Frown Power!

I’ve been reading “Freakonomics” the past couple of days-fantastic, fantastic book! Highly reccomend it for those who like to get to the bottom of things. Ya know, the people who want to know the real reasons behind public policy-not the rhetoric thrown around by different organizations. Example? Here’s one…

In the current political climate with the primaries being what they are, we’re often led to believe things by the media. It’s only been in the last several years that people don’t trust the media. We’ve learned how journalists and TV execs have their own agenda to push upon viewers. So, we take everything with a grain of salt. Just learning the political affiliations of the producers and reporters means you’ll be a little less likely to swallow their information hook, line and sinker, right? At least, that’s what will happen if you’re smart!

So, “Freakonomics”…there’s a quote from the book I’ll paraphrase here:

Morality is how individuals would like society to be seen. Economics is what society actually is.

Therefore, when you study the numbers that economists like the author do, you begin to see different trends. Correlation between numbers and policy isn’t nearly the cause and effect scenario many would have you believe.

So, Frown Power…ever heard of this concept? It’s one of the most simple, effective , easy to perform ways to bring about macro level change-EVER!

Stetson Kennedy was(well, IS since he may still be living)one of the biggest players in the civil rights movement. Long before Dr. King and Malcolm X and the 60s, Stetson Kennedy was infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, exposing their quazi-secret rituals and, in general, erodingstructure from within.

Maybe even more importantly, he began the Frown Power movement. What was so special about this? It’s pure simplicity! When you heard someone make a racist comment, you simply frowned.

First off, this costed nothing to create. Second, when people have to worry about being judged for their language, it would drive the racial haters deeper within their own realms. Third, how fast could this spread? Almost instantly!

I’d never heard of Frown Power before, but this has to go down in history as one of the most effective, easy and cheap ways to implement large scale changes in society.