I don't believe that many of those in positions of power are doing it deliberately, some are. But a lot of them are just caught up in these stories. And they're partly caught up in them by their own fear of what participation would unleash. I think it's so interesting to remember, and so hard to remember, that in a different kind of future, people will be different. Like this is where people get stuck. We think that there's going to be like, the world will be different, but people will be the exact same. Then we try to map how that's going to cause dysfunction, you know? You don't actually need to start with the full vision of
Jon Alexander is the co-founder of the New Citizens Project and author of Citizens: Why The Key To Fixing Everything Is All Of Us. A former award-winner in the advertising world, Jon advises companies and communities on the power of narrative, helping them reclaim and restructure the stories they tell to in order to empower the shift from consumer to citizen.
Jon joined me to discuss this very problem: How do we shift the paradigm from consumer to citizen? Building on his book, he explains how how human history has shifted from the subject paradigm, to consumer, and the necessary move to a collective and community-based citizen world. He gives riveting examples of this happening all around the world today, revealing the power of the stories we choose to tell—and which we choose to suppress.
We also discuss deliberative democracy, the theory of narrative, and the framework of systems. Jon’s powerful message is: If you want to build a new system, you must simply begin. We cannot know where we’re going exactly, but we’ll never get there if we don’t start.
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Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it.
© Rachel Donald
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