"The Street" is not "Real". #Activism
10 August 2018 [link youtube]
Questioning "the street" in 21st century political activism. You could make history anywhere… why here?
Youtube Automatic Transcription
I've had messages back and forth lately
with so many vegan activists who seem to deeply believe that the only thing in politics that's real is the street standing on the street standing there with a sign standing there with a mask standing there with a message whether they are screaming it weeping and wailing or standing in absolute silence individual whether they're singing or chanting it's the street it's on the street that they feel politics happens that their convictions are proven it's street protest alone that's the criterion for what's real it's for them the most real form of activism and it's the symbol they cling to improving that they are a real activist and when they're challenged by the ideas they see of my channel or maybe even just ideas stated in a email or a Facebook post I noticed they immediately turn to numbers I've been getting this a lot lately a lot of really dubious numbers sent to me say oh well five hundred people were at that protest and I look at the photographs and I look at the videotape and it doesn't look to me like five hundred people with that protest like oh well they keep a tally and over so many months of spending so many hours standing in the street they say they reached over 1,000 people that 1,000 people who talk to them maybe just for five minutes I don't know maybe for 15 minutes pretty short street conversations and they somehow got a positive message back vegan message got across 2,000 people what what influenced you more as a child or even as a teenager was it seeing a man in the street holding a sign or was it reading Batman Tintin comic books I'm in a position now where I can look at these numbers and really say look I wrote a children's story book do you really think that with the form of activism like that do you think it would be a huge boast to say I reached 1,000 people or I reach 2,000 people for a published children's storybook these aren't these aren't big numbers right but writing a storybook and getting an illustrator it takes time takes effort takes money ultimately takes talent and I don't have any kind of false confidence here that I'm so extraordinary talented or that the artist I'm working with is so talented that this book is necessarily going to be a hit I'm not gonna claim the book would reach millions of readers but sure these numbers that the street protesters are bragging about five hundred one thousand and two thousand numbers and one thousand two thousand over years of hard work standing through those those numbers are those numbers are really nothing to me and the conversations they're having I know some of them may be deep I know there are YouTube channels that carefully cut together a collage of deep and meaningful interactions between these Street protesters and the strangers in the street they're reaching out to randomly but you know what I got more than ten thousand people who watched a video on my channel specifically criticizing gnome with Chomsky and his views about veganism the people who clicked on that video the people who took the time sat down and chose to watch that video they either already had a serious interest in these kinds of ethical and political questions attached to veganism or they had an interest in Noam Chomsky they were interesting hearing a criticism of Noam Chomsky and maybe they started thinking about the ethics of veganism for the first time and guys this is not the only example on my channel I now have over 2.8 million views and I have a lot of videos that are an hour long some of them are very in-depth discussions and I have videos that are short but are meaningful in another sense and they're going to be more meaningful to people who watch them because they're not presented them at random right they're people seeking out that message interests in that what have you the irony is I'm the last person to come online and preach to you that YouTube activism is real activism in my opinion it's not it's not I look at YouTube as a place where maybe I can meet and collaborate with other vegans and create a platform create a basis for other types of activism in the real world in future right I look at YouTube as being like a coffee shop but there's no reason to compare the conversation that you have in a coffee shop to the conversation that you have on the street in a street protest and say that only one of those is real activism definitely not for the vegan cause definitely not for this movement present and future no I second I don't have some kind of messianic faith in my own talent I'm going to college to learn how to bake bread it's possible this is really gonna work out I'm gonna have a career as a baker and I'm gonna be able to use baking as a platform for vegan activism and it's possible this plan is gonna fail it's possible I'm just gonna lack whatever talent is involved in being a great Baker or even if decent Baker and using baking is my way ahead in the vegan movement why would you dismiss or denigrate the effort of somebody like that someone who writes a children's story book someone who bakes bread with people here in Victoria who have for years and years run vegan establishments that community building institution building elma the veganism that are like a permanent placard for veganism in a restaurant is on the street just as much as you are holding that sign it's holding up a sign saying veganism you know in a hold everyman and its welcoming people in instead of going out and and confronting them there are all these different efforts all these different roads ahead and they all reach different numbers of people in different ways some of them shallow some of them deep some of the briefs in the long term but we really have to move beyond this stereotype notion this attachment we have to the street this feeling that the street is the only thing that's real this assumption that being on the street is the only form of activism and it's the only thing that can make you an activist
with so many vegan activists who seem to deeply believe that the only thing in politics that's real is the street standing on the street standing there with a sign standing there with a mask standing there with a message whether they are screaming it weeping and wailing or standing in absolute silence individual whether they're singing or chanting it's the street it's on the street that they feel politics happens that their convictions are proven it's street protest alone that's the criterion for what's real it's for them the most real form of activism and it's the symbol they cling to improving that they are a real activist and when they're challenged by the ideas they see of my channel or maybe even just ideas stated in a email or a Facebook post I noticed they immediately turn to numbers I've been getting this a lot lately a lot of really dubious numbers sent to me say oh well five hundred people were at that protest and I look at the photographs and I look at the videotape and it doesn't look to me like five hundred people with that protest like oh well they keep a tally and over so many months of spending so many hours standing in the street they say they reached over 1,000 people that 1,000 people who talk to them maybe just for five minutes I don't know maybe for 15 minutes pretty short street conversations and they somehow got a positive message back vegan message got across 2,000 people what what influenced you more as a child or even as a teenager was it seeing a man in the street holding a sign or was it reading Batman Tintin comic books I'm in a position now where I can look at these numbers and really say look I wrote a children's story book do you really think that with the form of activism like that do you think it would be a huge boast to say I reached 1,000 people or I reach 2,000 people for a published children's storybook these aren't these aren't big numbers right but writing a storybook and getting an illustrator it takes time takes effort takes money ultimately takes talent and I don't have any kind of false confidence here that I'm so extraordinary talented or that the artist I'm working with is so talented that this book is necessarily going to be a hit I'm not gonna claim the book would reach millions of readers but sure these numbers that the street protesters are bragging about five hundred one thousand and two thousand numbers and one thousand two thousand over years of hard work standing through those those numbers are those numbers are really nothing to me and the conversations they're having I know some of them may be deep I know there are YouTube channels that carefully cut together a collage of deep and meaningful interactions between these Street protesters and the strangers in the street they're reaching out to randomly but you know what I got more than ten thousand people who watched a video on my channel specifically criticizing gnome with Chomsky and his views about veganism the people who clicked on that video the people who took the time sat down and chose to watch that video they either already had a serious interest in these kinds of ethical and political questions attached to veganism or they had an interest in Noam Chomsky they were interesting hearing a criticism of Noam Chomsky and maybe they started thinking about the ethics of veganism for the first time and guys this is not the only example on my channel I now have over 2.8 million views and I have a lot of videos that are an hour long some of them are very in-depth discussions and I have videos that are short but are meaningful in another sense and they're going to be more meaningful to people who watch them because they're not presented them at random right they're people seeking out that message interests in that what have you the irony is I'm the last person to come online and preach to you that YouTube activism is real activism in my opinion it's not it's not I look at YouTube as a place where maybe I can meet and collaborate with other vegans and create a platform create a basis for other types of activism in the real world in future right I look at YouTube as being like a coffee shop but there's no reason to compare the conversation that you have in a coffee shop to the conversation that you have on the street in a street protest and say that only one of those is real activism definitely not for the vegan cause definitely not for this movement present and future no I second I don't have some kind of messianic faith in my own talent I'm going to college to learn how to bake bread it's possible this is really gonna work out I'm gonna have a career as a baker and I'm gonna be able to use baking as a platform for vegan activism and it's possible this plan is gonna fail it's possible I'm just gonna lack whatever talent is involved in being a great Baker or even if decent Baker and using baking is my way ahead in the vegan movement why would you dismiss or denigrate the effort of somebody like that someone who writes a children's story book someone who bakes bread with people here in Victoria who have for years and years run vegan establishments that community building institution building elma the veganism that are like a permanent placard for veganism in a restaurant is on the street just as much as you are holding that sign it's holding up a sign saying veganism you know in a hold everyman and its welcoming people in instead of going out and and confronting them there are all these different efforts all these different roads ahead and they all reach different numbers of people in different ways some of them shallow some of them deep some of the briefs in the long term but we really have to move beyond this stereotype notion this attachment we have to the street this feeling that the street is the only thing that's real this assumption that being on the street is the only form of activism and it's the only thing that can make you an activist