POWER: The Force is Strong in "That One"
Power is one of my favorite words. So is onomatopoeia. So this page could have had one of over a dozen bylines. But it’s difficult to focus on pulling together an editorial, when a heart-racing moment in history is happening on your planet.
Right now I am over 3,000 miles away from America but I can feel it. Excitement. Friends in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Sydney, can feel it too. It has been slowly building for months and now electric frissons are passing to and fro over the oceans, marking every moment of the final countdown.
Meanwhile I’ve been sitting here trying to talk about Power without mentioning the US election.
But it’s inevitable as I think about the topic at hand – Power is influence, guidance, direction, persuasion, magnetism and charisma. All these qualities contain the elusive force that fuels our motivation to turn dreams and ideas into actions and events. The force that friends and allies can recognize and agree to work with. Power is a force for channeling change.
For the first time in history (that I can remember) events on the front pages of newspapers are powerful enough to be felt by everyone at once. Anxiety about loss of money and horror at war claiming innocent lives, is written on the brows of everyone I see on my daily commute. But under those brows, in the very centre of certain pupils, I can also see the frissons. They can feel it too. Somebody out there wants to channel change – and whether he wins a big white house or not, he has the power to do so, because he has already demonstrated an ability to give people their dreams back.
The concept of Power has always been tainted with the stigma of selfishness – anyone who actively seeks power is assumed to be an egomaniac, hell-bent on making changes no one else particularly wants. So inevitably, ideas for this issue were focused on two sides of the power equation: cause and effect. The pieces we have published are the most interesting spins on how this equation works in the world today.
The nature of power is changing in our culture. Our Relationship issue back in July, highlighted the new imperative to work with others, as we can no longer make changes that will have a positive impact on our society, by ourselves. The image of the lone maverick who happens to have a heart, is dated and no longer aspirational. Amanda wrote and produced a beautiful short film that shows (in a funny way) that power over others is an illusion.
Power today is with others, as opposed to over them. Being powerful is therefore dependent on your ability to magnetize and mobilize those around you – and this means being open to conversation and engagement, wherever you may go.
Our role as individuals is still important though – for we all see the need for certain changes as we move through our lives, but relatively few of us have the awareness and conviction to step up and reach out to others to do something to help. While ruminating on this point, I bashed out a chart:
Fact is, we all have power – and at different points in our lives we are likely to fall into all four of these categories. Maya’s article breaks down and explains each stage of the journey from being blissfully unaware to engaged and ready to help change the world for the better.
Of course, the causes and effects of power also differ by context – Sheri’s testament to the power of fashion, is a great example of how human beings are unique in finding the experience of being simultaneously powerful and overpowered, not only tolerable but pleasurable.
Fashion is also a widely recognized form of empowerment. Or, to be more precise, design is the ultimate vehicle for transmitting the Force to others. Great design transfers the intelligence of artists and engineers, to inspired and enabled consumers. This month’s Design Dispatch takes the subject of empowerment into the realm of user-customization, while Alex’s article illuminates the value of making people feel talented and forcing true talent to keep improving on itself.
A third take on this idea of democratizing power or leveling a once vertical playing field, is Sarah’s piece on the massive power shifts taking place in the music world. As her title declares, the “kind of crazy artist people” are taking back control of their creative outputs and schooling greedy middle men, obsessed with the bottom line, about how to better balance the power equation.
Kind of reminds me of a speech I heard once.
So I’m sitting here, about to publish our thoughts on Power and planning the week ahead. The skies of London will be lit up with fireworks on Wednesday for Guy Fawkes - but this past year of excited whispers may erupt into a mid-week celebration that will brighten skies around the world. I can feel it already. Can you?
by Onika Simon
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I like!- Especially ending with that video - most apt!