“An urgent & demanding participatory endeavor”

Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

National Geographic once understood Mr. Booker’s point.
In a time of crisis,
National Geographic asked all of us to participate.

National Geographic once featured stories
about the people who helped launch our democratic adventure.

NGM, September 1987

National Geographic once was proud to celebrate
the values that make us a nation.

NGM, July 1986

_____

Today, our Society asks us to share kitty pictures.

To buy air freshener…

… and coffee beans.

Our Society lends its good name
to a television channel (majority-owned by News Corp)
that serves up shows like this:

In which a man falls in love with a sex doll....

What happened?

Why has our Society, under John Fahey’s leadership,
stopped addressing us as citizens
and started treating us like customers?

Here’s a hint:

You can’t do business in China
if you insist on talking about
James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and democracy.

So, we changed our story.

Chris Johns & Terry Adamson celebrate NGM's new publishing partnership in the People's Republic of China. (2007)

This is tragic and short-sighted.
But it’s not the end of the story….

_____

We hope you had a happy Independence Day.

July 4, 2011: On the Mall in Washington, DC (photo by Ian Livingston via the Washington Post)