Discussing the State of Our One and Only World - by Katherine Makarychev

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Katherine Makarychev at Pima Community College

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For my second project I chose to host a watch party for the “Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” video. Once again, I decided to present my project in a format that’s new to me. For this party I decided to invited some college friends, as well as members of my immediate family (parents, siblings). In regards to introducing them to the video, I didn’t tell them anything except for the title and length of the video. I wanted them to go into this project with as little expectation as possible in order to get a genuine, real-time reaction. After playing them the video, I asked them not to discuss any of their thoughts just yet, but instead, handed them a paper with the following questions:

1) With what emotions has the video as a whole left you with?

2) Do you believe the issues being brought up in this video are in fact real/valid issues our society should be concerned with? If not, which issues do you believe to not be an issue, and why?

3) Which chapter/issues did you relate with the most and why?

4) What piece of information brought up in this video was new to you, or the most shocking for you?

5) What changes in yourself and in our society would you like to see, to help change or solve some of these issues?

After they answered these questions individually, I gathered their papers and only then let them discuss the video/questions together as a group. The reason took these steps was because I wanted to see how the answers on their individual paper’s differs from the ones, they shared in a group setting. The topics in this video can be viewed as controversial and when addressed as a group between people of different generations, upbringings, beliefs, etc., indeed lead to new discussions, some disagreement, and even new persuasions and convictions.

The watch party was held on October 28^th^,2022, with a group of 8 people from ages 19 to 54. Here were the results:

Generally, everyone had an opinion regarding one or more of the topics brought up in the video. The most controversial amongst this particular group being the chapter on climate change. When discussing this specific chapter, the conversation got a bit heated and almost escalated into a fight between two persons within the group that came from very different backgrounds. I can’t say this debate was unexpected, and the main point I drew from their argument was – it’s easy to dismiss climate change, when the climate disasters aren’t happening to you. Or to quote directly: “you live safely in your home in your perfect world where nothing bad is happening outside, of course you’re not concerned with floods and fires!”

Other then the above topic, everyone agreed with each other’s opinions and when discussing the questions out-loud as a group they, for the most part, didn’t not stray from their written down answers, which for me, shows that everyone was comfortable enough to share and stick to their opinions during this watch party.

Here, I would like to share what I believe to be the best answers from the group participants to the questions I’ve presented at the watch party.

1) With what emotions has the video as a whole left you with?

“As much as it feels right to say that the video plucked a “guilt” heartstring within me and made me feel sad for the world we live in, the fact that this video exists, and that the United Nations are addressing these problems (a.k.a. acknowledge them to be problems) already shows that not all is lost. They say the beginning to solving a problem is acknowledging you have a problem, which this video represents. It almost in a weird way gives me hope.”

2) Do you believe the issues being brought up in this video are in fact real/valid issues our society should be concerned with? If not, which issues do you believe to not be an issue, and why?

“The issues in the video are indeed valid and anyone in this group that denies even one of them is absolutely wrong. How are you going to go against United Nations? And furthermore, I feel like there are other issues in our world that were not addressed in this video that society needs to also take accountability for.” This answer when read out-loud, lead the group discussion into topics of healthcare, sexual harassment and other heavy subjects. Even though the group derailed from the initial subject matter, it was an important conversation.

3) Which chapter/issues did you relate with the most and why?

“I can’t say that I related with every topic, specifically, in fact, I probably only relate with one of the chapters - gender inequality. But that chapter alone was enough to make me realize how horrible my existence as a woman can/could be. It awoke a sort of fear but at the same time empowerment within me that I never had. Like, yes, I am a woman and that comes with a lot of hardships and dangers, but it’s because of them and through overcoming them, that makes me kind of amazing.” I’d like to note her that the majority of the watch party group were women, and this subject was talked about the longest and in the most positive/encouraging manner.

4) What piece of information brought up in this video was new to you, or the most shocking for you?

“The fact that over 1 billion people lifted out of extreme poverty in the span of 30 years is insane. How do you even do that, and how can we keep at it!”

5) What changes in yourself and in our society would you like to see, to help change or solve some of these issues?

“It’s like the great Mike Jackson one said ‘I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways’…But as much as I’d like to solve world hunger, I’m merely a simple man and if billionaires like Elon Musk aren’t solving these problems with all their money, that means it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

I then decided to ask a final question that wasn’t written out on the paper I handed out. I asked them to tell me what they expected going into this watch party, and whether or not those expectations were met? The best answers I received were: “Whatever I was expecting, it definitely wasn’t that!” with an added group laughter, and “As much as I wasn’t prepared to argument the existence of our global issues today, I’m glad this video was share and this discussion was held.”

I’d say this watch party was a success and defiantly opened the door for some to have better discussions regarding the state of our one and only world.