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First Essay Outline-12
First Essay Outline-12
Based on the message of both Ishmael and TTP, can little everyday changes affect the
outcome of social issues?
How Small Things Can Make A Big Difference
Aaisha Al Jabri
Mrs. Hunt
Block D
of a butterflys wings on one side of the world to explain the occurrence of a hurricane on the
other side of the world. It believes that small changes can make a major impact on our world and
surroundings. Now the question is whether similar theories apply to human social lives and
social issues in particular. Could altering some of the tiny details in our everyday lives be the
solution to many of the social issues that our society faces? To answer this question, one should
first understand the meaning of a social issue. A social issue is a conflict that causes division
between different groups of people in a society. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, are two books that broadly digest the topic of the effect of small
changes on how widespread different social issues become. According to the messages of both
Ishmael and The Tipping Point, minor modifications in the content of the message, that deals
with a particular social issue, the environment, in which the message is being spread, and
peoples perspective of the message can have a large effect on the outcome of a social issue.
To begin with, in The Tipping Point, Gladwell discusses the factors that cause some
products, ideas and behaviors to become popular while others do not. One of these factors, that
could lead to the popularity and trendiness of a certain message, is the modification of the
content of the message. Modification of the content of a message includes making that message
particularly enjoyable, memorable, catchy or otherwise desirable. This idea was known in the
book by The Stickiness Factor. Gladwell gives different examples of how this particular factor
was able to make the kids tv shows, Sesame Street and Blues Clues, unexceptionally successful.
The alterations that were added to these shows werent fancy nor were they special in any way.
They simply made sure that all of their material was based on one simple idea that says that
children dont watch when they are stimulated and look away when they are bored. They watch
when they understand and look away when they are confused. (Quinn 102) Another example of
an alteration in the content of a message that made so much difference in its trendiness was the
addition of a gold box to a mail order music company and the addition of a map to a Tetanus
Shot brochure. All of the changes that were made to the tv shows, advertisement and map were
a subtle but significant change in presentation;..a shift from an abstract lesson to a practical and
personal piece of information [which makes it] memorable. (Quinn 98) As a result, in order to
change the outcome of a social issue, we have to change the way our messages are presented. For
instance, if we wanted to raise awareness on the topic of sexual consent, we would have to think
of ways that would make our message stickier to our targeted audience. This is because changing
the content of a certain message about any social issue can make it stick in the minds of the
public.
Furthermore, the Power of the Context is another factor that Gladwell believes has a
great effect on making a certain message widespread. This concept depends on the conditions of
an environment and how conductive it is in order to maximize the spread of a specific message
or idea. Gladwell writes in his book to further elaborate on the meaning of this concept,
epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which
they occur. (Quinn 139) Gladwell lists out a number of examples to support the concept of this
factor. The first example that Gladwell referred to is the decline of the crime epidemic in NYC in
the 1990s. This didnt happen as a result of a major change in the laws or the law enforcement
system. The solution for New York citys subways was simply removing graffiti, and arresting
fare-jumpers. So why were these small actions able to solve a complicated social issue like the
crime epidemic in NYC? Gladwell explains that criminals, just like other human beings, respond
actively to the cues that they receive from the environment around them. He does that by stating,
the criminal... is actually someone acutely sensitive to his environment, who is alert to all kinds
of cues, and who is prompted to commit crimes based on his perception of the world around
him. (Quinn 150) As a result, when the criminals realized that they were in an environment that
discouraged and punished vandalizers, they had less motive to commit crimes. From this, we
understand that if we were ever wanted to change the outcome of a particular social issue, we
should start by changing the conditions of the environment, where the social issue would be
occurring. For instance, take what the nurse, Georgia Sadler, did in order to raise awareness
about breast cancer among women in the black community of San Diego. She changed the
setting, in which she was trying to educate the women, from churches to hair salons. In the
churches, everyone was tired and in a hurry to leave, but in the salons women were more
receptive to new ideas. This change in the environment had a big impact on resolving the social
issue of the lack of health awareness. We could apply this to any other social issue by working
on making the societys environment more receptive to new ideas and information in order to
Moreover, Daniel Quinn introduces in his book, Ishmael, a new concept that states
that people are enacting a certain story, that was narrated to them by mother culture, and that will
supposedly destroy the world. In order to change the way people are living, we would need to
change the way they view their role in the story, that they are enacting in this world. We
understand from this that humans perspective of their role in the world can make so much
difference to the way they act towards other living things. An example of this is the way people
believe that the world is made for them and that evolution ended with the creation of man. Quinn
clarifies where the human species believe they stand in the story of creation by saying, Man is
the end product of creation. Man is the creature for whom all the rest was made: this world, this
solar system, this galaxy, the universe itself." (Quinn, 57). If humans changed their mindsets so
that they would start believing that evolution was supposed to continue even after the creation of
man, humans would have been more careful about the way they exploit the sources of this world
and killing other living things. We can conclude from this that changing peoples perspective on
a certain social issue can have a big effect on the outcome of that particular social issue. The
book also talks about how humans believe that they are enacting a story, in which they are
flawed. If people stopped believing in this story, they would start believing that they could
actually change and stop killing the world. People destroyed the world because they broke the
law of life and not because they are flawed. Quinn expresses these sets of ideas by saying,
"There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in
accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts
them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. (Quinn, 84)
So if societies were ever faced with any problem, the number one solution to apply should be
changing its perspective on its actions and even the problem it is facing.
In conclusion, dealing with social issues the right way is very important so that the
conflicts and division, that they cause in our society, could be contained as much as possible.
And most of the time, the right way to deal with the problems that our society faces dont really
need that much to be done. Ishmael and The Tipping Point are two books, that introduce new
concepts and ideas, that rely on small changes in the content of the message, that deals with a
particular social issue, the environment , in which the message is being spread, and peoples
perspective of the message can have a large effect on the outcome of a social issue. To get
something right we dont always need the best and the most. Sometimes all that matters are just
2017.
Quinn, Daniel, et al. Ishmael Quotes and Analysis. GradeSaver: Getting you the grade,
vialogue.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/the-tipping-point-notes-review/. Accessed 22
Sept. 2017.