A documentary released late last year about the nuclear fallout of Fukashima and the people affected by the disaster. Again we see the problematic and incomprehensible effects of governments when tied to big business. Fukashima's nuclear power plant provides Tokyo's energy, which arms the conglomerate with massive bargaining power, as recognising fault, reimbursing victims and restoring the effected areas, which simply, just isn't attractive to shareholders.
The director of the film mentions his feelings of guilt from living in Tokyo and benefitting from a company he opposes. This emulates so many of our social problems that we as westerners easily overlook and take for granted. From a white, privileged standpoint, it's rare to see people take the opportunity to take a moral stance against a company who disregards moral social contracts. Further to that, it's much easier to develop a moral standpoint when issues become aware to us, but this type information is not readily available or common knowledge. People just aren't aware that companies or governments do evil things, or at least overlook it. Though when brought to their attention, they stop to think. A select few people will follow their motivations to take the extra step to support ethical buying and boycott abusers. The issue is that Ignorance is easy, innocence is stupid, being innocent just makes you the same and thus the circle of our consumer lives continues.
It's scary to be an individual, independant and a different consumer from everybody else, for fear of missing out, being outcast, not enjoying the full benefits that our society provides for us. Restricting yourself based solely upon your individual choice is a hard thing to endure. Like vegetarianism for example. The ease of being a consumer, buying the same stuff, going along with what's available and easy, the status quo, it limits variety and competition. The issue with this ease of being a first world consumer is that we fall into a trap and don't oppose those whose actions we oppose.
We still buy Nike, knowing full well of their salve labour ties, we still buy diamond rings, knowing of the wars and blood shed that the trade brings about, we still use the energy provided by Fukashima. The latter is obviously a very difficult thing to avoid and boycott, but other avenues need to be considered to show lack if moral and social support for these type of actions.
But what are our options? We'll firstly, the idea of boycotting hasn't even been considered by many people, let alone part of their vocabulary. Some type of moral compass firstly has to be established. Losing the imaginative, mythical connection we have with brands and start to understand companies as the bottom line reason for existing. Profit. This idea needs to enter mainstream media and become general knowledge, that companies and governments can be evil and can act evil, and not with our best interests at heart.
Secondly, the idea of human rights faces the same death. Generally, people aren't aware of who the human rights abusers are, let alone can connect and feel sympathy for the victims of these crimes. We all live together, on the same planet and have all derived from the same mother who first crawled out it the ocean onto land. The every day person doesn't recognise this and consider others, they are self involved.
Unfortunately, these type of abuses will not become become news, unless it is a very slow news day and there are no stories of angry neighbours or rip off merchants on 60 minutes. Stories such as this won't reach the mainstream media for supposed lack of public interest and the monopoly of the rich and powerful over the media. We aren't effected directly, so why should we care? People don't want to be told what to buy and what not to...even though this is what advertising tries to achieve, it's accepted as part of life. Besides, ads are fun and happy, bright and attention grabbing. Selling a serious initiative that consumers won't personally benefit from isn't attractive at all, especially when initiatives such as boycotting, places the onus onto the consumer to be proactive about how and what they buy. What hard work!
Other than not having access to this information, many people simply cannot afford to boycott many items, for example kmart sell shoes for $6, that's hard to turn down, even knowing full well of the hands that made them. This type of political action is faced with so many barriers and these barriers are what keep us from changing our consuming habits. I've heard too many people in conversation saying that "if everybody supported the cause, I would too", but who's going to start the revolution? The city of Tokyo cannot pack up and leave to just boycott an energy company...so what are our options?
Talk to people, question their consuming? It's a nice idea, but nobody wants to be that guy, as they're typically dismissed anyway and those minds who need to be changed will ignore a leftist agenda. Ideally governments shouldn't allow the operating of human rights and environmental abusers within their borders, but governments are corrupt. I know that in terms of boycotting, a few people make a change, then a few more and soon we have 100, then a thousand more follow suit, the cause then enters into public knowledge and provides more opportunity for widespread public support. Though this is a long process and awareness takes years. We need something more immediate.
Can it be addressed on a local or individual level, or do we expect that this problem should be taken care if for us by some form of authority? Big business needs to be held accountable by their own operating standards. Though it's up to us to call them out, and enough of us for our voices to be heard. A no hassle way to voice many opinions, even those of whose political ideals exist souly within the internet. Online petitions like Change.org are a good start, easily accessible and really simple, without consuming much of your precious time at all. These usually have a pre filled email that can be sent to your local member. But there needs to be something else, something more effective, something stronger and more powerful, something that encompasses the opinions of passionate political thinkers, activists and everyday people. The answer though, I just don't have, but I know that there is a demand for it. A revolution is looming, the numbers are there, we just need a way to band together. Something to encourage the masses.
Approximately eighteen thousand people died or were lost in the wake of the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, and tens of thousands remain displaced, unable to return to their homes for now, and perhaps forever. The earthquake and tsunami completely erased entire towns from the Google Maps of northern Japan, but the manmade nuclear crisis has unleashed corrosive fallout, literal and otherwise, that is arguably more persistent and bracing. You might lose your home, livelihood, and loved ones to a natural disaster, but it’s hard to strike back at abstract targets like nature and the gods. When an energy conglomerate, government policy, and corruption cause death and displacement, and disfigure your future, you might get motivated.
“I made this film out of anger and guilt,” Atsushi Funahashi, the director of “Nuclear Nation,” told me last month at a café near Union Square. “The gap between the foreign and domestic media and government statements was huge. When the overseas media was calling Fukushima a ‘meltdown,’ the Japanese government and media waited two months before admitting it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment