I've been reading "How to Stay Sane" by Philippa Perry (wife of my favourite artist, Grayson). It's part of "The School of Life" series which is dedicated to answering modern life's big questions in a philosophical manner.
In chapter 4, "What's the Story", Perry writes:
"We are primed to use stories. Part of our survival as a species depended upon listening to the stories of our tribal elders as they shared parables and passed down their experience and the wisdom of those who went before. As we get older it is our short-term memory that fades rather than our long-term memory. Perhaps we have evolved like this so that we are able to tell the younger generation about the stories and experiences that have formed us which may be important to subsequent generations if they are to thrive.
I worry though, about what might happen to our minds if most of the stories we hear are about greed, war and atrocity. For this reason I recommend not watching too much television. Research exists that shows people who watch too much television for more than four hours a day believe that they are far more likely to be involved in a violent incident in the forthcoming week than those who watch television for less than two hours per day. Not only does Hollywood supply a succession of movies in which 'goodies' win by resorting to violence rather than dialogue, but even the news appears to be filtered for maximum emotional shock value, which means it is bias towards bad news rather than good. Be careful which stories you expose yourself to. I am not saying it is not important to be informed about what is going on, but to be informed repeatedly about bad news will give us neither a balanced view of our world nor of the other people who inhabit it.
In contrast to this torrent of bad news, I think it is important to seek out optimistic stories and foster the optimism within ourselves."
Perry goes on to list reasons why optimism is a good idea, including scientifically proved statistics such as increased life span. So it seems that having an optimistic out look is important. Referring to the daily coverage of the Olympics, I recently wrote on my facebook page that it just goes to show that a few weeks of positive news rather than constant "doom and gloom" can change the mood of a nation...
So I have decided to check out some good / optimistic news websites. My first reaction to what I found was that I thought they were quite cheesy, or overly pulling on the heart strings with emotional life altering stories. They were all either too hippy dippy or religious for my liking. But then I came across some interesting finds...
The first relates to what Perry says about what will happen to our minds if all we hear about is greed. There has been so much in the news recently about corporate greed. This optimistic website reports on ethical business practices, from local companies to international brands. Outdoors
fashion brand Timberland offers a really interesting opportunity for it's staff (click on the link below and scroll right down to see all companies and news):
Even as I write this I fear sounding too hippy or idealistic and perhaps that's because of the way that I have been programmed to think... I don't know. But what I do know is that I am unhappy about the unfairness and inequality that still exists in this day and age and I want to learn more about the people who are doing their bit to try and change the world around them. I think we struggle with the idea of life after crony capitalism because a) we feel helpless amongst these giant corporations that seem to have all of the control of every single industry including the arts and b)as yet, nobody has offered a realistic solution. At least the Occupy movement has allowed us to actually wonder if a post-capitalist world is possible? Stories like the Timberland initiative at least show us that a fairer, more ethical corporate world is possible...
Going back to good news after digressing slightly, I found another website with optimistic stories about a homeless 13 year old winning a $130,000 children's Nobel Peace Prize and a Philippine man who has opened his own house as a public library to help educate his local community. But my favourite story on this particular website was a story of a man and his son, who likes to wear skirts and dresses. This really is a story of love and compassion and if it doesn't warm your cockles then I'm telling you, nothing will!:
The funny thing is that I normally always do concentrate my work on the more negative stories in the news and media such as the UK riots and inequality. But the outcome is always optimistic and hopeful: I truly believe that the arts, including fashion can link radical thinking, such as 'life after capitalism' to mainstream thinking. Not because I'm 100% sure that capitalism no longer works but because as long as we are having a conversation about it we won't end up in an Orwellian view of the future, which lets face it, would be pretty awful.
