By the time the
Republican National Convention ends in early
September, we as a country will have been
intensely "iconed" for nearly a month. It
started with the Olympics in Beijing in the
middle of August and won't end until Sept.
5. In actuality, it may not end until the
November elections, since the race is close
and each side will do their best to claim
their nearness to the icons we as a nation
hold dear.
Unless you're in the political business or
the marketing business, you probably don't
think about icons very much. By definition
they are ingrained in our subconscious and
don't emerge unless triggered by an event or
an emotion. But most countries, states,
organizations and companies have them. Their
leaders know them well and know when to call
upon them in order to unify the nation,
state or group. Companies use them to tap
purchasing decisions.
When the United States was in its formative
years and even into the early 20th century,
natural resources had a good "share of mind"
as national icons. The oceans, the forests
and even the rivers held imagery and
attributes that most of the country
recognized immediately upon mention of their
names. They were imbued with a sense of
national pride and solidarity in much the
same way we currently admire and feel
predisposed toward certain sports figures,
political heroes and old time movie idols.
But as technology and urbanization became
dominant in our lives, America's natural
icons gave way to more urban ones, like
sports teams, city skylines and movie heroes
like Batman and Indiana Jones. Closer to
home, our sub conscience is overloaded with
brand information - a form of iconization -
that we use to make purchasing decisions
every day. It's no wonder we no longer have
a visual, iconic image of the Mississippi
River and other natural resources when we
hear their names.
This is why America's Waterway came into
being. Our goal is to unify the Mississippi
River so that a natural constituency for the
River - the people who live on all 2,340
miles of it as well as those who don't -
recognizes it as valuable, shares a common
understanding of it and feels that it
embodies a part of their lives as Americans.
Why? Because in the U.S., in order to
address policies and practices for the
River, we need a constituency that will take
action on the River's behalf.
Establishing a shared understanding of the
Mississippi River is a first step and a
major part of America's Waterway's vision.
We are looking for those among you who may
share our interest in finding that shared
vision, or may be interested in seeing a
constituency for Mississippi evolve out of
electronically linking the River's
communities. We hope you will contact us if
you have ideas how this could happen, or if
you just want to join with us in this
effort. Our current web site outlines how
this might be achieved, but we're interested
in hearing what you think.
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