Transformative psychology #14: Changing default settings for bystander intervention

Bystander intervention is when you, as a witness, see a bully, a predator, an aggressor or an attacker target someone and you, as a decent human, intervene.

One of the hardest pieces of this is to convince yourself that you should, in fact, intervene on someone who is hostile, dominating, aggressive, threatening, and just plain scary. We may be culturally opposed to such intimidation or we may even be hard-wired to want to stand up for the vulnerable, but humans also seem wired to seek any justification for not being involved. 

I'm not strong enough. They will figure it out by themselves. Someone else will intervene and fix this.

Our ability to justify our impulse to "let George handle it" is impressive--and a straight-up abdication of our duty to the vulnerable as humans. 

Research helps us understand and prepare (Peck, Doumas & Midgett, 2024). Critically, "when individuals find they have acted in a way that contradicts their moral compass, they may activate 'disengagement' mechanisms to avoid the discomfort of negative self‐sanctions" (Gotdiner & Gumpel, 2024, p. 634). 

Thus, forgiving ourselves for shameful conduct in past bystander intervention fails is the first step toward learning how to gain agency and a stronger chance to be an effective intervenor in future situations where we observe an aggressor and a targeted person.

One of the strongest deterrents our minds wrestle with in the real-life moment of witnessing a bully attacking a targeted person is "perceived costs" (McCary[1], 2017). To accurately calculate these perceived costs is critical, and then to calculate the costs of not intervening, compare the two, and make a decision.

Tactics that reduce the perceived costs are thus vital to enable bystanders to intervene. 

One may imagine the bully refocusing on oneself instead of the original target. When that happens, are there tactics that can mitigate that possibility and thus reduce the perceived costs? 

Approaching the targeted person as a friend, or at the least a friendly other, can help the intervenor attenuate the tension without calling out the aggressor. 

Treating the interaction as something to dismiss rather than shout about can de-couple all parties' moral engagement, investment, and need to either assert dominance or survive by abject surrender. Not making eye contact with the aggressor can assist in not engendering an atmosphere of dominance calculation in the moment. Making eye contact instead with the targeted person can evoke a measure of trust in many situations. Smiling or even laughing "with" the targeted person can relieve some tensions in some cases and thus psychologically deëscalate all parties. Affecting non-dominating but reframing behaviors can often significantly reduce risks to all parties. Asking questions rather than making statements cedes one form of power in order to enhance another form of power.

Reframing reality is altering it and creating a new reality.

Are these guaranteed strategies?

There is no such thing.

References

Gotdiner, V., & Gumpel, T. P. (2024). Bystander intervention style and motivational factors influencing behavior in bullying situations. Psychology in the Schools, 61(2), 631–646. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1002/pits.23075

McCary, Jennifer (2017). Teaching bystanders to intervene. TedxGettysburg College. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iY_X4O-wno

Peck, M., Doumas, D. M., & Midgett, A. (2024). Examination of the Bystander Intervention Model Among Middle School Students: A Preliminary Study. Professional Counselor, 14(2), 119–134. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.15241/mp.14.2.119

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iY_X4O-wno

Transformative psychology #13: Internal conflict resolution under duress

While the field of conflict transformation is generally concerned with conflict management methods between and among parties to a conflict, in recent years neuroscience research is studying how we manage our inner conflicts--a melding of neuroscience and psychology relative to conflict response. 

Brain scientists have been helping us understand the aspects of how we humans are hard-wired--or not--to respond to threats, but most interestingly, how we can manipulate or even rewire that hard wiring. In a recent study, for instance, researchers tested responses to presenting problems using situations that were resolved by normal methods and comparing those to test participants who faced atypical conflict scenarios--could they successfully flex and adapt? (Sauter, et al., 2024)

References

Sauter, A. E., Zabicki, A., Schüller, T., Baldermann, J. C., Fink, G. R., Mengotti, P., & Vossel, S. (2024). Response and conflict expectations shape motor responses interactively. Experimental Brain Research, 242(11), 2599–2612. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1007/s00221-024-06920-w

Transformative psychology #12: Neuroscience of consensus, or what part of the brain produces groupthink?

In 2011, a Stanford psychologist discovered a function of the:

"ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain's reward centre that lights up when we encounter things we want, like a chocolate bar. Zaki's team found that it also activates when people are told what others think. And the more this part of the brain responds to information about group opinion, the more someone will adjust their opinion towards the consensus" (Rutkin, 2025, p. 32).

Some wrote about this decades ago when analyzing the process of the "best and brightest" American officials in John F. Kennedy's cabinet, who all came to agree to invade Cuba's Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, an invasion that was so poorly thought out that it ended in abject humiliation for the US. 

Achieving real consensus is more than a powerful and persuasive person convincing a group to get along by going along. Part of the successful application of psychology toward genuine consensus is credible humility by the figure usually regarded as the decider--the owner of a company, the founder of a group, the most credentialed member of a group, the person who is looked to for wise decisions by others, or even simply a dominant personality. 

Checking ego, checking any ability to pull rank, checking any potential for retribution, checking one's high position in a hierarchy--all this is requisite to authentic consensus process, a process that, when done well, produces wise decisions and high commitment to results by those who were participants in that process (Dressler, 2006).

References

Dressler, Larry (2006). Consensus through conversation: How to achieve high-commitment decisions. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Rutkin, A. (2015). We Are Wired to Conform. New Scientist, 227(3034), 32.

Transformative psychology #11: Unfreezing conflict narratives

In current research on attempting to alter, abolish, or transform the conventional conflict-supporting narratives that enable nations to continue destructive conflict, an Israeli team of psychologists and conflict resolution researchers are finding some promise in what they refer to as Information Process Model (IPM).  

These interdisciplinary researchers describe their work in unpacking formulation and interruption of conflict-supporting narratives using this intervention method:

Specifically, an IPM-based intervention includes the following four elements: (1) clarifying that conflict-supporting narratives evolve to fulfill the needs of society members involved in intractable conflicts; (2) explaining that these narratives are common among all societies involved in such conflicts; (3) adding that these narratives come with a cost of fueling the conflict and describing the immense costs to society that come with it; and (4) suggesting that there is a benefit to exploring alternative means of fulfilling these needs, as found in other peacefully-resolved conflicts, which may end the cycle of violence and proceed to peacemaking. (Rosler, Wiener-Blotner, Heskiau & Sharvit, 2024, p. 1151).

Selecting other conflict narratives that did transform and seeking components that can be shown as paradigms worth possibly adapting to the protracted conflict experienced by members of the nation involved can lower barriers to acceptance of methods that may hold a promise in lowering the tremendous costs of destructive conflict.

References

Rosler, N., Wiener-Blotner, O., Heskiau Micheles, O., & Sharvit, K. (2024). Understanding Reactions to Informative Process Model Interventions: Ambivalence as a Mechanism of Change. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X), 14(12), 1152. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.3390/bs14121152

Transformative psychology #10: Nonviolent Communication, cultural differences, post-traumatic stress

In one study of the efficacy of a three-part use of Nonviolent Communication,[1] using the Nonviolent Communication Behavior Scale, researchers found that self-connection, authentic self-expression, and empathic listening were useful in reducing cross-cultural miscommunications and in dampening communication difficulties with people suffering PTS (Fung, et al., 2025).

In principled negotiation, the care for others and care for self is balanced, which tends to move agreements away from mere compromise and toward collaboration. When the three elements of Nonviolent Communication are utilized in principled negotiation, the new possibilities of progress toward a win-win outcome are enhanced. 

Self-connection is the honest inner exploration of needs. Authentic self-expression is the honest communication of those needs. Empathic listening is eliciting the needs of others with a dual lens of openness to cultural differences and tolerance for PTS.

Application of Nonviolent Communication competencies tends to open minds and hearts more than any communication method that is simply oriented toward self-aggrandizement or control over the discourse.

References

Fung, H. W., Chau, A. K. C., Yuan, G. F., Liu, C., & Lam, S. K. K. (2025). The Nonviolent Communication Behaviors Scale: Cross-Cultural Validity and Association with Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress. Research on Social Work Practice, 35(1), 88–96. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1177/10497315231221969

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[1] Nonviolent Communication is capitalized as it refers to a method of communication developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. It is a specific practice method, not merely communication that doesn't happen to be violent, which would logically perhaps be called nonviolent communication.

Transformative psychology #9: Choose your metaphors wisely

Scholars in both Communications and Conflict Transformation have researched the psychology of metaphor choice as we work on our identities, our problems, our relationships, our sense of morality, and much more, including, it is hoped, effective solutionary paths.

Interviewing Restorative Justice (RJ) practitioners and analyzing the results led Communications researchers Ian Borton and Gregory Paul (2015) to posit that the common metaphor of regarding the RJ, healing, might be far more problematic than a less fraught metaphor of gardening. 

Underneath this work is the vast cultural differences and injured parties' logical struggles with the idea of a perpetrator being part of healing the injuries. But tending to a garden is a more modest and less loaded metaphor, still with positive imagery and associations. 

When the Jesuit priest, literati, and nonviolent resister Dan Berrigan explained the process by which he developed and presented the metaphor for their bold act of direct action interference with the draft sending young Americans to kill or die in Vietnam, he told us, "It took me all winter, after our initial attempt in October 1967, to say 'Fire.' Then we made homemade napalm, which was killing and maiming so many civilians in Vietnam, and burned the draft files in the parking lot." That metaphor, reified in the blaze of draft files, caught metaphorical fire and it literally and figuratively sparked a series of what became known as draft board raids, more than three dozen of them, across the US, grinding at least some of the Selective Service system to a halt and lighting up the public consciousness.

The right metaphor, rooted in the right psychological approach, can alter reality. 

References

Borton, I. M., & Paul, G. D. (2015). Problematizing the healing metaphor of restorative justice. Contemporary Justice Review, 18(3), 257–273. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1080/10282580.2015.1057704

Transformative psychology #8: Cassandra complex and women who warn us

Cassandra made a deal with Apollo, it is written, that he would grant her the gift of prophesy if she would have sex with him. He gave her the gift, then she decided she really didn't want to lie with him, so he kissed her and cursed her to be unbelieved. For the rest of her short life, she warned her fellow Trojans of impending catastrophes, and all her dire predictions were both ignored and then came tragically true.

Psychologists have written about the "Cassandra complex" for many decades, with varying interpretations (Azriel, 2023). Those who observe public policy debates have seen women give serious warnings and been dismissed as "hysterical" or emotional all too often. Is this a simple psychological problem inherent in patriarchy or can it in turn produce actual psychological problems for the "Cassandras" who offer terrible predictions and are dismissed--even when they have been correct in the past?

References

Azriel, N. (2023). Rethinking the Cassandra Complex: Toward Collective Reclamation of the Capacity to Listen. Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 17(3), 25–38. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1080/19342039.2023.2224710

Transformative psychology #7: Emotional intelligence and conflict transformation

Conflict transformation is transforming destructive conflict into constructive conflict. The types of destructive conflict are typically associated with forms of violence, including direct, structural, cultural, sexual, and emotional (Rapp, 2006). Emotional intelligence is one element in the process of transformation, but not just as regards emotional violence; emotional intelligence can assist in transforming any destructive conflict, in no small measure because all forms of destructive conflict impact emotional well-being.

Emotional intelligence is both self-oriented and other-oriented, affecting our behaviors and thus the outcomes of what we attempt. Other-oriented emotional intelligence is a positive factor in workplace productivity and sustainability of a positive workplace culture (Marinova, Anand & Park, 2025).

References

Marinova, S., Anand, S., & Park, H. (2025). Other-oriented emotional intelligence, OCBs, and job performance: a relational perspective. Journal of Social Psychology, 1–20. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1080/00224545.2024.2439944

Rapp, H. (2006). The four chambers of the heart of peace: the role of emotional intelligence, counselling skills, and living systems thinking in the transformation of violent conflict: part one. Psychotherapy & Politics International, 4(3), 157–174. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1002/ppi.107

Transformative psychology #6: Neuroscience of empathy

Psychological researchers have found that "work in humans and nonhuman primates converges in describing a close relationship between emotional contagion, mimicry, and social closeness" (Ferrari, 2014, p. 300). While there is no scientific claim or basis in any assertion that mirror neurons guarantee an empathic response in all individuals in all situations--mocking disabilities is an example of the opposite and of course there are many others--neuroscientists are possibly moving toward consensus that without our animal innate ability to mirror others behaviors, including facial expressions and body movements, empathy might not be as possible as it clearly is.

Of course there is a continuum of empaths, all the way from those who almost eagerly put their lives in danger to protect others to those who operate only transactionally and strictly in their own self-interest. Most humans seem to fall some distance from both endpoints of that spectrum or continuum.

When deëscalating someone, the psychological empathic approach is crucial, as is the role of empathy in moderating, facilitating, and mediating. Given our natural range of empathic choices in the heat of conflict, we can instruct ourselves to come down where it will do the most good.

Scenario One: 

Mandy and Jim are escalating in an argument in a dinner party. You choose how to use your empathy. You back Jim, showing him great camaraderie and protective friendship, discounting Mandy's points. Your empathy escalates the conflict, assisting in damaging the long friendship of Mandy and Jim, as well as you and Mandy.

Scenario Two: 

Mandy and Jim, dinner party argument--same start. As they escalate and each start becoming louder and more aggressive and dismissive of the other, you choose to practice your empathy by quietly asking questions, first of one, then the other. Your quiet search for the most rational components of their arguments is your mirroring approach, your empathic approach, connecting possibly less to their physical expressions and more to the variables of their intellectual constructs, constructs that you are asking them in turn to reveal more clearly to you. If your empathic approach works, you (or one of them) may well discover enough common interests to maintain their mutual respect, if not agreement.

Both of your approaches are rooted in empathy.

Does that make empathy categorically good or invariably effective? Hardly. 

Thus, merely asserting to ourselves or to others that "I was trying to protect my friend," or "I acted out of sympathy for him," is not a legitimate claim to either good relational upkeeping or even smart intentions. Empathy expressed in ways that uplift and strengthen social bonds can show social evolutionary adaptiveness. Empathy that seems based in more of a zero-sum analysis can possibly do more harm than good.

References

Ferrari, P. F. (2014). The neuroscience of social relations. A comparative-based approach to empathy and to the capacity of evaluating others’ action value. Behaviour, 151(2/3), 297–313. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1163/1568539X-00003152

Transformative psychology #5: Self-talk as encouragement and protection

"Self-talk" is not a phrase used to my knowledge when I was young. Now, however, psychologists from many perspectives with many motivations have centered it in psychological health and performance enhancement. Even the military sees[1] the value in helping its members understand and learn adaptive practices of self-talk.

They note the difference between more-or-less "automatic" self-talk--spontaneous and sometimes debilitatingly self-deprecating with no helpful measure of appropriate self-confidence--and what they call "strategic" self-talk, which is meant to be conscious, deliberate, motivational and problem-solving.

Researchers also found self-talk can improve anaerobic power, especially when that self-talk is motivational and is accompanied by the physical affirmation of head-nodding (Mateos, Ruiz & Horcajo, 2024).

Self-talk can prep us for stressful situations. We train to engage in it on the Portland Peace Team in order to head into escalated situations with no available triggers, no chink in our emotional armor that can reduce us to debate, argument, or loss of temper. 

Thus, self-talk is shown to be effective in preventing emotional explosions and also in increasing explosive (anaerobic) power, physically.

References

Mateos, R., Ruiz, I. C., & Horcajo, J. (2024). Increasing Anaerobic Power in Cycling By Implementing Embodied Self-Talk. Sport Psychologist, 38(3), 207–216. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1123/tsp.2023-0154 

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[1] https://www.armyresilience.army.mil/ard/r2/The-power-of-Self-talk.html#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20Effective%20Self%2DTalk,%2Desteem%20and%20self%2Dworth.

Transformative psychology #4: The power of positive listening

Some communications experts call it "active listening," some call it "reflective listening," some deem it "elicitive listening," and it might also be "transformative listening" or "positive listening." What are the characteristics of such a practice?

·       genuine listening with all forms of our intelligence (certainly emotional intelligence coupled with intellectual intelligence)

·       listening to formulate questions that draw a person out further

·       patient listening

·       reflective listening that paraphrases with humility, using follow-ups such as, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but what I hear you saying is..."

·       empathic listening for the trauma behind some narratives

·       connective listening that seeks to identify commonalities with the other rather than listening for "gotcha" points to prepare a retort or refutation

The United States Institute of Peace[1] offers many techniques that can be considered part of active listening, as long as care is also given to the sequencing. For example, they include, "Help the speaker see other points of view," which is certainly a valuable technique but likely only helpful after first using many of the other techniques and then gingerly probing to see if such a "help" is welcome or if it would effectively end the conversation. In short, the psychology of positive listening is at least as crucial as the checklist. 

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[1] https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2017-01/Core%20Principles%20of%20Active%20Listening%20Handout.pdf

Transformative psychology #3: Identity and resilience

What enables some people to manage a post-conflict healing, a peace without much new threat of violent conflict? 

Part of the answer may be in the methods used to wage the conflict. For example, in a 2005 study published by Freedom House, the general tendency to relapse into hot conflict following a regime change increased when the insurgency that defeated the old regime was armed and tended to not devolve into war when the insurgency was nonviolent (e.g., Serbia in 2000, Philippines in 1986, fall of communist regimes in Warsaw Pact in the 1989 period, etc.) (Karatnycky & Ackerman, 2005). While the seriousness of the struggles are the same, the lack of atrocities committed by the nonviolent victors might not feed so much into the powerful motive for revenge, which sometimes can go on for years, even generations, when a party lost to violence.

Individuals vary in levels of resilience in context of identity struggle. Psychology researchers found "greater identity resilience is associated with more adaptive reactions, less undesired identity change, and less negative affect after thinking about aversive experiences" (Breakwell, 2021, p. 573). 

Being able to manage those aversive experiences is a challenge to many individuals and to identity groups, e.g., those especially on lower status levels in a particular culture at a particular time. Being gay in a homophobic culture, being BIPOC in a racist culture, being a girl or woman in a sexist culture are all situations where identity and culture work to damage resilience for some, if not most, of the downpressed identity groups. When they suffer from that it is also referred to as internalized oppression.

Some practitioners of social activism who are members of historically marginalized groups assert that being an activist for justice is a way to develop "internalized resilience"[1] that can overcome any internalized oppression. 

Families of origin in communities with shared identities can also help prepare youth to grow into a resilience based on pride in ancestry, identity, and cultural greatness. 

References

Breakwell, G. M. (2021). Identity resilience: its origins in identity processes and its role in coping with threat. Contemporary Social Science, 16(5), 573–588. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1999488

Karatnycky, Adrian & Ackerman, Peter (2005). How freedom is won: From civic resistance to durable democracy. New York, NY: Freedom House.

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[1] https://www.believeoutloud.com/voices/article/internalized-resilience-embracing-thrivingness/

Transformative psychology #2: Trauma-informed structural change

The psychological challenges to bridging the gap between violent conflict containment and conflict transformation at times face major barriers when the structural circumstances that produced the outbreak of violence remain (Gaynor, 2016). Understandably, this presents emotional traps for individuals and collectives, at times devolving back to hot conflict. This can be particularly powerful in cases like wars in Congo, where the mortalities were greater than any war since World War II. The psychology of atrocity accumulation and therefore perduring trauma is a powerful force perennially subject to reignition, most significantly mitigated by transformation of structural injustices, structural violence, structural inequalities (leading to strong resentments of perceptions of relative deprivation).

References

Gaynor, N. (2016). The limits to community-based conflict resolution in North-East Congo. Community Development Journal, 51(2), 268–284. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsv015

Transformative psychology #1: Former combatants turned transformative conflict workers

What is the psychology of a former combatant turning and learning conflict transformation? Irish researchers into the identity processing of former combatants during the Troubles reveal a tendency of those seeking to become conflict transformation specialists tend to construct a self-image of their new profession not as a negation of their former armed fighter identity but rather as an evolution along a professional continuum (Flack & Ferguson, 2021). This seems to psychologically self-manage the frequent collective and individual aversion to regarding what some would legitimately call a radical shift or pivot and instead justify or self-reassure pride in growth and skill development. 

A potential pitfall, of course, is the emotional need to self-assess the new profession as more expert and more valid than those who started with nonviolent conflict transformation and never went through the role of violent combatant. The tensions can better be managed when mutually understood. The former combatant often has a strong sense of pride in the bravery and total commitment of having been in combat, while the conflict transformer who decided against that in the beginning can descend into moral or ethical judgment of the former combatant. The vulnerabilities of both can be reduced by greater understanding of the other.

References

Flack, P., & Ferguson, N. (2021). Conflict Transformation: Relinquishing or Maintaining Social Identity Among Former Loyalist Combatants in Northern Ireland. Political Psychology, 42(2), 185–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12694

There must be 50 ways: Participating in democracy #50: Hundreds more!

Every method of nonviolent action can be a method of participating in democracy. Gene Sharp, in his 1973 opus, listed 198 methods[1]. As a major update, Michael Beer produced a greatly expanded list of essentially double that in his monograph Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century[2]. 

Just a few of those additional tactics since 1973, from the Beer collection (2021, pp. 87-88): 

·       Expressive Tactics Using Medium of Electronic Communication

·       RECORDING & DISTRIBUTING NEWS OF NVA

·       Livestreaming: The live public broadcasting of an event, incident, or protest

·       Short form digital video: A brief video detailing the issue that people are protesting for/against

·       Social media photo campaign: Promoting a particular image through social media platforms (for example, changing profile pictures)

·       Database leaks: Releasing entire digital archives of secret/classified materials in order to educate the public and/or increase awareness

·       CROWDSOURCING INFORMATION

·       Sousveillance: Covert surveillance by citizens, frequently of authorities

·       Maps and maptivism: Using maps, typically digital ones, to crowdsource data or information

·       Digital file sharing applications: Peer-to-peer file-sharing (uTorrent, etc.)

·       CREATING ONLINE DIGITAL CONTENT

·       Blogging/writing/commenting/tweeting: Creating online written content that addresses particular issues, which is especially useful if it is too dangerous to speak out or protest in person

·       Digital video and audio art: Using media forms such as videos, photos, photos of art, digital art, animations, and silent videos to protest/appeal

·       Digital games: Digital games that are used to criticize opponents and their ideas or to model a new behavior or institution

·       FALSE, IMAGINARY INFORMATION

·       Creating faux identities, websites, videos:

·       Creating some kind of hoax or fake information that is intended to mock opponents and/or shock the public

·       Mockumentaries: A documentary that uses humor and parody to mock an opponent or issue

·       Mock documents (government forms): Constructing mock documents or forms for use by the public

·       Deliberately fake money: Creating false currency that can be used to combat corruption, spread awareness about the issue, etc.

·       MASS ACTION

·       SMS/email/social media bombing: Using text messaging, email, or social media functions to send messages en masse to a target

·       Forwarding information, retweeting, re-posting, sharing: Sharing information and raising awareness through social media or other messaging systems

·       Trend a hashtag: Using a social media platform’s hashtag feature to call attention to an issue or event (#)

·       Influencing Internet search engines: Changing the results of a search engine for a specific term/person 

·       “Nonviolently ‘hijacking’ social media”: Hacking, posting on, exposing, and/or disabling the social media accounts of an opponent

·       Social media “challenges”: Using social media to call others to action on a mass scale

·       Solidarity telethon: Mass calls to spread information and solidarity 

·       Product review hijacking: Negatively or positively mass-reviewing a product

One perspective of all these ways to participate in democracy is that if there are hundreds of ways to do so and many more waiting some creative innovative activist to develop, it negates the entire Just War Doctrine because one of the criteria for engaging in war is that it must be the last resort. No war in human history was preceded by 198 different attempts to resolve a conflict or defend a people, let alone more than 300 of them. Peace, nonviolence, and democracy are all woven together much more advantageously than violence and democracy. In effect, creative, strategic nonviolence is the new arsenal of democracy.

References

Beer, Michael A. (2021). Civil resistance tactics in the 21st century. ICNC. 

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[1] https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/198-methods-of-nonviolent-action/

[2] https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/civil-resistance-tactics-in-the-21st-century/

There must be 50 ways: Participating in democracy #49: Be a citizen journalist

 The young woman who is independently streaming video at a public event is a citizen journalist. Is she an effective influencer? Sometimes. The idea that the quality of a citizen journalist's output is 100 percent quantifiable is clearly not true when one photo changes public policy. 

Mid-19th century photos of Yellowstone drove the votes in Congress, for example, to create the first United States National Park in 1871 and all the protections it afforded so Americans could enjoy the park in perpetuity. 

Even earlier, says the Save the Redwoods League[1]:

Photographers and painters began connecting people to redwoods decades earlier, beginning with Carleton Watkins’ giant sequoia photographs from the 1850s. At the height of the Civil War, these photos helped inspire President Lincoln and the U.S. Congress to protect Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove, in part as an antidote to the war’s horrors.

Whatever the social media platform, there are elements that are participatory in democracy, whether it's documentation, opinion, or simply sharing what inspires you to make society a better place. 

Ask Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian who, in 2010, saw a horrific photo of a fellow countryman beaten to death by Egyptian police. He started a FaceBook page and it went massively viral, helping to launch the Egyptian Arab Spring on the heels of the first Arab Spring uprising, in Tunisia. 

Citizen journalism is a challenge to mainstream journalism, though it can helpfully supplement it when both are well done. Like all the tools we have with which to participate in democracy, it can be used to build or to harm.

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[1] https://www.savetheredwoods.org/blog/forest/the-power-of-photography-connection-and-conservation/