The Green Pill Inquiry examines how metaphors and pop culture can be used to change hearts and minds. Visit here the play-by-play of the Green Pill Inquiry workshop at the 2009 Green Festival.
http://greenpill.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/metaphor-in-the-green-pill-inquiry/
9548086042 for call girls in Indira Nagar with room service
Green Pill Inquiry at the 2009 Green Festival
1. THE GREEN PILL
Mining Pop Culture
for Compelling Metaphors
San Francisco Green Festival
13 November 2009
Dave Room
daveroom@gmail.com
TheGreenPill.com
2. Today’s Path
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Brief performance piece
Primer on Metaphors
Warm-up: Group exercise
Breakout groups: uncover compelling
metaphors
• Short closing discussion
4. What are your Goggles?
• Goggles as a metaphor for the set of filters
that shape how we see the world
• Or set of metaphors that we live by
• IGNORANCE IS SPECTACLES
• Blinders prevent him from seeing the truth
• The disappointment is attributable to beer googles
• Rose tinted glasses colored her view of the situation
6. Metaphors Shape Perspective
• ARGUMENT IS WAR
– Your claims are indefensible
– She shot down all of my arguments
– His criticisms were right on target
• ARGUMENT IS DANCE
– Her criticisms are on point
– Her argument is graceful
– His dirty moves offend comprehension
• Perspective determines intervention
7. Types of Metaphors
LOVE IS
COLLABORATIVE
WORK OF ART
Constitute new view
Criticize/transform dominant view
Describe dominant view
LOVE IS JOURNEY
LOVE IS DEAD END STREET
8. What Do We Look Like to Nature?
• If nature could see us in our entirety, what
might we look like?
• How to think about this question
– Identify key elements of our relationship to
nature you want to emphasize
– Think of archetypes or metaphors that embody
the aspects you want to emphasize
– Identify examples from pop culture and art
9. HUMANITY IS WILE E COYOTE
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS SMART
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = OBLIVIOUS TO DANGER UNTIL TOO LATE
10. The Monkey Trap
HUMAN PREDICAMENT IS MONKEY TRAP
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS SMART
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = GREED, ENTITLEMENT
11. MUTINY of HUMANITY IS STEWARD
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = PLAGUE ON THE LAND
HUMANITY IS LOCUST
12. MUTINY of HUMANITY IS STEWARD
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = OVERCONSUMPTION
HUMANITY IS CATERPILLAR
13. ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS A OUT-OF-CONTROL MACHINE
MUTINY of ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS PROGRESS
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = DESTRUCTION
14.
15. ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS ROBOT
MUTINY of ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS PROGRESS
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = CONVERSION OF NATURE TO PRODUCTS
16. ECONOMIC SYSTEM is ROBOT
THE BRAIN
OPERATING
SYSTEM
LANGUAGES/COMMANDS
APPLICATIONS
THE BODY
SENSORY
MECHANISMS
MANIPULATION
OF THINGS
MOVEMENT
PRODUCTION
OCCUPATION
17. Breakouts: Pop Culture Metaphors
1. Pick someone to take notes and report back
2. Focus on assigned relationship for your
group
3. Think about elements of relationship you
want to emphasize
4. Identify examples from pop culture
illustrating elements to emphasize
5. Write element, metaphor, and pop culture
reference on tablet paper
18. Key Relationships to Explore
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Humans and Nature
System and Nature
Humans and System
Global North and Global South
Indigenous and Modern Society
19. Green Pill Inquiry
• Purpose to enhance understanding of
complex situations and identify interventions
• Three premises that form a lens of inquiry
1.
2.
3.
Blind spots affect decision making
Social systems constrain our choices
Change happens; support, resist, or shape it
20. The Green Pill Inquiry
• Use pop culture metaphors and art to awaken
and activate, develop emotional connection
• Can focus on big picture and/or specific topic
• Can tailor workshop (length, topic, purpose)
• Pilot for a Cable/Youtube show
• Collaboration opportunities
• TheGreenPill.com or Fan us on Facebook
23. THE GREEN PILL
Mining Pop Culture
for Compelling Metaphors
San Francisco Green Festival
13 November 2009
Dave Room
daveroom@gmail.com
TheGreenPill.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
This workshop is about choosing metaphors to live into rather than living metaphors we inherited. Our aim today is to discover some metaphors from pop culture that are already resident in our minds that can be activated to support the shift towards an inclusive, low consumption future. The best of which will be highlighted on the web site: thegreenpill.com
We’ll start out with a performance piece and a discussion of how metaphors affect our thinking and behavior. Then we’ll do a group exercise, breakout into groups to discover some compelling metaphors, and end with a short discussion.
Sounds good?
Put your hands up if you recognize this. Someone tell me what it is in three words. Put your hands down if you only saw the movie. Great! Well, looky here, we’ve got some visitors. [skit starts]
Dorothy - pointing as they walk: "Oooh, that must be the Emerald City. Its glowing so bright, and brighter with our every step"All, skipping, arm in arm, scarecrow waves arms BIG.[stop at wall, all look up at the huge wall]Scarecrow: "The yellow brick road ends at this gate. What do we do now?" Dorothy pushes the button which opens the gate - "Oh look a button. Let's go in"Gatekeeper [looking up at Dorothy]: "What do you wish in the Emerald City?"Dorothy: "We came here to see the Great Oz"
Gatekeeper: "He is powerful and terrible, and if you come on an idle or foolish errand, he might be angry and destroy you all in an instant."Lion: "It is important errand. And we have been told that Oz is a good Wizard."Gatekeeper: "And so he is. I am the Guardian of the Gates. I will take you to his Palace. But first you must put on the spectacles."
Dorothy: "Huh?"
Gatekeeper, touching key on his neck: "If you did not wear spectacles, the brightness and glory of the Emerald City would blind you. Even those who live here wear spectacles night and day. They are all locked on, for Oz so ordered it when the City was first built."
Tin Man: "Fast forward four chapters, we've dissolved the Wicked Witch of the West and Oz says he can't help us."[Dorothy peaks behind the curtain and screams...]Oz appearing - "I am Oz, the Great and Terrible.. But don't hurt me--please don't--and I'll do anything you want me to."Dorothy: "Are you not a Great Wizard?" Oz: "Don't speak so loud, or you will be overheard--and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard."
Tin Man: "You're a fraud. How did this come to be?"Oz: "Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City; they did so willingly and well. Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City; and to make the name fit better I put green goggles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green."
Scarecrow: "But isn't everything here green?"
Oz: "No more than San Francisco or Oakland. But when you wear green goggles, everything looks green. My people have worn green goggles so long that most think it really is an Emerald City."
Lion, coming back, unlocking the green goggles on his friends and then audience members: "I got the key from the gatekeeper. Lets take off these green googles."Dorothy, to the audience, raising her hand: "Won't some of you take off the green goggles as well."All: give high fives for audience members who raise their hands
Here’s a question we all need to be asking ourselves – What are my goggles?
When I say this, I’m presenting goggles as metaphor for the set of metaphors or filters that determine how we see the world
The metaphor IGNORANCE IS SPECTACLES is an extension of the metaphor IGNORANCE IS OBJECT
You’ve all heard of rose tinted glasses and beer goggles right?
This metaphor leads us to think and speak about our ignorance in certain ways, and how we think drives how we act
Why do we use metaphor? Some concepts are more abstract (like IGNORANCE) and are more easily in reference to something we understand better like spatial orientation and objects. In this case, it is spectacles but it could also be clouds or fog…
Metaphors emphasize some aspects, while de-emphasizing or hiding others. Certain aspects of a concept flow from the general metaphorical definition of the concept. Other aspects do not fit well within that construct, and are therefore not addressed. Some of those hidden aspects can be addressed through complementary metaphors
Complementary Metaphors
IGNORANCE IS OBSCURING WEATHER (CLOUDS or FOG)
IGNORANCE IS BLISS
IGNORANCE IS INFINITE (Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe. ~Albert Einstien)
Metaphors shape how we see the world. This is very apparent. A common metaphor is ARGUMENT IS WAR. We speak of arguments in terms of war, such as she shot down all of my arguments. This perspective leads us to view arguments in a very adversarial and competitive manner. [click] How might we view argument if we were in a culture that used the ARGUMENT IS DANCE metaphor. [click] It is critical note, that our perspective determines the possible interventions. There will be different interventions in a argument in a culutre that thinks ARGUMENT IS WAR vs. a culture that thinks ARGUMENT IS DANCE
Metaphors are a simplification. Metaphors emphasize some aspects, while de-emphasizing or hiding others. Certain aspects of a concept flow from the general metaphorical definition of the concept. Other aspects do not fit well within that construct, and are therefore not addressed. Some of those hidden aspects can be addressed through complementary metaphors
Certain metaphors
Mirrors are conventional metaphors that describe the dominant cultural narrative. Magicians are new metaphors which constitute a new way of looking at things. Mutinies are new metaphors that criticize and transform the dominant narrative. [click] Take the concept LOVE. LOVE IS A JOURNEY is the typical way of thinking of it – start, end, ups and downs, etc.. LOVE IS A COLLABRATIVE WORK OF ART suggests much greater control and co-creating something that others might consider beautiful. LOVE IS A DEAD END STREET riffs off LOVE IS A JOURNEY, saying this is a journey not worth taking.
Another mutiny. Life’s a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Mutiny of LIFE IS A STORY.
Dave, covering up chest: My shirt is a mutiny for street culture. Put your hands up if you saw the picture. Keep your hands up if it said Godfather. Can someone out here tell me what it really says?
FATHER IS GODFATHER
FATHER IS GOODFATHER
What is a mutiny in one community can be a mirror in another.
This is our warm up exercise. This question intrigues me because there is no right answer. There are however many metaphors that answer the question well. Think about it this way. First, what aspects of the relationship between nature and humanity do you want to emphasize. Second, what archetypes or metaphors embody the aspects you want to emphasize. Extra credit is the come up with examples from pop culture. I am going to quickly go through some examples.
Are we like Coyote who is so intent on catching Road Runner that he runs off the cliff?
HUMANITY IS WILE E COYOTE
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS SMART
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = OBLIVIOUS TO DANGER UNTIL TOO LATE
HUMAN PREDICAMENT IS MONKEY TRAP
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS SMART
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = GREED, ENTITLEMENT
This is a metaphor that I use. All monkey needs to do to escape is let go, but most won’t
HUMANITY IS TERMINATOR
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS SMARTEMPHASIZED ELEMENT = KILL THE FUTURE
Van Jones asked Power Shift 2009, do we want to be Locusts or Butterflies..
Locust is the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers
One of the Plagues of Egypt in the Bible was a swarm of locusts, which ate all the crops of Egypt.
MUTINY of HUMANITY IS STEWARD
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = OVERCONSUMPTION
HUMANITY IS CATERPILLAR
As they prepare to go into the cocoon, Caterpillars eat just about everything in their path
If caterpillars were human, they might look something like this
what's the metaphor represented? b) what do you see that makes you say that?
ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS A OUT-OF-CONTROL MACHINE
MUTINY of ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS PROGRESS
EMPHASIZED ELEMENT = DESTRUCTION
KEY ASPECT = PIRACY
ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS PIRATE SHIP
From the Watchman
KEY ASPECT = INJUSTICE AND ECOLOGY DETERIORATION
ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS TRASH COMPACTOR
KEY ASPECT = DESTRUCTION OF LIFE
ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS DEATH STAR
ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS ROBOT
MUTINY of ECONOMY SYSTEM IS PROGRESSEMPHASIZED ELEMENT = CONVERSION OF NATURE TO PRODUCTS
Metaphor leads to elements of the machine
Core is worldview that we are all separate, nature has no intrinsic value or rights, and we discount by time and distance… This metaphor provides multiple intervention points.Interventions can happen at any level
*** Any topic can be looked as its own robot
Count off groups of X
Ask audience a) what happened in the video? b) what did you see that makes you say that?
- Please fill out evaluation form- Learn more at TheGreenPill.com- Thank audience and collaborators