Sunshocked

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which denies same-sex couples the right to marry. Reaction in San Francisco was swift and severe, if not strategic.

Since I’ve leaked that one of Diligent Creative’s goals is to pull non-profits to the bleeding edge of online strategy, some might appreciate my defining exactly what that is.

Metaphors allow us to give meaning to the ever increasing amounts of information in our lives while maintaining sanity and—hopefully—dignity. But what happens when our metaphors are wrong?

Criticism of activists tends to fall into one of two categories. First, that they are hypocritical (e.g. driving cars to protest oil). Second, that they are irrelevant (e.g. riding bikes instead of driving cars like the rest of America). So which is it?

A rash of informative but irrelevant signs have gone up in my neighborhood lately, reminding me of the perennial flaw of activism in today’s accelerated and alienated world.

I recently saw “Your Mommy Kills Animals”, a documentary on SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) and well-rounded discussion of the animal rights movement. It’s a pity that it’s a Right Wing propaganda piece.

The term “aikido activism” gets tossed around more than a white-belted uke in the progressive movement. As metaphors go, its a good one. Before you get on the mat yourself, here are a few basic lessons.

A dinner date last night turned unexpectedly into a discussion of how (or if) non-profits can be held accountable for their achievements to the same degree as for-profit ventures. I woke up wanting to do some more research and get a little deeper.

To be completely honest, there are some concepts in here that could likely go back into the oven for some more baking… but I think I may be on to something.

I called my friend Brant to attend a screening of “Everything’s Cool” at the SFIFF last weekend. It turns out that he was already there, as a panelist. That was only the first of many “Think Globally, Act—Hey I Know That Guy!” moments from the film.