How Can Media
Reconnect Us With
Our Humanity?
Dr Tyrone Grandison – CTO/co-founder
Lisa Mae Brunson – CEO/co-founder
EqualityTV

All the opinions we share are solely our own.

provides an online stream of
culturally diverse media to give a
platform for marginalized
communities and expand society
views to embrace new ideas,
lifestyles and social customs while
boosting ethical, social and
consumer consciousness.

Dr Tyrone Grandison
Dr Tyrone Grandison is a senior leader in the
computer science industry who has successfully
managed small and large, matrixed teams across
geographies, divisions and functional units in the
spaces of data security, privacy, RFID data
management, privacy-preserving mobile data
management, text analytics and healthcare
management systems. Dr. Grandison has over 20
years experience in software engineering and
research in enterprise and startup environments.
More information at:
http://www.tyronegrandison.org/bio.html
Lisa Mae Brunson
Lisa Mae Brunson has been on a mission for the last
20 years to impact the world on a global scale as a
writer, author, entrepreneur and “Inspirationalist.”
Founder of the Love, Hugs and Inspiration Campaign,
21 Days of Fearlessness and 40 Days of Kindness,
she is no stranger to the art of inspiration. Her motto:
“There is no joy in living ordinary!” In an effort to
produce media that inspires people to begin
“Celebrating Humanity!” and tackle every issue in
support of Equality, Lisa Mae developed EqualityTV, a
multimedia broadcasting network. The goal: To make
Equality go viral! She has inspired thousands to ‘skip
to their bliss’ and reconnect with their childhood
dreams, through her Creative Visionaries workshops.
On sunny days you’ll find her skipping, hugging, or
passing out food and hugs on the streets of Los
Angeles.

What We Are Covering Today?
1. The Basics - Defining The Principles.
2. Media’s Current Approach To The
Principles.
3. The Current Trends in Media.
4. Media’s Path to Improvement.
5. Your Role.
6. Conclusion.

The Basics –
Defining The Principles

#Humanity101
There are seven (7) principles that are critical to
success and professional relationships.
These principles transcend boundaries of
community, class, generation, discipline, etc.
and connects us with our humanity.
But, what do they mean?

#Humanity101 Principles
1. Compassion:
sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of
others.
[ from Latin compati- ‘suffer with’ ]
2. Empathy:
the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
[ from Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) ]

#Humanity101 Principles
3. Forgiveness:
the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven.
[ from Old English forgiefenes, from forgiefen (past participle of forgiefan ‘forgive’) ]
Forgive:
stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense,
flaw, or mistake.
[ Old English forgiefan from for- ‘completely’ + giefan ‘give’ ]

#Humanity101 Principles
4. Integrity:
the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles;
moral uprightness.
[ from Latin integer ‘intact’ ]
5. Kindness:
the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
[ from Old English ‘courtesy’, ‘noble deeds’ ]

#Humanity101 Principles
6. Respect:
a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by
their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
[ from Latin respicere ‘look back at’, ‘regard’ ]
7. Self-Reflection:
meditation or serious thought about one's character, actions, and
motives.
[ from Old English sylf ‘one’s own person’ &
Latin reflectere ‘bent back,’ from the verb ]

NOW
We can ask ourselves How does the media help us connect with our
humanity using These Principles?

Media’s Current
Approach To The
Principles.

COMPASSION
How does media enable us to be sympathetic and
concerned about the sufferings of others?

Findings: PEW Research Center’s report
“The State of the News Media 2013”
• Opinion dominates reporting.
• Average story length on local television news
decreased substantially.
• Fear-based storytelling.
• Creating/fabricating trending stories.

Hot Coffee
* Used with the permission of Susan Saladoff - Director, Hot Coffee (www.hotcoffeethemovie.com)

EMPATHY
How does media enable us to be able to understand and share the viewpoint
of someone different from us?

University of Michigan Study
• A study measuring empathy finds that:
•
•
The current crop of college kids to be less empathetic than
generations past.
Also found a marked decline in the qualities of kindness and
helpfulness.
• It is not just college kids, but society in general is
less empathic than it once was.
• Media bears a large part of the blame.
•
Violent media a factor, making people insensitive to others’ pain.

FORGIVENESS
How does media enable us to be able to completely give up being angry with
people who wrong us, knowingly or unknowingly?

• The antithesis of forgiveness is: Revenge
the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an
injury or wrong suffered at their hands.
• Lack of forgiveness in media breeds
revenge.
• Revenge is one of the most common
themes in media.

What do you think?

INTEGRITY
How does media enable us to be our highest moral self?

• The root of the lack of integrity in America.
•
•
Selfishness and having no empathy or love for others.
Many people just no longer care what their own actions do to
others.
• It is all about "me" and that is why this is called
the "me generation”.
• University Of Essex’s Integrity study
•
An erosion of trust between people can have economic as
well as social consequences.

KINDNESS
How does media enable us to be friendly, generous and considerate?

There is a distinct lack of kindness portrayed
in media (traditional and newer forms) by:
• Body Shaming
• Physically and Mentally Disabled
• Deaf and Hearing Impaired
• Racism
• Gender Discrimination
• Bullying Behavior

RESPECT
How does media enable us to hold each other in the highest regard?

• Similar to the lack of kindness in media, there is the
lack of respect.
• The ‘sitcom formula’ is built on a foundation where
demonstrating lack of respect for others, is the
Golden Rule.
• Networks know that the majority of audiences enjoy
offensive language and comedy.
• Show concepts are created with the intent to
highlight and blatantly disrespect the differences in
others.

SELF-REFLECTION
How does media enable us to think about our character, actions and
motives?

• There are a large number of characters and
people in media who appear to be shallow and
superficial.
• Rarely do we get an inside look into a
character’s meditative thoughts.
• Deep conscious characters and distinguished
storylines are not common in mainstream
media, but can be found in Independent films
and alternative media.

The Current Trends In
Media

•
•
Ninety percent of movies, 68% of video games, and 60% of TV
shows show some depictions of violence.
Many shows marketed as ‘reality shows’.
•
•
but often portray a different reality than you or I experience.
Common themes in these shows:
•
Competitiveness
•
Overinflated sense of self
•
Dishonesty
•
Disrespect
•
Addictive Behaviors
•
Blatant abusive language
•
Gossip and backstabbing
•
Lack of the (7) principles

Media’s Path to
Improvement

Firstly
What do YOU think
humanity is?

Humanity
“Humanity is the essence and core of our
existence as humans”.
“It is how we connect with ourselves and one
another.”
•
•
We are constantly evolving the definition, as we
humans evolve and are influenced.
Our greatest source of evolution and impact in society
is our media.

We Need to See More of THIS:

In Today’s Society
• Media constructs our global culture.
•
We are constantly influenced by what mass media dictates for
our present and future.
• Media has the power to directly impact future
generations.
•
•
Our world is a reflection of the media we generate.
For centuries, this media has largely ignored marginalized
communities and promoted mediocrity and inequality around
the world.

Emerging Trends
Upworthy: Things that matter. Pass 'em on
“We're a mission-driven media company. We do have a point of view.
We're pro-gay-marriage, and we're anti-child-poverty. We think the
media is horrible to women, we think climate change is real, and we
think the government has a lot to learn from the Internet about
efficiency, disruption, and effectiveness.”
• Their success stems from the kind of
content they curate and share across social
media platforms.

Meet Dr. Robert

TheDream.US Scholarship: Marcy

Humans of New York

Celebrating Humanity
• UCLA study of 1,000 TV shows (on 67
cable & broadcast networks) on ‘racial
diversity in the entertainment industry’.
•
more viewers were drawn to shows with ethnically
diverse lead cast members and writers, while
shows reflecting less diversity in their credits
attracted smaller audiences.

Celebrating Humanity
"It's clear that people are watching shows that reflect and relate to
their own experiences,"
- Hunt
•
•
•
Reconnecting with our humanity means we must embrace the
rich diversity of what makes each of us human.
We must be exposed to media that allows us to relate to who we
are.
We must also be exposed to media that is drastically different
from our own experiences and personal culture.

Remember this?

Media is slowly introducing more content with
diverse casts, compelling storylines and
family and relationship dynamics.

YOUR Role

ACT! ACT! ACT!
• Share and support media that embody the 7
principles.
• Speak out when you see media that does not
connect us with our humanity.
• Create the media you want to see.
•
Positive, uplifting, diverse, informative, inclusive
Summary: Personal Responsibility & Social
Accountability

Conclusion

• Media has a responsibility to humanity
•
•
Media influences society.
Thus far, it has abused that power.
• Society is changing
•
•
Humans are shifting.
Media is responding.
• We need to make media act consciously
•
To emphasize and engage our humanity.

Viewing of
Happy The Documentary

Later This Year
• Hacks for Humanity
•
•
An opportunity for software developers, makers,
and humanitarians to create deliverables (e.g.
websites, mobile apps, programs, devices) to help
us reconnect to our humanity.
Tentative Date: September 18th to 21st, 2014.

Thank you