Social Media

Don’t Be PC & Don’t Be a Dick

Oct 12, 2015

By Michael Jamal Brooks & Philip L. Mckenzie

The war on language and PC culture has been waging across college campuses since the 80s and through the 90s. In the 21^st century, the battlefield has shifted primarily online via social media and other online mediums. Both the political Left and Right find a leg to stand on in this ongoing debate. The Left focuses on an almost obsessive attention to the “right code” of speech; the Right in turn digs in its heels and resists any critique of the “good ol’ days”. Neither of these is particularly appealing. As a result, the internet is filled with spectacles such as #CancelColbert, the men’s rights movement, as well as finely worded but otherwise misplaced PC critique such as Jonathan Chait’s anti-political correctness essay. Battle lines are drawn and you engage at your own peril.

The almost always hilarious and almost always tasteless podcast “Race Wars” mocks the obsessive attention on speech and code words. Shock jock Anthony Cumia was rightfully taken to task for his openly racist diatribes but conversations he would have with late great comedian Patrice O’Neal were often cathartic, uncomfortable and sometimes enlightening. These conversations need a place to take place and take root in our collective consciousness.

As two dudes, who attempt (and sometimes succeed with mixed results) to treat people respectfully, act with empathy and consider power and privilege in society we have a simple rule: “Don’t be PC & Don’t Be A Dick”. In the tradition of Pope Francis we are invoking a new “golden rule” of the highest order.

Being PC & being a Dick are two shortcuts with a different nature but they are shortcuts just the same. Being PC stifles tension and debate. In short, we have to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Political correct tone is a short cut that leads away from discourse and the necessary complicated conversations that are needed to make genuine progress. Our complicated issues require rigor, not knee jerk reactions despite the fact that we live in a knee jerk world. It’s also not fun and turns to speech obsessive, emotionally hollow humorlessness really fast.

Being a Dick is the shortcut of wanting everything to remain the same simply because you are used to it. It is lazy and it is mean and has no place among thoughtful people who truly want to engage in serious issues. A Dick wallows in their own privilege rather than coming from a place of empathy and compassion. What is more galling is that Dicks often think they are being provocative or edgy when in actuality it is the exact opposite. There is nothing “edgy” about punching down and reinforcing racist, homophobic or misogynist views. Sadly that is as mainstream as it comes. Dicks need to grow up, reform their views and check their bullshit at the door. If Sarah Silverman can self reflect, anyone is capable of jumping off the “being a dick” shortcut.

We want a culture that is free, open, self critical, creative, empathetic uncomfortable and honest. We want comedy that is above all: funny! The two shortcuts of PC and Dick are narrowing the frames of our collective discussion and turning social media into yet another dull echo chamber focused on the petty and the small. If we want to cover everything from being entertaining to confronting massive levels of social injustice we need to be unafraid and transcend the dull shortcuts of “PC” and “Dick”.

Why Mindfulness

admin /

Oct 18, 2013

Over the years of producing Influencer Conference we have settled on a core group of values that inspire and guide us as a company. Our premise is simple. We believe that values, the things we care about and drive our passions are more important that our vocation, the things we do. These values shape the agenda, speakers and audience of each conference.

Explaining mindfulness and why we include it among our core values is pretty easy. During 2012’s conference I remember looking out at the crowd and seeing a sea of blue glowing screens. Laptops, tablets, smartphones all lit up signifying people were firmly plugged in, communicating with someone or something but not actually “in the room”. I was struck by this, because we take great pains to curate an event that would be interesting, thought provoking and beneficial. The audience confirmed their interest by purchasing a ticket, so clearly they agreed. Yet, here we were in a room together and apart. I thought to myself, are people paying attention? Are they listening to the discussion or merely waiting for the next soundbyte to be shared via social media? These questions remained with me post conference and it was shortly thereafter I made a decision to encourage our platform to move to one that emphasized mindfulness. I have practiced yoga and Vedic meditation for a few years and both practices have become increasingly important in how I harness my creative energy and manage stress. Now, that doesn’t mean in order to be mindful everyone has to do either of those two things (though we encourage it!). What we mean by mindfulness, is removing distractions in order to be fully engaged in the present circumstance. As a result, we are now asking that guests refrain from plugging in while talks are in sessions. The value lies within the room, being present, not outside in the technosphere.

The commitment to mindfulness is a challenge as sponsors and partners partially determine the value of their participation by social media metrics. We respect that. We just don’t agree it is the standard by which we should measure the success of our event. We’ll continue to ask that our guests pour their attention, creativity and uniqueness into the room rather than outside of it.

This year we tackle this topic more in depth with the panel discussion: Present Tense: How Being Mindful Drives Creativity.

You can register here for that talk or any of our other panels via our website here.

And if you want to check out a cool introduction video to Vedic Meditation and it’s benefits take a look at this clip shot by Vedic & Yoga Instructor Light: