Asking the right questions

An article at Youth Policy is saying that the age of effective mass-mobilisation is over.

He has a point.

It’s a lovely idea and the notion of ‘people-power’ is undoubtedly attractive, but it’s unlikely to work. It is a strategy that does not match the zeitgeist (spirit of our times) of the current age. […] With the global financial crisis the public are more individualistic; pre-occupied with jobs and the economy rather than environmental or justice based issues. […] most people still believe in climate science but simply don’t see it as a priority for action.

We’re working on a project that aims to change that.

We believe that it’s about asking the right questions.

1. Do I want a t-shirt for £3?  Yes
2. Would I mind paying an extra 50p to ensure that the building where it’s made is warm, safe, and responsible run? No
3. Do I want to go to Morocco for 10 days for £50 rtn? Yes
4. Do I want to cause irreversible global climate change? No

The market presents us with only choices it wants to. Some of us realise it, some of us don’t. Some of us play along anyway, some of us don’t.

But no matter what we do, the very large majority of us don’t want to be agents of evil in the world. We just rarely get a non-market opportunity to affirm this, and demonstrate our higher moral values. (After all if the government allows it to happen it can’t be that bad, right? I mean … we have laws and regulations to stop really bad things happening, right?)

To get round this, we just ask those same questions, but decouple them from the market conditions.

‘I agree‘ asks simple questions about things that matter to you, your family, your community, your country and your world. It collects, maps and shares everyone’s opinions.

It fuels smart, fair and open discussions, and lets anyone change their mind.

It’s quick, easy, open – and fun. It cuts out “politics” and reframes questions in terms of “your future” instead.

We then present the results to you so that you can see who thinks what, where, and how opinions are split.

We let you follow people who you want to influence your opinion, and show you what your friends think on issues. We show how opinion can change over time, and which points are the most persuasive.

And best of all, we work with change-makers to let them know who’s thinking what, where, how representative they are, and how we want them to respond to the challenges we know we face.

Luke is correct that the nature of mass-mobilisation is changing. But we believe that it is not becoming less effective, we’re just working out how to evolve it.

We want a future we choose, for ourselves, together. We believe we’re on to something wonderful.