Blog Action Day – How I Missed It + Poverty Sexed Up

An article by Frank    3 Comments

There is an irony in the image I’ve used for this article. Here I was thinking I was a serious blogger… clearly not. When they go away on holiday, people operating serious internet sites cue up material and date stamp it to publish on the days they are not around and they remain committed to things they have stated they would be part of during that time. I didn’t do that and while I was enjoying my family and the sun in one of New Zealand’s wine lands, Napier, blissfully shunning access to email and other trappings of the internet, something I had been excited about taking part in came and went – it sailed on by with no thought from me and now that I am back in reality, I am feeling a little disappointed that I forgot and hadn’t given a thought to Blog Action Day 2008, which happened yesterday NZ time – October 15.

I had been particularly excited about this year’s Blog Action Day because it was focused on an issue very close to the intent of this site – poverty. I had been mulling over ideas on how I could address the issue to contribute to the global discussion, but alas, yesterday it was not to be. What made it even more painful was coming home to an email from the team organizing Blog Action Day asking if I wanted to be one of the first featured sites of the day. Oh well, let’s offer some thoughts on the issue now… with no tantalizing offer of blogging fame.

Poverty all Sexed Up

There’s a tension that exists for many NGO’s getting their hands dirty in the issue of global poverty and its crushing effects in the lives of those who are subject to its ravages. That tension revolves around photos of children; those photos that make feelings of sympathy and compassion well up inside; those photos that ignite that natural instinct to want to look after and protect the young; those photos that ultimately make it easier for you to open your wallet and give where you otherwise might not.

There’s another tension that exists in the business of compassion – the celebrity. We live in a culture where celebrities are revered as gods, idolized beyond reason. NGO’s working on poverty issues know this and know that the words and endorsements of celebrities are collateral that can be used to further their work and inform you about what they do in a way that makes what they do seem sexy and worth getting involved in.

Both these tensions are part of the somewhat dirty part of getting people involved in poverty issues – marketing. You see, people like you and I generally don’t get involved in stuff unless there’s something in it for us and let’s face it, getting involved in humanitarian issues has become sexy and it feels darn good acting like a saviour.

Without marketing, without the information being in our face, without endorsements making it look great to get involved, without those pictures tugging at our hearts, let’s face it, most of us wouldn’t really give it a thought and we wouldn’t bother. Allow me to highlight the point.

On July 2nd 2005, the world witnessed a marketing marvel that mobilized the world – Live 8. Live 8 flooded us with celebrity after celebrity reminding us that 30,000 children die every day from poverty related causes – 30,000! What was in it for us when we texted the number we were given to show that we were with Bono as he and others presented their cause to the G8? The chance to feel like we were changing the world. The marketing was amazing. Person after person after person committed to changing the world that day, how many of those people are still actively involved in poverty related issues in some what shape or form? How many of those celebrities have spoken up about poverty issues since? How many people are still haunted by that figure of 30,000 lives lost needlessly every day?

What if the images were different? What if, instead of cute children, we were shown pictures of old men dying or sleeping on the side of a dusty road? What if we were shown pictures of ladies suffering from constant bleeding following giving birth? Better yet, what if were shown no images?

What if no celebrity every endorsed humanitarian work? What if Chris Martin never promoted Fairtrade and Oxfam? What if the websites of such organizations were not visually appealing? What if people mocked us if we got involved in such things? What if we were never thanked for it?

What if getting involved in poverty issue wasn’t so darn sexy? Sure, some would still do the hard yards and hunker down to do the hard work, getting their hands dirty in the filth of the world with only humility and love serving as their drive – living for the poor and dieing as unknowns… but what about the rest of us? If we really want to make a difference, that’s a question we should ask ourselves.

To do what they do and to remain viable, NGO’s have to market themselves – they have to compete for the dollars you and I spend. Let’s not be people who need marketing to keep our attention on such things. Let’s be people who will get our hands dirty in the muck of the world no matter what. Let’s be voices for the voiceless no matter what. let’s be people who advocate for the poor even where there is no thanks. Let’s be people who live to love and to serve and not expect any return. Let’s be people who don’t need the images in order to feel compassion – let’s live as compassionate people. Let’s be people willing to sacrifice ourselves in order to lift others up. Determine to walk this journey for the rest of your life even if it doesn’t feel sexy and even if the fad passes and the celebrity endorsements dry up. Marketing poverty is a necessary evil, but it’s something we can determine not to need.

Blog Action Day was a one day thing that will  hopefully have a lasting impact – advocating for the poor is a hard journey that will/should consume the rest of your life. Are you up for that?