IS CAPITALISM UNCARING? - 700K PEOPLE WATCHED MY VIDEO THIS WEEK - FIND OUT WHY...

in #steemittv8 years ago (edited)

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This is a look behind the scenes at the viral video I directed last week about disabled access. The link below is an interview I did for Steemit with the star of the video, Will Pike who directly calls for the Steemit community to help raise awareness about the issue.

Our film "Yes We Can..If" clearly resonated with a lot of people and has already got around 700,000 views on facebook and has been picked up by British press. It is set to the Sammy Davis Junior track “Yes I can” and is a parody of this British advert for the Paralympics called “We're the Superhumans”. This is typical of the type of content I make: edgy comedy with a political purpose, as I outline in my introducemyself Steemit post here.

OUR FILM: "YES I CAN...IF"

Will was a filmmaker himself before he was the victim of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in India. It was incredible that Will and his girlfriend survived the ordeal at all and it’s been a long road adjusting to life as a paraplegic. However, working with him it was clear that his naturally determined spirit is as strong as ever and he’s a confident guy who makes things happen. He came up with the idea for this film and my colleague from The Revolution Will Be Televised Heydon Prowse and myself set about planning it, refining it and getting a team together to put it into action.

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It was the Paralympic closing ceremony yesterday and there is no doubt it has been inspiring, with so many incredible stories of people overcoming difficult circumstances to achieve really great things. However, after the global spotlight is no longer on these incredible athletes, far too many normal disabled people carry on having to struggle with their everyday activities.

Indeed there has been a lot of coverage about how in Olympic and Paralympic host city Rio disabled access is still way behind what it should be and disabled people often feel like second class citezens there, meaning that some disabled fans gave up on the whole experience.

Our film “Yes I Can…If” was shot in London and specifically highlights the lack of access on the UK high street for wheelchair users, but I know this is a global issue. It has been accompanied by a petition that has already got over 40,000 signatures in just the first 5 days! We think we really can make meaningful change and are hoping that big high street companies who know they should be doing more will be compelled to radically improve their access.

Is Decentralization The Key?

We’ll certainly keep up the fight here but I’m also interested in the wider point about how to best get important things done that aren’t relevant to the ONLY thing that Capitalism really cares about...PROFIT.

As we know corporations are increasingly more powerful and all too often with this great power there is NOT a great sense of responsibility, or the desire to contribute anything tangible or positive to the communities they profit from. In the UK companies are supposed by law to accommodate access for disabled people, however, when these companies don’t provide access it is down to the individual disabled person to take that company to court to get these changes made.

This is clearly unfair and the system is not structured to realistically hold these high street giants to account. So in reality it comes down to the goodwill and good practice of that company to do the right thing, off their own steam. As we know though “the bottom line” and shareholder profit is usually the primary concern of corporations.

Of course, the obvious answer here is that governments should be more effective in curbing corporate greed and that is certainly what we would like in this case. However, most of the evidence is that the tide is going the other way pretty much all around the world. In Europe and the US although TTIP seems to be off the table for now, other similar treaties are in the pipeline to strengthen corporate powers.

On Steemit the idea of decentralization is discussed a lot by @falkvinge and others and is often regarded as a solution to corporate and governmental corruption and failings. So is decentralization of power what we need, to ensure more responsible action? In theory the ability for communities to be designed in the best interests of those who live in them and not simply serve huge power structures that don’t work effectively for real people sounds great.

And when the impersonal interests of corporations and corrupt governments are no longer the decision makers then yes, it would make sense that people are more likely to be treated with dignity and like humans (nevermind superhumans) and have their reasonable needs met more of the time.

However, it seems to me that no matter how we organize ourselves, if we don’t put the values of equality and inclusivity front and centre of everyday life, then any system has the possibility to fail those who need assistance. Now, more than ever, we need to use community to put pressure on the decision makers (in this case the companies) to act responsibly.

Please sign the petition here.

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HOW IS DISABLED ACCESS WHERE YOU LIVE? DO YOU HAVE GOOD EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE HOLDING CORPORATE POWER TO ACCOUNT AND WINNING? HOW CAN WE TURN THE TIDE OF CORPORATIONS HAVING A STRANGLEHOLD ON GOVERNMENT POWER? WOULD DECENTRALIZATION ACTUALLY SOLVE PROBLEMS LIKE THIS?

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Access is generally terrible most places around me. Thank you for this post and your video.

Edit: Just watched the video. It is simple straight to the point and w. a sense of humour (how big are your mineral water bottles lol). This is a great way to illustrate the problem. Hopefully this gets the attention it deserves.

Edit 2 lol: This is the most important post I have seen on Steemit today. I have signed the petition and liked on FB. Have also posted in some channels in the chat and shared on twitter.

I've also promoted and I think someone else has too because it is now at the top of the promoted page. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

Sadly my vote is only worth pennies but I will try to help spread the word.

Whoever sees this please spread the word so it can get the attention it deserves.

Thanks for your support crypofiend and glad you enjoyed the video. As you know, it is a real issue and while the world is focused on people with disabilities it's a good time to raise awareness. I've changed the name of the post I think the first title was a bit vague. Hope this helps the post. Thanks again,
EE

Yes I think it will help:)

A very important topic thank you for sharing! This goes way beyond the right for disabled access in my opinion, with the capitalistic system showing little support for funding the basic research needed to fix some key medical issues. For many years we have been in a place of “almost” knowing how to repair nerve damage, cancer and create artificial organs. There have even been developments made in regrowing teeth. Yet it remains far more profitable to have people remain ill so it is no wonder that progress is tantalizingly slow in these areas.

I believe decentralization can play a role in not only providing funding and incentives for the application of the worlds resources towards important issues but also identifying possible solutions and areas worth additional research. I think what we are seeing in Steemit is showing great potential and if we can couple this with machine learning and data analysis we may be able to make even faster progress.

One can hope that these issues will get more attention, in many ways it will enhance our collective lives imho. Part of the solution of any problem is getting enough people aware of it.

Thanks lightsplasher. Yes you're right awareness is definitely the most important factor in making change possible. That's why we piggybacked off the Paralympic games to make this more general point. It's so true what you say about capitalism dictating what type of medical issues get progressed and which don't. That's why there is nobody inventing the much needed new types of antibiotics that the world needs because it's not cost effective. We need more responsible and far sighted decision making!

Excellent post.
Years ago I, like many people, I wasn't aware that a small few centimeters step or a ramp to hard to climb could block people with disabilities. Till I made friend with a nice woman suffering brittle bone disease.
She completely changed my view on the world around me.

And yes, there is still a lot to do ... Let's do It, step by step ;)

Step 1 : change your mind !

Signed the petition and upvoted!

Yes quite often as the video shows it doesn't take much for places to get a ramp or make other small changes!

upvoted! and voice heard!
I don't know which part of the earth you live in - but in The Netherlands - it's all acknowledged.
I hope you achieve your goal!

I'm in London. When you say all acknowledged to you mean all the access that is needed is provided?

Im sorry...but when people value something more thsn morels this is what happens. People sell out to futher their wealth. I have found all kinds of people are prone to this...whats right whats wrong

Indeed! We need to have more effective forces in society that aren't just based on making money!

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