The What.
#DinosUnite is grassroots performance art (and digital media) for connection, empowerment, and purpose. We strive to engage everyone in the common long-term goals of #Equality and #Planet. #Together #WeCanWin! Win what? A future with clean air, clean water, and abundant multi-cultural happiness.
The Why.
The world is changing fast, and "we are not prepared for what is coming" -- greenpeace.org. Learn more about Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Learn more about the rapidly growing inequality problem; "Our economic and racial divides grew even wider in 2021" -- inequality.org.
The bad news: This is not a firedrill. But there is good news, too! "Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change." -BBC. Meanwhile, “you never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.” --Buckminster Fuller. Furthermore, "Music and Social Justice" Movements often go hand-in-hand. --IEP. (More related research: How Can Music Help Us To Address The Climate Crisis?).
The How.
#DinosUnite is a small piece of a big movement. We can’t make it everybody’s job to work at system change, but we can make it everyone’s hobby. We show that engagement in todays' crises is fun and easy -- #CaringIsCool and #ActingIsAwesome! We broadcast difficult truths in direct but entertaining satire. We rally around the realization that there is a way forward: personal growth, community building, and #GlobalSolidarity.
"Let me break it down even more
You wanna win a culture war?
You gotta get how the REXes divided us
You gotta see how their REX-vision blinded us
And our way through all this justice obstructed?
Reconnecting the divisions constructed!
Speaking through the derision instruction!
Acting now before our species destruction!"
Rym-Manuel McRapta
Act II Scene ii
"Find Your Sound"
The Die-No Details
In an early phase of #DinosUnite, we imagined our goal was to Get The Message Out about climate and inequality reality, and then People Would Respond en-masse to the seriously dangerous situation They and Their Children are facing. Alas, less than 1% of people we exposed were motivated to engage themselves personally in collective human objectives. Of those who were motivated, most were already fully engaged, but Burning Themselves Out against massive Social Resistance.
Humans evolved in environments where being together was more important than being right, and Following the Hierarchy was the surest way to pass on genes and ideas to future generations. Humans developed advanced Mental Defence Mechanisms, such as Cognitive Dissonance, to tolerate any possible social circumstance. Cognitive Dissonance allows humans to whole-heartedly believe in literal paradoxes, if it suits social cohesion and mental well-being.
While #DinosUnite is about communities coming together to address Common Long-Term Needs, people and communities were threatened by the idea that anything was wrong to begin with. Potential collaborators were at odds with themselves, between acting authentically for equality and future, or fitting into their community's conventions. The motivated few were compromised by intensely Homogenous Pressure to Conform or stay silent.
And so, we pivoted. #DinosUnite 2022 fuses Art, Community, and Technology to connect concerned citizens and drive Long-Arc Values-Oriented Collaboration. Since the root ingredients of our global crises are Inequality and Apathy, we focus specifically on Empowering Artistic Expression of equality activism; Re-Normalizing Empathy and Engagement vs the consumption and escapism currently glorified in pop media. Our primary objective is to reach isolated would-be activists, and help them find the support they need to survive and act to their fullest potential. A secondary objective is to attract "bystanders*" to enjoyable micro-actions, showing by example that engagement is fun, easy, and meaningful. *"You can't be neutral on a moving train!" (Zinn)
The Who
#DinosUnite is about everybody, confronting together our collective challenges, by applying ourselves and supporting each other on an 8-step program: #TogetherWeWin if we 1. #Learn, 2. #WakeUp, 3. #Pivot --> #LeadAndFollow, 4. #Focus, 5. #SustainabilityIsSexy, 6. #SolidarityIsCool, 7. #AngerIsResponsible, 8. #Repeat! Jeff Knowunzy created the project, adapted from a prior effort belovingly dubbed Project Onesie. Jeff is a math/science Ph.D., systems-thinking strategist, activist, and actor. At Cornell University ('01-'07, Ph.D.), Jeff taught undergraduate Computer Science and researched incremental optimization: optimization problems with time-evolving constraints. At Google ('09-'14, technical lead), Jeff facilitated an award-winning team to deliver zero-cost mobile internet to millions in Asia and Africa. Jeff then founded OneWorldInnovations ('14), a social benefit business, and piloted trans-cultural innovation workshops in Latin America. In 2018, Jeff pivoted OneWorldInnovations to focus full-time on climate and inequality. Jeff loves email, so feel free to reach out!
"What If..."
Lyrics @dinos_unite
Vocals @globalsolidarity
© 2022 NewMediaNetwork
Can I Participate!?
Yes!, that's the idea =)