No 5. Do you know the "3.5% rule"
Watching Dumb Money on an airplane and thinking about internet communities, change, and our before & after moment
Coming to you live from 10,000 feet in the air on Jet Blue flight to London. I just finally watched Dumb Money. Have you seen it? If you haven’t it’s about the GameStop stock craziness in 2021.
I’m writing this still with the goosebumps as my brain draws parallels from the critical mass of people on the internet demanding a ceasefire, demanding celebrity culture to speak up, brave students putting their bodies on the line to demand change, and everyday people educating themselves on all the structures and levers of power.
Dumb Money gave me the same energy and zing of our current moment of David & Goliath.
So I let’s have a big brain moment for a second.
As a quick aside - this newsletter/blog/substack is an evolving experiment and experience and I named it Big Brain for a few reasons.
For a series to help with decisions and shopping when you’re Big Brain is occupied (so there will be that content always cause its a hyper focus”
And because I wanted a place to brain dump all the deep dives, thoughts, and things I navigate through in my many professional hats and adhd
This week there is a critical mass to demand those with a platform to be both - sure you can be talking about beauty and fashion but what is happening in Gaza is about humanity and basic human rights and humanitarian aid.
Especially since Monday’s Met Gala, where I am still trying to figure out if everyone just decided to not truly read J.G. Ballard’s “Garden of Time.” We are truly witnessing a movement that is a check on celebrity culture and what it means to “influence.”
But at its core it’s really it’s about those with power are being called on to be human and the collective power of realizing that we are the reason they have popularity or power. It’s a call for people with a platform to be proactive. And to be present in our global community. To listen and speak up.
So let’s get back to Dumb Money for a second. If you haven’t seen it, definitely add it to your queue for this week because it was worth it. In short, it follows the true story of the craziness in 2021 we all remember when massive hedge funds were shorting GameStop and a reddit user, RoaringKitty, over in an decided to share why he “just liked the stock” in his reddit thread which then became a force - force to expose unchecked control and greed from Wall Street. The film weaves together a constellation of stories of everyday people in our crazy capitalist machine as they make decisions to hold and keep to the values that begin to surround the trade and sell to pay for everyday realities.
But the thing that sent goosebumps through my body was how the filmmakers make you feel the collective buzz of those who invested and were active online.
This feeling coupled with what saw yesterday. I was in New York before my flight in a cab going to see my friend who recently became a new mom. I was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge when I heard voices.. Then I saw a steady stream of free Palestine protestors being led down the bridge in zip ties.
It made me think about the “3.5% rule.” Dumb Money makes me think about the evolution of the “3.5% rule.”
When I was in my sophomore year at NYU, I read some research by Erica Chenoweth on non-violent movements at Harvard. Erica Chenoweth studies political violence and runs the Non-Violent Action Lab in addition to being a professor. She posited the “3.5% rule.” After looking at over 300 different non violent movements, she saw that generally after 3.5% of a population is mobilized there is change and success for nonviolent movements.
She published the idea in her book Why Civil Resistance Works in 2011. Since then, she and others have analyzed how and if that rule continues to fit the realities of today, how it evolves with the way we organize via social media, and about the role of violence in non-violent movements.
But, personally - the 3.5% rule was always a comfort thought in the back of my mind.
If just 3.5% of us - just over 11 million in the US - made it to the streets to demand change and sustain it - it would come theoretically. But we’ve seen things that don’t overhaul the levers of power.
We’ve watched the Hunger Games not just be a tiktok comparison for the Met Gala but make its way into modern pro-democracy protests in Thailand with the three finger salute. We’ve all watched or participated in the Occupy movement, watched time and time again when we’ve come into the streets to demand that Black Lives Matter, joined all the others in p$$y hats down in Washington after the election of Donald Tump - and this is just to name a few.
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming when it doesn’t work or its not sustained. But I’m feeling the feels this week and that needs to be celebrated. The feeling I just got finishing Dumb Money - the power and beauty of everyday people demanding their value in a system built with invisible hands of influence.
Making content and being a part of digital communities is honestly a rather “new thing” for me. I wasn’t a Tumblr girl - terrified of putting things out in the universe so I’ve always been a journaler. I came into reddit ‘late’ - twitter ‘late’ - even instagram a bit ‘late’ - honestly even Tiktok I was just an observer for a while and didn’t start posting videos until about a year ago. But I get it now. The invisible thread woven between usernames - of course there is some really juvenile and gross stuff, and on every opinion or banal comment someone can find some fault with it.
But I feel like I can feel the critical mass of voices and connection so strongly that I feel like I can touch it. It’s why tiktok feels special in my opinion and even here on substack in comment sections and chat- cause of what is weaving us and connecting us.
Digitally there is way more than 3.5% engaged. In person - I’m curious what the numbers look like. Because critical mass is critical mass.
My previous boss a the UN and I have been having this continuous conversation of how we feel like we are truly in a before and after moment of the way the world works because of the violence in Gaza. We talk about what it means for a human rights regime, multilateralism, and international law - but it also means so much for us in daily life. How we consume content. How we process the voices that have a platform. How we look at brands. How we respond when people say they’re not ‘well informed.’ How we human.
I think the academics will be analyzing this moment we’re in to try to tease out what changed, how we can quantify it, and how we can interrogate it. They’ll want to figure out what happened via social media and its role. There will be many PhDs. And I hope they come up with some practical numbers - like maybe 3.5% in person and 15% digitally? - but for now… We can only feel that connection and that critical mass to be a part of it.
(But in the meantime I really hope it still remains 3.5%)
So - how are you feeling this week? Comments are open.
And in case you haven’t donated please go to Operation Olive Branch and donate to a family to support their efforts to make it out of Gaza right now.
I love your optimism! I've been on the opposite end myself for some time -- feeling more or less helpless and pessimistic, thinking that all of humanity is simply doomed, and hating myself for thinking that perhaps Kenneth Waltz and the neorealists were right after all. (I'm a former international relations student.) I thank you for sparking a glimmer of hope in what sometimes feels like eternal darkness.
I'm feeling that blatantly siding with the Palestinians is not the necessarily the right side of history Palestinian supporters are so securely thinking it is. It's a war that was started by the sitting (terrorist) government of the Gazan people. They savagely attacked a sovereign nation and knew well the consequences would be dire. It's sad. Yes, innocent people are dying. War is never a fun thing. If Israel wanted to completely annihlate Gaza, it could have. They have not. Just as Gaza's "leaders" have not released the hostages they so disgustingly raped and tortured. Palestinians were offered land multiple times at various points in history and they have refused. They are not the indigenous people of the land. Notice how Jordan and Egypt want no part in accepting them in their countries. They relish in being perpetual victims. "Palestinians" never actaully had a Homeland. They are individuals from neighboring countries, many of whom moved to Israel to build the nascent state. Half these "brave" students don't know what the heck they are demonstrating for and don't understand the complex history of the region. I'm sorry, I'm so over this movement being so righteous and quick to decry the actualities of a war. The Palestinians themselves don't even call out Hamas. Nope! They blame everyone else. Is Bibi a horrible leader who is himself extremist and hurting the Israeli state? Yes, but Israelis at least openly call him out. Hopefully, they'll get rid of him soon. However, Israel has the right to retaliate. Sorry, but they do. I realize you feel strongly that Palestinians are the blameless victims and your time at the UN has you thoroughly convinced siding with Palestinians is siding with the "right side."However, let's also remember that the UN literally has an entire separate agency, UNRWA, for Palestinian "refugees". It is so preposterous and demonstrative of what a relic the UN currently is. What other refugee group passes down their refugee status from generation to generation? Awesome way to keep another UN agency funded in perpetuity. Apologies for the rant. I understand your social media is progressing from salt and the perfect white t-shirt recommendations, but this rhetoric is just so alienating. FYI, I'm a liberal and not some crazy Trumplican. I am not Jewish, but I stand with Israel. I understand we all have our viewpoints, but the pro-"Palestinian" viewpoint is so deafening, let's not forget this another very valid side in this war.