Social Entrepreneurship and Social Responsibility in Today’s World

I have recently been pondering two interconnected concepts — social entrepreneurship and social responsibility.

Wikipedia says:

Social entrepreneurship is the use of start-up companies and other entrepreneurs to develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues.

And Wikipedia says:

Social responsibility is an ethical framework and suggests that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large.

An interview of me on the Idea Mensch site concerns my social entrepreneurship projects:

Her current priority social entrepreneur projects are: 1) the one-act WWII/Holocaust play THE THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE that she is seeking help with stage readings around the world for the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht this November; and 2) re-visiting her failure from 25 years ago to have safer sex routinely portrayed/mentioned in books, film and TV. She also has an unpublished near future sci-fi novel and related sci-fi film/TV projects that are cautionary tales for our own future.

Yet it is the concept of social responsibility that in the last few days I have been pondering in light of a new feature film and a new TV series.

First, I have just seen the new film OPERATION FINALE about Israel’s capture in Argentina of Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution of the Jews before and during World War II.

Full disclosure: I have been working for several years on a feature film version of the true story of Israeli Nazi hunter Tuviah Friedman. It is Tuviah who pestered the Israeli government for years to find Eichmann — and it is Tuviah’s offer of a reward for information leading to the capture of Eichmann — in parallel with the hunt for Eichmann by West German government officials — that led to the snatch of Eichmann in Argentina.

My question of social responsibility in the case of the film OPERATION FINALE has to do with how historical truth is portrayed.

The West German government official Fritz Bauer appears briefly at the beginning of the film OPERATIONAL FINALE with no real recognition given to his ongoing efforts to find Eichmann (nor is Tuviah even mentioned in the film). Yet in the 2015 feature film THE PEOPLE VS. FRITZ BAUER about Bauer’s search for Eichmann there is a brief mention of Tuviah Friedman without any explanation as to why the West Germans want to keep the information about Eichmann’s possible whereabouts secret from Tuviah.

As a screenwriter myself, I do know that many decisions have to be made in the creation of a feature film based on a true story. I am only pondering whose truth should be presented in such undertakings.

With any historical events there are always differing points of view, frequently people are telling the truth as the individuals experienced it. Yet, as I point out in this blog post “The Importance of Getting the Historical Facts About the Holocaust Correct” there are certain facts that are indisputable. And getting these facts wrong can have far-reaching affects.

And in terms of social responsibility, while the following may seem “minor,” it is actually quite important given that I know several bicyclists whose lives have been saved because they were wearing a bicycle helmet when a car hit them.

In the first episode of the new Amazon Studios original series TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN, Jack is introduced riding his bicycle to work at the CIA and he isn’t wearing a helmet! Honestly, would an analyst as smart as Jack risk a head injury (or death) that could seriously hinder his ever being able to work again?

I strongly believe that it is the social responsibility of all content creators to model safety behavior whenever possible. This includes portraying/mentioning safer sex in fiction (see my Writer’s Digest article “Why Writers Should Consider Including Safer Sex in Fiction” ) as well as never depicting anyone riding a bicycle without a helmet (unless in a period piece).

In conclusion, I have been binge watching on Hulu the TV series M*A*S*H (there are 11 seasons), which I never saw when it originally aired. In my opinion the level of social responsibility on the part of the show’s creators and writers is amazing. The show is a comedy, yet very serious issues are compellingly presented.

If this blog post has encouraged you to consider what socially responsible actions you have personally undertaken recently, consider helping with my current project — the cautionary play THE THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE. Click here to read “Kristallnacht 80th Anniversary Commemoration: Confronting History” to learn how you might be able to help.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com

Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller