One of the singular problems that promotes inequality and oppression is ignorance and misinformation. These two things help to build the kind of Us v. Them dynamic that, in my opinion, the systems of oppression, especially in the US, feed off of. Much of our media and culture promote a dissociation between races and cultures, creating a rift between experiences the privilege and the underprivileged and it is in this rift that violence, racism, and inequality continue to grow and divide people. In terms of activism it becomes vital to bridge this divide and begin to neutralize the playing field between the oppressed and the oppressor, and begin to educate people, especially those of privilege, on the falseness of the narrative they've been fed of the 'other'. There are several principles, tactics and theories that are explained in Beautiful Trouble that I think help foster the ideas of education, narrative breaking and familiarization between groups of conflict. In terms of Principles one that stands out is Bringing the Issue Home, the idea that people relate to things better when it directly affects them, or to put it in another way when it is shown in a way that they understand; to contextualize it. If we can try to make those with privilege understand a life without privilege it will go along way to helping break system of inequality. Many of the Principles that I found useful relied on theme that I would like to call rebranding the protestor, principles like: don't dress like a protester, kill them with kindness, lead with sympathetic characters, and maintain nonviolent principles. For those in the privileged part of society protesters and activist can a lot of the times be painted as criminals or violent revolutionaries and this image immediately makes people push away from it and in the end undermines the message of the activists. Working towards rebranding the protestor will help to make them more likely to be heard and will lend, hopefully, to a more convincing form of discussion between peoples. The biggest principles for me however were the ones that talked about turning the privileged or the oppressive groups of society on its head and how to turn them into allies. These were principles like make new folks welcome, seek the common ground, recapture the flag, reframe, and shift the spectrum of allies. How can we make the issue of inequality the issue for those who benefit from it? How can we make them care? How can we help them to use their privilege to dismantle itself? I think these are all things worth fighting for and I believe that these principles of orienting them to the cause are all ways to achieve it. In terms of tactics the most important things that the website listed for me were those that focused on group dynamics and fun. First to deal with group dynamics the tactics of artistic vigil, forum theater, flash mob, and mixing these tactics with that of identity correction. I believe these are all great tactics to help build and create groups which as we know are usually stronger than the individual and to create a group that's diverse and understand will help to fight for a mission that is focused promoting that diversity through society. Also the tactics that deal with fun I find to be extremely helpful, those like advanced leafleting, flash mob, and inflatables. These help to make activist experiences enjoyable and memorable which will make it more difficult to demonize, and also I think it will help to encourage participants to be more open, happy, and caring to each other because you're all having fun. Lastly to look at the theories the ones that were most helpful to me were that of exposure. The theories of alienation effect, anti-oppression, cultural hegemony, and theater of the oppressed all help support this idea of exposure. These are all ways of help to educate and show different ways of life and different experiences to those who are privileged enough not to know them. Most importantly it will help to build and understanding and in my opinion that is the most important thing to have, to help bridge the rifts in our society.
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