#changing the system

[blackoutthewhiteout]

The Floating Matrix

The Floating Matrix Are you caught in the “Matrix”? The Floating Matrix (our influenced thoughts and beliefs) governs most of our life and daily habits. It is a self-systematic, methodically designed program that has physically placed us like chess pieces on a checkered path. We are taught separatist views through religion, race, class, gender, and age (classifications; classism)…

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[justmebeingdifferent33]

Did you grow up in care? Want to use your voice to help change the care system for the benefit of the next generation?

Similarly to the post I wrote on my official website blog earlier, I’d just like to give a shoutout to all those like myself that grew up in the care system. The thing is, before I decided to write my book I had no clue there were loads of people from care getting together on social media and working together to help change the system. There’s some politics and sneaky competitive tactics going…

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[xhiale]

watching bee movie now, two good animal movies in a row what a nice day.

[macgyvershe]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS5mwymTIJU)

I love John Oliver. He is always on top of the stuff we need to look at and change

[esthersnippe]

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

Buckminster Fuller

[autismtreasures]

In-Home Services: A Call To Value The Family

What does in-home supports look like when the family unit is valued? How can this happen? These questions and more in todays post: In-Home Services: A Call To Value The Family

Services…

In-home supports, Home and Community Therapy (HCT), Specialized Supports.

These are words that make me cringe at the moment as we just traumatically ended one and are about to start another.

It bothers me that my gut reaction is to cringe, because I know it can beso very good. I know the relationships that can be built between in-home staff and parents, between staff and the child(ren).…

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[fixyourwritinghabits]

Overthrowing a Government / Changing the System

Lately there are been stories, specifically dystopian stories, about overthrowing governments. It sounds easy to do, those stories portray the struggles of the MC and their revolutionary friends, but in reality things aren’t as easy as infiltrating a facility or shooting a couple of arrows or guns. You’ll see, overthrowing a government isn’t the same as changing the system.  Let me tell you a story about it.

Some years ago, let’s say 41 years ago, my country entered into a state of fear. The democratic government was overthrown by the military and they assumed control over the country and its people. About 17 years later their story was over and democracy was rising again, or at least that’s what we thought. We’ve had four governments of the center wing, the democrats; one government of the right wing, and now we’re living under another center government. Things haven’t changed much, just with saying we still have the same constitution the military created for its government you can see how some things remain the same. That’s the long story short about changing a government without changing the system. Some things are better, there’s “freedom” to get out of your house at the time you want; you can meet with more than three or five people; you can go out without fearing if you were coming back at all, or fearing about the people you love. There’s still people missing, people who were killed and no one knows where they are; the perpetrators of horrible crimes are still free, and some people still support the dictatorship millions of people lived under. The form has changed but not the substance.

Now we live in a democracy or as I like to call it, a broken democracy. People born in the 90’s are the children of this transition, I am one of them, aware of the things that happened to your family, crying every Christmas because someone isn’t coming back; our parents teaching us the forbidden songs they used to listen; one of your relatives saying as a joke they were stopped by the military only to be asked for a light but deep down knowing they might not be there; listening to people saying the military should be back on the streets; knowing the stories of people who were detained and survived; things that shape the way you see your world around you, and the most important thing, knowing that politicians don’t care about it, or few care. But I’m getting off topic.

A country, or a state, is like a bridge, some people go in one direction, some people in other, some try to direct the traffic, some people fall, some are thrown, and some stay in their places. To change the system you have to burn down the bridge and build a new one. But you can’t burn a bridge on your own, you need help, and to get help you need people. More people, better. Another example, a country is like a pyramid, on the top you’ll find the government, then, the business people (though I believe the switch places from time to time), then you’ll have the workers, people who work on offices, schools, colleges, hospitals, media, people like you and me. People who didn’t have a golden cradle but we didn’t have the worst either. At the bottom you’ll have people who work on things you wouldn’t, people who collect the trash, people who clean the streets, farmers, people who work on the same places than you but you never notice. When you remove the top of the pyramid you lost something, but rebuilding a small part is easy, but when you break the bottom, everything else falls.

Another story from my country. Last year 70% of garbage collectors went on a strike, affecting six regions. The strike started a Monday, by Tuesday there were already twelve thousands tons of garbage on streets and the dumps were shut down. The same day the government initiated negotiations with the garbage collector syndicates; there were also rumors about the government declaring State of Emergency in case the strike kept going. By Wednesday morning both parties signed an agreement. In less than two days they moved the entire government to solve a problem that affects all of us. Two days. The people we truly depend on are the people we don’t think about, people who do the things we take for granted. Not every day we need a lawyer, not every day we need a medic, not every day we need an engineer. I’d love to tell you that is one, or both, of your parents who put the food in your table, they pay for it, they earned the money to buy it, but in many cases the food was in the place they bought it from not because of them, but because of people who work their asses of everyday to feed all of us barely feeding themselves. The same goes for the health system, the transportation system, the clothes you dress with, the technology you use, the same computer I’m writing on right now. If all of them stop working for one day, one single day, things would go down. I can assure you that. Last Friday the subway system had a problem in my city, the most populated city of my country. Three of five subway lines stopped working due to a reactor failure. The three lines who transport the most account of people. The subway closed all entries on 06:33 am and the system was restored the same hour on Saturday. We all had to use busses for transportation, but they weren’t enough, plus, the streets soon collapsed. The loss on the market was huge; hospitals, shopping centers, offices, schools, colleges, they were all affected by something none of us can control. Imagine people doing it on purpose.

To change a system, a social system, you have to change the way people think. The habitus, as Bourdieu would call it. The way we see the world and the way we do things. To change a system people have to go in one direction, from bottom to top. If you go from the top it won’t work. Empathy works on people who are on the same place as you, or worst, but not better. There still be people who won’t want to change anything, don’t forget about them. The fear of change is a big fear. But it takes one person to face reality and embrace the change so others can follow.

I believe many of you are familiar with Marvel’s Avengers, there’s a scene that takes place in Germany where Loki yells at a crowd to kneel, one man refuses to do it and he stays on his feet. “There are always men like you” he says. That man is, to me, one of the real heroes of the movie. A man with no super powers, no fighting skills, was capable of facing a demigod. Or like the movie A Bug’s Life, where the ants realized they are far more powerful than the locusts. That’s was a change in the system, that was a revolution, a rebellion. And they, in order to work, need people. Just people, a leader isn't always necessary. People aren't stupid, they know what's happening to them. Don't understimate them, and don't take them for granted. Sometimes the only thing they need is a trigger, not someone to follow. The same with History, social History can't be erased, it can be changed, forbidden, even forgotten, but never truly erased. Even burning down books isn't a smart move, memory remains alive, not only the personal memory but the collective one.

Don’t overthrow your government without changing the system, otherwise things will remain the same and your characters will be at the beginning of your story once again.

L.-