unplug issue one
unplug: my manifesto
How is this world capable of harboring such awesome natural beauty and such foul ugliness all at the same time? Every day I see, read, hear and experience evidence that the world I live in is full of wonder and life as well as full of hatred and darkness. What is it about the dichotomies of existence that keep me so enthralled? There is so much worth protecting in this world, and so much that we could improve if we only tried. There are so many problems and yet more than enough great minds to solve them. The problem is getting our minds moving in the right direction, which may involve a completely different way of thinking. American culture has taught us to pursue progress at all costs. The idea of progress was spurred by the Industrial Revolution, and the idea now belongs to consumer capitalism, defined in purely economic terms. With the diversity of human minds, shouldn't we be able to come up with a wider definition of progress that includes social, environmental, and political progress? Since when (and why) is everyone only concerned with the bottom line? Consumerism fuels greed and desire; let's cut off their supply with a different mode of thought.
I started this magazine as an outlet for my critique of the culture I have grown up in. I see instability all around me as the American lifestyle becomes more and more unsustainable. I am inspired by others like me who see revolution and a redesign of society on the horizon, and I hope that through unplug I can explore the problems I see and their possible solutions. At some point, I think, in order to get out of the mess we're in, we're going to have to cut the cord. It's time to unplug from the consumerist system and start seeing the juxtapositions between our current way of life and the life we need to live to achieve balance in our lives and the life of our planet and everything on it. Consumerism assumes that we live in a vacuum, that nothing we do is connected to anything else. It's time to face the consequences of our actions and our purchases. It's time to unplug.
