Polemics are Not Persuasive

Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer
"So what we are trying to do at the National Geographic, finally -- is we believe that politicians will never accomplish anything. We think that polemics are not persuasive but we think that storytelling can change with world. And so we are probably the best storytelling institution in the world. We get 35 million hits on our website every month, 156 nations carry our television channel, our magazines are read by millions.

And what we’re doing is a series of journeys to the ethnosphere where we’re going to take our audience to places of such cultural wonder that they cannot help but come away dazzled by what they have seen. And hopefully therefore embrace gradually, one by one, the central revelation of anthropology -- that this world deserves to exist in a diverse way. That we can find a way to live in a truly multicultural pluralistic world, where all of the wisdom of all peoples can contribute to our collective wellbeing."

Wades' TED Talk filled with stunning photos and stories helped me frame not only the importance of being welcoming and inclusive, and respectful of indigenous ways –- but MOREOVER, the essential need to intentionally meld art and social change as we tackle local issues.

Wade Davis: Cultures at the far edge of the world