Source: https://youtu.be/QPKKQnijnsM
I (re)watched this video on income inequality recently, and found it to be both compelling and informative. Its narrative is clear: that income inequality is an issue is common knowledge, but the magnitude of income inequality is far greater than the public believes.
The video displays three charts: one demonstrating what people want the income distribution in the US to be, one showing what people actually think it is, and one of what it actually is. Personally, I was taken aback at the true magnitude of the income gap, and how staggering the difference between the poorest and wealthiest Americans actually was. The video’s strategy of reducing the US population to 100 people made it a lot more relatable—for many, it’s a lot easier to picture a room of 100 people than to talk about generic percentiles.
However, I feel that the video could do more than merely presenting the information in a provocative manner (which it does well, both visually and psychologically). Instead, the video should end with a call to action, perhaps by providing links to organizations dedicated to fighting the income gap. Even though I had just watched the video, I felt no more empowered to actually do something about the problem.