One of the programme team’s favorite studies deals with “happiness”. Researchers analyzed and processed datasets compiled from song lyrics, blogs and U.S. president’s State of the Union speeches. The three most important findings: “Love” is the most frequently used word in song lyrics – but the “content level of happiness” in songs has been steadily decreasing since the 1960s, while the level of happiness in blogs, for example between 2005 and 2009, saw a noticeable increase – this was in close correlation with the age of the bloggers.
That would suggest that things are still nicest here in the internet, something that seems very hard to believe given all that we’ve seen and read in the last years.
We’re taking a stand and raising the rainbow flag as an answer to the shrill sounds of nationalism, trolls and free-flying hate speech: Love Out Loud! [LOL] is the motto for the re:publica 2017 and we want you to join in, to hear your voices resonating from the stage like a Courtney Love scream. Everything taking place in this track is related to love, but we’re not getting too esoteric about it: whether it’s singing songs of praise, completely sober, scientific contemplations on relational bonds in the internet age, all the way to the dance of molecules, smell dating – or the continuous soundtrack in the courtyard provided by your very own “Love” playlists.
With "Love Out Loud!" we want to remind people what re:publica stands for. We want to focus on all the people, organizations and projects that have committed themselves to campaigning against hate, violence and injustice and who carry light into the darkest corners of society. They deserve our attention.
In 2017, we are primarily dedicating our stages to those people who are courageously standing up for humanity. That’s why "Love Out Loud!" should also be understood as an encouragement and invitation to raise your voice at the re:publica – and make it loud!
We hope that, with love in our motto, we’ll be able to successfully bundle all the positive energy and help create further networks during the three days.
Image credit: re:publica/Gregor Fischer (CC BY 2.0)