Last night I was watching Whale Whores (s13e11) which addresses Japanese whaling and condemns both the whalers and animal activists who profit from fighting against them.

Paul Watson, a controversial animal and environmental rights activist who also founded the reality television series Whale Wars, is featured in that episode rather critically.

Since Paul Watson is of great relevance to Social Entrepreneurship and its ethics (or the lack of it), here are some things you should know about him:

• 60 years old
• president of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
• advocates using violence and unethical means in stopping whaling activities (for e.g. sinking of whaling ships)
• labelled “eco-terrorist” by some
• quoted saying “There’s nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write the history.”
• arrogant leadership style
• extensive list of activism and activities

You can watch the entire episode at South Park Studios.

In South Park, it turns out that the Japanese are killing dolphins and whales because they were misled by an American-doctored photograph (the above) into believing those sea animals were responsible for the bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. To resolve the enmity the South Park heroes photoshopped the picture so the sea animals are replaced by  a cow and a chicken. The Japanese now become infuriated, believing cows and chickens have framed the innocent whales and dolphins. The Japanese decide to cease their whaling efforts and start slaughtering cows and chickens, storming farms full of the animals. The episode ends as hero Stan’s father, Randy, congratulates him for making the Japanese “normal, like us.”

What makes killing of cows and chickens more righteous than the killing of whales and dolphins? Because the former is in more abundance than the latter, that is why?

Is the capturing and enclosing of dolphins and whales in marine parks and aquariums any better than the act of killing them for human food consumption?

What can or cannot an activist do? What is much, or too far an extent? What is ethical and what is not? Should the strength of numbers be at all a determinant to a moral complicit?

What is the media’s role in social entrepreneurship?

South Park is a fairly light-hearted approach to austere and loaded issues, but it will for sure strike a chord – no, make that play a melancholic melody in your hearts.

Where there is unity there is always victory
- Publilius Syrus (Roman author, 1st century B.c.)

We’re often told the story of how a stick can easily be broken while a bunch of sticks can’t. Similarly this is what social network does too, it strengthens the impact of social enterprises and I implore that enterprises should adopt networking, so as to maximise social impact.

I feel that social entreprises can break down different jobs for each enterprise according to their individual forte and strong aspect. If each enterprise focuses on helping each other out with their own different key areas of strength, they can definitely benefit from each other as result will be more prominent and effective.

In this video, Chris Brogan explains the concept of Enterprise Social Networking:

In case you did not manage to catch what he said, here’s the transcription:

Chris Brogan: “so in a community space inside the firewall, there’s alot of good opportunities to build platforms of practice or value where organisations can sort of uh  thread themselves down into the parts that matter to them while not uh, not worrying too badly about the other pieces but getting an opportunity to see the other parts of organisation to see if it benefits”

To sum it up, I would like to share a simple analogy:

with a matchstick, the fire you light is this small:

with many matchsticks, the fire you light can be as huge as this:

If social enterprises uses social network by helping each other, they can create a flame that is huge and prominent so much so the world takes note of it; Social impact is maximised. Thus, I strongly encourage social network to be employed by social enterprises.

Ta, Mistypore(:

Yes, I’ve said heroes. One may argue that they are just entrepreneurs, and that their contribution to social changes have not created a huge enough impact for them to be considered and called heroes. What I feel matters is not the greatness to the amount of contribution to the society, but that these social entrepreneurs have tried their best to achieve significant changes that impact others’ lives. Social entrepreneurs sacrifice their time, pour in their sweat and tears, channel in the maximum capacity of their energy, just to achieve a goal – to bring forth a solution to a social problem. They devote themselves to help change the lives of others for the better. Hence, I feel that, placing all the different definitions for a social entrepreneur aside, the most important thing required for a social entrepreneur is love.

Since they impact and change the lives of others, why are many of these social entrepreneurs not recognized for their good deeds as heroes, but instead often harshly criticized? If it weren’t for them who bravely took the first step out to take upon the challenge to benefit others’ lives, you would realize that there would be more social problems within out society arising.

Here’s a video which is part of a broadcast series, “The New Heroes”. Perhaps this will let us feel and understand why we can and should recognize the efforts of the world’s social entrepreneurs as heroes of today.

Mozambique: Guitar Hero

till then, Stormypore (:

You can change the world, not alone but together as one.

Gil Scott-Heron, a poet and musician once said,

Nobody can do everything but everybody can do something

This is what i believe after watching the world go round for 15 years and 4 months:

The world should have more social entrepreneurs.

Social Entrepreneurship works on the basis of a win-win situation. Not only does social entrepreneurship gives you an opportunity to boost business, it enables you to change the world by shining light in midst of darkness.

My rational reasons are very simple. Without social entrepreneurship, the world would not be what it is today. Social entrepreneurship let you manually plan and carry out the plan in order to bring about changes. It allows you to contribute effectively to the world and most importantly make a difference.

Social entrepreneurs are able to adapt idea and set goals to achieve a huge win for everyone. They can give and contribute to the world. They do not build sandcastles in the air but work with realistic minds so much so dream changes can become tangible and real. Social entrepreneurs collaborate together so that they can attain a possible dream, that is, the ability to bring happiness to the world.

This video is an evidence of how Social Entrepreneurship has made a difference:

Social Entrepreneurship can be inculcated when young- we can nurture the spirit of social entrepreneurships and passion to change the community. It is undeniable that social entrepreneurs are even more powerful when they collaborate.  Social Entrepreneurs are essential in this world as when more entrepreneurs come together, they are able to use their gift of being able to give at the highest level effectively. Therefore, we should encourage more people to try being entrepreneurs as the world needs them.

ta, Mistypore.

]]> http://tuesdaysinsunnypore.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/tipping-the-world-with-joint-hands/feed/ 0 sunnypore social-entrepreneurship http://tuesdaysinsunnypore.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/239/ http://tuesdaysinsunnypore.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/239/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:20:29 +0000 glover http://tuesdaysinsunnypore.wordpress.com/?p=239 Continue reading →]]> Do intentions matter? Yes. In court they are the determinants as to whether the crime committed is a first or second-degree murder. No. If you do not do your homework even if you swear you meant to, your teacher will still send you out of class.

In social entrepreneurship, is it of importance if the entrepreneur had set out to do good for the society with monetary gain at the bottom of its totem pole, or if he had meant to exploit the needs of the people knowing it could cash in?

And alike all other Virtues, it should be taught to the Everyone! Everyone should possess this great moral excellence of contributing to Social Entrepreneurship and help in making the world a better place. We place Patience, Kindness, Perseverance and many other moral values in the “Virtue group”. Now let’s look at it this way, involving in Social Entrepreneurship allows you to demonstrate Love and Kindness towards the needy people. It tests your patience and perseverance as you meet the many obstacles and problems on the way to contributing for Social Entrepreneurship too. So doesn’t Social Entrepreneurship earn its place in the “Virtue group”? (:

When the world gets educated about Social Entrepreneurship, more people will come forward to extend a helping hand towards the needy, and this will increase the chances of helping the needy out of the darkness of their lives. Imagine you’re in a big black deep pit and suddenly, the opening of the pit is revealed and a hand extends into the pit from the stunning white light outside, helping you out of the pit. How would you feel?
“Awesome” is barely enough to describe the fantastic and relieved feeling. In this case, you are the needy people, the extended hand is people who participate in Social Entrepreneurship and the big black deep pit is the world of the needy people.

You can be the one to extend that hand. You can be the one who rescues the needy people out of their pits. You can be the one who introduce light into their lives again. You, along with many other people.

If one hand can already make such a big impact, can you imagine how much the world will be affected if Social Entrepreneurship is spread to the whole world of people, recruiting more hands to help more needy people out of their pits? Can you imagine what an army of volunteers can do to the social issues in the world? They can be as close as to SOLVING it!

The best way to instill moral values into people is when they are young. So I think, we should start educating the children and students of different countries about Social Entrepreneurship and the effects it has on the world. When children and students are educated about Social Entrepreneurship and learn how they can contribute to this fantastic cause, they will be able to bring what they learnt with them along their adulthood, and with more choices and abilities as an adult, they will definitely be able to change the world and maybe even solve the social issues we’re facing. (: C’mon, I know you’re agreeing with me. ^^

Let me end this (REALLY INSIGHTFUL) post with one of my favourite songs.

Heal The World, Make It A Better Place. For You And For Me, and The Entire Human Race. There Are People Dying, if You Care Enough for The Living. Make A Better Place, For You And For Me. (:

Always Yours, Snowypore! ♥

From my point of view, I’ll answer this question with a yes. Of course social entrepreneurs can create a large scale change. There are several good examples throughout history that prove to us the potential of a social entrepreneur and the extent to the effects and changes they can bring about.

We all can’t deny the fact that Florence Nightingale was one of the first social entrepreneurs, and that she was the one who is considered as the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale’s theories were hugely influential and her concerns for sanitation, military health and hospital planning established practices which are still in existence today.

Skeptics of social entrepreneurship often comment, “Sure, social entrepreneurs are doing good things, but can they ever scale their impact sufficiently to put a dent in the enormous and persistent problems we face?”

- taken from an article in What Matters

Of course, I’m not arguing against some criticisms on social entrepreneurship that hold some stand. Like, the opinion that NOT all social entrepreneurs can create a large change. Its not easy at all to change the enormous and persistent social problems we face today in this world. Its not easy to raise and achieve an impact that is wide enough and lasts long enough. Its not easy to be a TRUE social entrepreneur. However, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. My view is that large scale effects from social entrepreneurship cannot be achieved only and solely by the efforts of a true entrepreneur, but it also requires effort put in by members of the society itself. Social entrepreneurs are not Gods, they do not have unlimited power and abilities to achieve large scale changes. I think that their role is to be the one leading in the effort to bring about change for social issues. Everyone is involved. We need to understand this, and try to look at their changes with a positive light instead of criticizing them for not scaling a large enough impact or anything.

Stormypore opens this question for some friendly debate and opinions (:

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP?!

Well, fear not! For I’m here to break down these two not really bombastic words for you
According to the dictionary, Social entrepreneurship is the work of a social entrepreneur. (the definition’s kinda LOL-ish don’t you think?)

And what on earth is a social entrepreneur?
A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.

 In my opinion, Social Entrepreneurship is like a life saviour. Why do I say so?
Well, to put it simply, because it changes the lives of the society for the better. It forges a new, stable equilibrium that alleviates the suffering of the targeted group, and through imitation and the creation of a stable ecosystem around the new equilibrium, it ensures a better future for the targeted group and even society at large. Take the Haiti earthquake  for example. (please don’t go: aww, not again!) So many people, of different ages, from different countries, come together to help the Haiti victims. And that, to me, is considered as a blessing because not only does this bonds the people, it also aids the victims of the Haiti earthquake as well. Therefore, Social entrepreneurship is exactly like a life saviour.

So, after reading this post, tell me about what you think Social Entrepreneurship really is. (:

Hahaha, Windyporeeeeeeeeeeee signing off!

Social entrepreneurship is not possible without a good social entrepreneur. For the social entrepreneurship to be a success, the social entrepreneur must possess certain skills which are essential.

Firstly, Social entrepreneurs must have a wide network. Social entrepreneurship is a type of “business” which is non profitable. Hence, compare to the normal businesses that earn a profit, social entrepreneurship is much harder as there is no profit to gain resources. This is one of the main problems which many social entrepreneurs face. This is also exactly why a good social entrepreneur must have a wide network so as to be able to have contacts to help sponsor or look for anybody which can provide the sufficient resources needed for the project to work.

Secondly, social entrepreneurs must have the mentality of impacting the world and not just a tiny part of the world. The main motive of social entrepreneurship is to help solve major social problems. Even if the social problem is solved in a small village or city, the problem is still not considered entirely solved as the rest of the world are still facing the problem. To be a good social entrepreneur, one must have the goal of solving the problem in the whole world and not just aim to solve the problem in a small part of the country.

Some examples of good entrepreneurs are:

Jane Addams founded Hull-House in 1889, a social settlement to improve conditions in a poor immigrant neighborhood in Chicago, then expanded her efforts nationally. Her work ultimately resulted in protective legislation for women and children.

Muhammad Yunus revolutionized economics by founding the Grameen Bank, or “village bank,” in Bangladesh in 1976 to offer “microloans” to help impoverished people attain economic self-sufficiency through self-employment, a model that has been replicated in 58 countries around the world.

brought to you by Hazypore:)

Yes, I have a goldfish memory I do admit. I have forgotten all about this Haiti chaos that rocked the world upside down. I was watching television when this video was broadcasted and it touched me. The heartwarming feeling filled my heart all over again. Yes, it is Haiti, once again.

I am so glad this video (which I knew 2 months ago) was broadcasted again today. If it hadn’t been, I would not have remembered about Haiti victims. Most people associate media with negative jargons, but I guess sometimes, everyone has a good side. Media has painted itself in a positive light as it helps to encourage people to come forward and help in the Haiti Earthquake. Celebrities, together with countless of strangers, are singing their hearts out “We are the World”. And you will realise it is not just people of different races coming together as one but rather, people of different generations. For example, Celine Dion singing with Fergie. In this video, I cannot differentiate who are celebrities and who is  more popular. Everyone, practically every single one, is shining like stars. People bond unconsciously when crisis occurs and we become one.

You may condemn the Media for hypocrisy.

You may question the intentions of celebrities appearing in this video.

You may doubt the sincerity of those celebrities singing.

But one thing is for sure: They are helping out in Haiti Earthquake.

so, what about you?

Instead of sitting at home, analysing the media or celebrities with a cynical mind, why not get out there and make a difference? To all those guilty of having goldfish memories, do know one thing: you can still do something to help the quickly disregarded Haiti victims.

Ta, Mistypore