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So much of our life is spent chasing purity. Don't shop here. Don't eat that. As if our individual quest for purity will absolve us. We can never achieve purity, but the choices that we make seeking it can have unintended consequences of harm.
Animal rights is an easy example. In trying to achieve purity through their diet and lifestyle they have caused significant harm to Indigenous people, from the northern seal hunt or quinoa in the south.
Hydro electricity is considered "green" but the flooding it requires is most certainly not. Solar power requires mining. etc. etc.
When we move towards purity, often all we're really doing is offloading harms to somebody else.
When we move towards purity, often all we're really doing is offloading harms to somebody else.
In her book, Against Purity (which I am loving) Alexis Shotwell challenges us to think of the relationships that these "impurities" create. What responsibilities those relationships create. When we opt out of things, we may be abandoning those relationships.
So, make your choices. Shop or don't, eat or don't, but don't think that your choices are moving you towards purity or being a better person. They aren't. Individual moves to purity ultimately don't make the world a better place.
Thinking about those relationships and responsibilities, that is what makes the world better. So think about the web of relationships that you exist in and what you are actually able to do.
And don't worry about fixing everything.
And don't worry about fixing everything.
Alexis uses the example of a large boat, like aircraft carrier large. Nobody pilots that alone. Everyone does what they trained for and it gets into port.
Activism is a web too. So when you see people working on something different from you? Thank them.
Activism is a web too. So when you see people working on something different from you? Thank them.
