The real goal of allvoices.com

While at the offices last week, I had the pleasure of meeting most of the staff in person. During the course of getting to know each, I kept running into a sentiment that defines the real goal of allvoices.com. I think Amra Tareen put it best:

The real goal of allvoices is to make sure that no one gets abused and no one gets taken advantage of.

The more visibility there is into the way things work in the world, the less likely it is that anyone can be abused. Shedding light on a subject helps bring issues to light – it can’t help but do so. But there is more to it than that.

If you know that you can report what is going on and you know that the Internet will see what you report, that gives you the power and the strength to stand up to the bullies of the world – the big ones like repressive governments and the little ones like kids on the playground. If everyone knows what it is really going on, it is hard to continue to abuse someone or something.

If we all take a stand and report when something goes wrong, then those doing wrong are brought into the light. If you feel something is wrong and report it, even if I don’t agree with you – I know now about it. We can talk about it. We can come to terms with how we feel about it.

I come from the computer world. I have always hated the “mushroom treatment.” If I am doing well, tell me. If I am doing poorly, tell me. Give me direction and give me light. Then, I can do my job and you can do yours. In the real world, combating the mushroom treatment means showing the world what things look like from your viewpoint.

And that is the goal of allvoices: Sharing your viewpoint so that no one gets abused and no one gets taken advantage of.