Issue 16 - Introducing the Ageing Files ✊🏼👵🏼

Welcome to issue sixteen of the Eco Punks Gazette. Published on the shortest day of the year, which means we’ve got more light to look forward to in the days to come! Unless of course you live in Argentina. Sadly the forecast there is for more darkness. 👀

If you’re new to the Eco Punks, welcome! We’re here to serve and stimulate you, so please let us know if there are subjects or topics that you would like us to cover. We can always be reached by replying to this email or contacting us via email, [email protected] or [email protected].

Upcoming Event

Jan 9th at 2pm EST - Advocacy in the age of AI

If you’re not already participating in these salons, email [email protected] to get the details and join in. We plan to release a schedule of salons for the first quarter of 2024, and may have spontaneous events over the next two weeks, announced here or via our Signal group.

Open Source FTW!

We had a fantastic conversation with fellow Eco Punk Mark Surman, about Open Source, the Mozilla Foundation, and the ongoing rise of AI. In particular we kept coming back to the politics of AI, and the political climate forming around the technology. Mark left us with the challenge of articulating an alternative perspective, a subject/theme we’ll pursue in the new year. Thanks again Mark!

Tesla’s Self-Driving Delusions

One of the benefits of being a member of our not-so-top-secret Signal group is the opportunity to participate in our podcasts.

This past week, we discussed Tesla's historic recall and what it tells us about self-driving technology, autonomous cars, and responsibility. Big thanks to Greg Majster, Sherida Ryan, and David Ryan for joining us.

Eco Punks - The Ageing Files

One thing that we all have in common on this planet is the fact that time never stands still. As it passes, we age and eventually we get what is commonly referred to as “old” (the definition of which we will get to eventually, too). Aging is therefore a big unifier and maybe even one of the lowest common denominators we share as beings on this planet.

Since not only life expectancy but also the quality of life are, or at the very least can be, on the rise while prejudice towards elders and age-associated shaming still persists—imagine for a second you are president of the United States and have to listen to all of the crap about your own cognitive decline as diagnosed by the millions of “experts” in the United States alone—we decided to embark on a journey in which we will explore age and aging. We will approach this matter from different angles, in order to find answers for and perspective on how we want to deal with those additional years, and the corresponding challenges and opportunities that we accompany them.

Our list of topics for the coming weeks is evolving and expanding as our conversations play out, but we will definitely cover the following in the coming episodes:

• Ageism and (mis-)perceptions about age

• Cognition - cognitive decline vs growth 

• The meaning of “old” 

• From experience to wisdom: from old age to sage

• Networks and eco-systems for and by aged people

• The good, the bad and the ugly of getting older

• Language and terminology around aging 

• Shifting purpose, identity, and perspectives throughout a lifetime

• Loneliness and alternative concepts for life in the 3rd and 4th quarters

Jan and David, our resident psychologist, kicked off the series last week by defining the scope of our conversation per the above. We will follow up this Friday with another episode about ageism and misconceptions around age.

Please let us know what you think and feel free to suggest additional topics around age that you would like us to explore. 

Worth Listening: Biden is Conan O’Brien’s friend

Side note to the above. In the lead up to 2024, Biden’s team engineered an appearance for POTUS on Conan’s podcast. While a small gesture, it shows how the team is eager to show that Joe is lucid and competent by pairing him with quick-witted conversation partner. Being interviewed by a friendly comedian is not risky, but it is a smart when countering ageist bias.

Youtubing, Influencing and Flight Bans

We stumbled across a brief post in a tabloid about Australian Youtuber Josh Cahill, who got banned from Qatar Airways the other day. Once we couldn’t find more reporting in other media, we got curious and snooped around a little. What had happened? And why isn’t there more media coverage of the incident?

Qatar, “unwelcome” opinions, and bans—this prompted immediate flashbacks to the last soccer World Cup. This tournament was so laden with controversies regarding corruption and the repeated violation of human rights that it has its own Wikipedia page now: List of 2022 FIFA World Cup controversies - Wikipedia.

Remember how in protest of Qatar’s ban of any LBGTQ+ solidarity insignia, i.e., the “One Love” badge on jerseys that advocates for equality in a still misogynistic and somewhat backwards minded sport, the Germans covered their mouths prior to a game? No? Well not many noticed at the time either:

In fact, this well intended stunt had absolutely no impact. Despite the extensively reported disgusting and obscene atrocities associated with the event, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is widely regarded as a success—so much so that FIFA awarded the World Cup in 2034 again to the region. This time it goes to Saudi Arabia, once more under dubious and less than honorable circumstances.  

But back to our Youtuber Josh Cahill. Per what we could find in social media, he apparently took a flight on Qatar Airways, posted a negative review on Youtube, and was initially approached with the offer of a free flight if he took the video down. After he refused, he was banned outright from the airline. Reddit provides a good summary of the situation. A few things that stand out:

1. The outrage is primarily self-reported, via sources such as blogs or reports from other influencers, since very few to no serious news outlets have picked the story up. Why is nobody writing about Josh Cahill? Could this have to do with Qatar’s advertising spend and its general influence in business?  

2. Commentary attacking Josh Cahill personally began almost immediately, discrediting the quality of his work as if to imply that he didn’t deserve any better anyway (take a look at Youtuber banned from QR - FlyerTalk Forums, for example). We sense a poorly executed attempt at damage control by means of a Bot-empowered PR campaign here. 

3. A different thread— DrSendy on the future of vlogging —asserting that airlines are so inundated by high volumes of negative feedback on social media that they no longer attempt to repair relations with complaining influencers, raises interesting questions about how is this dynamic is going to evolve.

Attempting to silence criticism, shoving it under the carpet as if it never existed, is a bad, toxic and harmful strategy that history has taught us does not lead to good places. And while not every Youtuber has something meaningful to say or only good and positive intentions, Qatar’s approach here is the opposite of how to encourage peaceful and beneficial coexistence between corporations and people. This is a bad example that we must pay attention to in order to prevent Qatar’s conduct from setting a precedent. Youtubers and influencers, on the other hand, need to work out what the future of influence can be in a time of inflationary sharing and (self-)reporting. 

NCAA Volleyball: A huge win for women’s sports (mostly)

The engagement stats for the final tournament are nothing short of impressive: Both semi finals had +49% and +55% in viewership compared to 2022 ,with a female audience of 49%. The numbers for the final are even more staggering: Viewership was up by + 115% and amongst female viewers up +151%. This also means that half of the viewers are male sports fans, which is not always the case in women’s sports. Kudos and a big thumbs up for ABC, ESPN and the NCAA for doing a fantastic job in promoting this spectacular event.

As we alluded to in our headline, there is a small caveat though, two actually. 

The first: Asija O’Neil of the Texas Longhorns received a yellow card at one point: for cheering after a block through the net which, strictly speaking, qualifies as bad conduct. However, as she was carded, the ESPN commentator asked her co-commentator, “Do they also do this in men’s sports?” The response: a blunt “No, they would never do this in men’s sports.”. As it turns out, what is considered as feisty, gritty hustle amongst male athletes is considered bad form by women. 

And secondly, we have to ask the question: now that female athletes are breaking through ceilings, benefiting everyone else associated with their sport, such as the organizations, institutions, associations, TV stations and apparel manufacturers—when and how are the main actors, the athletes themselves, going to benefit from it in a lasting, sustainable way?

Ending on a high note, we want to encourage you to lean back and enjoy Madisen Skinner’s highlight reel from the tournament. She was voted most outstanding player of the tournament, and in case you missed this year’s tournament, this short video here might entice you to tune in next season. Enjoy!

Worth Watching: Failure at the Fence

The following is a fascinating yet also disturbing investigation into the October 7th attacks on Israel, and the intelligence failure that resulted in the “Iron Wall” barrier being compromised at multiple locations.

Since this is the first time we’ve posted anything about the conflict, we’ll clarify our current position: Ceasefire now!

We’ve also created a Signal group for Eco Punks to share links, ideas, and get a friendly reminder about salons and events. If you’d like to join us on Signal, email [email protected]. If this is the first time you’ve heard of Signal, or if you’re not already using it, this video will bring you up to speed and explain why Signal is the choice for Eco Punks:

Bonus track that you probably slept on for all these years: