključite u proces planiranja,

with the planning process,

otherwise their ads would look something like this,

u protivnom im oglasi ne bi izgledali poput ovog --

sa svim informacijama jasno iznesenim.

with all the information laid out clearly.

Sve dok će grad stavljati ovakve oglase

As long as the city's putting out notices like this

kako bi uključio ljude,

to try to get people engaged,

do tada, naravno, ljudi neće biti uključeni.

then of course people aren't going to be engaged.

Ali to nije ravnodušnost;

But that's not apathy; that's intentional exclusion.

to je namjerno isključivanje.

Public space.

Javni prostor.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

The manner in which we mistreat our public spaces

Način na koji zlostavljamo naš javni prostor

predstavlja ogromnu prepreku

is a huge obstacle towards any type of progressive political change,

prema bilo kakvom obliku progresivne političke promjene.

because we've essentially put a price tag on freedom of expression.

Jer smo u stvari stavili cijenu na slobodu izražavanja.

Whoever has the most money gets the loudest voice,

Onaj tko ima najviše novca njegov glas se najjače čuje,

dominating the visual and mental environment.

dominirajući vizualnom i mentalnom okolinom.

The problem with this model is there are some amazing messages

Problem tog modela

jest da postoje neke nevjerojatne poruke koje bi se morale kazati

that need to be said, that aren't profitable to say.

ali nisu profitabilne.

So you're never going to see them on a billboard.

Tako da ih nikada nećete vidjeti na oglasnoj ploči.

Mediji igraju važnu ulogu

The media plays an important role

in developing our relationship with political change,

u razvoju našeg odnosa s političkim promjenama,

mainly by ignoring politics and focusing on celebrities and scandals,

uglavnom ignorirajući politiku

i fokusirajući se na slavne ličnosti i skandale.

Ali čak i kada govore o važnim političkim problemima,

but even when they do talk about important political issues,

they do it in a way that I feel discourages engagement.

govore na način da se osjećam obeshrabrenim angažirati se.

I'll give you an example.

I dati ću vam primjer: Now magazin od prošlog tjedna --

The "Now" magazine from last week: progressive, downtown weekly in Toronto.

progresivni, urbani tjednik iz Toronta.

Ovo je njihova naslovnica.

This is the cover story.

It's an article about a theater performance,

Ovo je članak o kazališnoj izvedbi,

and it starts with basic information about where it is,

i započinje s osnovnom informacijom gdje se igra,

in case you actually want to go and see it after you've read the article --

u slučaju da želite sami otići i pogledati izvedbu nakon što pročitate članak --

where, the time, the website.

gdje, vrijeme, web stranica.

Same with this -- it's a movie review.

Isto s ovim -- to je recenzija filma,

An art review.

umjetnička recenzija,

A book review -- where the reading is in case you want to go.

recenzija knjige -- gdje se odvija čitanje u slučaju da želite otići.

A restaurant -- you might not want to just read about it,

Restoran -- možda ne želite samo čitati o njemu,

možda želite otići do restorana.

maybe you want to go there.

So they tell you where it is, the prices, the address, the phone number, etc.

Tako vam kažu gdje se nalazi, koje su cijene,

adresa, telefonski broj, itd.

Then you get to their political articles.

Onda odete do njihovih članaka o politici.

Here's a great article about an important election race that's happening.

Ovdje je sjajan članak o važnoj izbornoj utrci koja se odvija.

Govori o kandidatima -- jako dobro napisan --

It talks about the candidates, written very well,

ali bez informacija, bez nastavka,

but no information, no follow-up, no websites for the campaigns,

nema web stranice kampanje,

no information about when the debates are, where the campaign offices are.

nema informacije o tome gdje se debate održavaju, gdje je ured kampanje.

Ovdje je još jedan sjajan članak

Here's another good article,

about a new campaign opposing privatization of transit,

o novoj kampanji koja se protivi privatizaciji tranzita

without any contact information for the campaign.

bez ikakve kontaktne informacije o kampanji.

The message seems to be

Poruka je čini se

that the readers are most likely to want to eat, maybe read a book,

da bi čitatelji vrlo vjerojatno željeli jesti,

možda pročitali knjigu, možda vidjeli film, ali se ne bi angažirali u svojoj zajednici.

maybe see a movie, but not be engaged in their community.

I možda ćete misliti kako je ovo mala stvar,

You might think this is a small thing, but I think it's important,

ali ja mislim da je važno jer daje ton

because it sets a tone

and it reinforces the dangerous idea that politics is a spectator sport.

i osnažuje opasnu ideju

kako je politika sport za praćenje.

Heroes: How do we view leadership?

Heroji: Kako gledamo na vodstvo?

Look at these 10 movies. What do they have in common?

Pogledajte ovih 10 filmova. Što imaju zajedničko?

Anyone?

Bilo tko?

Svi imaju heroje koji su izabrani.

They all have heroes who were chosen.

Netko im je prišao i rekao, "Vi ste izabrani.

Someone came up to them and said, "You're the chosen one.

Postoji proročanstvo. Morate spasiti svijet."

There's a prophecy. You have to save the world."

I onda netko ode i spasi svijet jer mu je netko rekao da to učini,

And then they go off and save the world because they've been told to,

s nekoliko ljudi koje obilježi.

with a few people tagging along.

To mi pomaže razumijeti

This helps me understand

why a lot of people have trouble seeing themselves as leaders --

zašto veliki broj ljudi ima problema vidjeti se kao vođe.

because it sends all the wrong messages about what leadership is about.

Jer to šalje skroz krivu poruku o tome što vodstvo uistinu jest.

Herojski napor je skupni napor,

A heroic effort is a collective effort,

pod broj jedan.

number one.

Broj dva, to je nesavršeno; čak i nije glamurozno;

Number two, it's imperfect; it's not very glamorous,

i ne započinje naglo niti završava naglo.

and doesn't suddenly start and suddenly end.

To je kontinuirani proces koji traje cijeli život.

It's an ongoing process your whole life.

Ali najvažnije, to je dobrovoljni koncept.

But most importantly, it's voluntary.

Dobrovoljni.

It's voluntary.

Dok god učimo djecu

As long as we're teaching our kids

that heroism starts when someone scratches a mark on your forehead,

da taj heroizam započinje kada netko stavi oznaku na vaše čelo,

or someone tells you you're part of a prophecy,

ili vam netko kaže da ste dio proročanstva,

njima nedostaje najvažnija karakteristika vodstva,

they're missing the most important characteristic of leadership,

a to je da ono dolazi iznutra.

which is that it comes from within.

It's about following your own dreams, uninvited,

Radi se o slijeđenju svojih snova --

nepozvan, nepozvan --

and then working with others to make those dreams come true.

i onda radeći s drugima radite na ostvarivanju tih snova.

Political parties: oh, boy.

Političke stranke: čovječe.

Političke stranke bi mogle i trebale biti

Political parties could and should be one of the basic entry points

jedna od baznih ulaza

for people to get engaged in politics.

za ljude koje se žele angažirati.

Instead, they've become, sadly,

Umjesto toga, one se postale, nažalost,

nekreativne organizacije bez nadahnuća

uninspiring and uncreative organizations

that rely so heavily on market research and polling and focus groups

koje se oslanjaju jako na istraživanja tržišta,

anonimne glasove i fokus grupe

that they end up all saying the same thing,

tako da na kraju sve govore iste stvari,

pretty much regurgitating back to us what we already want to hear

vraćajući nam ono što smo već željeli čuti

na račun provođenja snažnih i kreativnih ideja.

at the expense of putting forward bold and creative ideas.

And people can smell that, and it feeds cynicism.

I ljudi to mogu namirisati, što hrani cinizam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)

Charitable status.

Dobrotvorni status:

Groups who have charitable status in Canada aren't allowed to do advocacy.

Grupe koje imaju dobrotvorni status u Kanadi ne mogu javno zagovarati.

To je veliki problem i velika prepreka promjeni,

This is a huge problem and a huge obstacle to change,

because it means that some of the most passionate and informed voices

jer to znači da su neki od najstrastvenijih i najinformiranijih glasova

potpuno ušutkani, posebno tijekom izbora.

are completely silenced, especially during election time.

Što nas dovodi do zadnje teme,

Which leads us to the last one, which is: our elections.

a to su naši izbori.

As you may have noticed,

Kako ste mogli primjetiti, naši izbori u Kanadi su jako smješni.

our elections in Canada are a complete joke.

Koristimo se zastarjelim sustavima

We use out-of-date systems

that are unfair and create random results.

koji su nepošteni i stvaraju nasumične rezultate.

Kanada je trenutačno vođena strankom

Canada's currently led by a party

that most Canadians didn't actually want.

koju većina Kanađana u stvari nije željela.

How can we honestly and genuinely encourage more people to vote

Kako možemo iskreno i savjesno poticati više ljudi da glasaju

when votes don't count in Canada?

kada se glasovi ne broje u Kanadi?

Spojite sve to zajedno

You add all this up together, and of course people are apathetic.

i naravno da su ljudi ravnodušni.

It's like trying to run into a brick wall.

To je kao da se trudite zabiti u cigleni zid.

Now, I'm not trying to be negative by throwing all these obstacles out

Ne želim biti negativan

spominjući sve te prepreke i objašnjavajući što nam je na putu.

and explaining what's in our way.

Upravo suprotno: mislim kako su ljudi nevjerojatni i pametni

Quite the opposite --

I actually think people are amazing and smart and that they do care,

i da se brinu.

Ali to, kao što sam rekao, živimo u okruženju

but that, as I said, we live in this environment

where all these obstacles are being put in our way.

gdje su nam sve te prepreke nametnute.

As long as we believe that people, our own neighbors,

Dok god vjerujemo kako su ljudi, naši susjedi,

sebični, glupi ili lijeni,

are selfish, stupid or lazy,

then there's no hope.

do tada nema nade.

Ali možemo promijeniti sve te stvari koje sam spomenuo.

But we can change all those things I mentioned.

Možemo otvoriti gradsku vijećnicu.

We can open up city hall.

We can reform our electoral systems.

Možemo reformirati sustave glasovanja.

We can democratize our public spaces.

Možemo demokratizirati naše javne prostore.

My main message is:

Moja glavna poruka je,

if we can redefine apathy,

ako možemo redefinirati ravnodušnost,

not as some kind of internal syndrome,

ne kao neku vrstu unutrašnjeg sindroma,

but as a complex web of cultural barriers that reinforces disengagement,

već kao kompleksnu mrežu kulturoloških prepreka

koje potiču neangažiranost,

and if we can clearly define, clearly identify what those obstacles are,

i ako možemo jasno definirati, jasno definirati,

koje su to prepreke,

i onda ako možemo raditi zajedno na njihovom uklanjanju,

and then if we can work together collectively to dismantle those obstacles,

onda je sve moguće.

then anything is possible.

Hvala vam.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)