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lotta the shit people are rolling out to defend "oh yeah we're not gonna actually reverse shit" about kids in cages is bad but the "there's procedure, there's steps that have to be done" really sticks in my craw, bc following 'procedure' makes sure nothing happens
we get sold our entire lives that the way to get change, on both a personal and a macro level, is to be reasonable, follow procedure, go through the steps, blah blah blah. this is actually wrong, and it's especially wrong when our foundations are this weak.
it's the same thing as how people think "dems can't do that, republicans will attack them" and think the move is to flinch and pull back, be more patient. the answer is to be more aggressive - so aggressive that they can't possibly keep up, can't stick to one thing.
you do a massive, abrupt change, and when the gears of status quo says "you can't do that", you respond with "says who?". and you do it more and more and more, faster and faster, exhausting their ability to stop you or tag you with any one thing. they'll stop some, but not all.
this is, of course, what trump himself did, and what he did is awful, but that's because the things he wanted are awful, not because he didn't 'follow procedure'. undoing concentration camps for children and going "says who" when status quo says you can't is good, actually.
you've seen it all the time, at a national politics level, people just breaking the rules, going "says who" when someone says they can't, and we all get to find out together that our enforcement of rules is actually pathetically weak, has been for decades.
if you bind yourself by those same rules when you're trying to do GOOD things, then you will quickly find nothing good ever happens.
this is where seeing how these systems on a personal, local level is important, how 'following procedure' doesn't actually help.
this is where seeing how these systems on a personal, local level is important, how 'following procedure' doesn't actually help.
when it comes to getting change at your shitty company, the 'proper' method is to go to HR with your complaints.
how often has that helped?
or even as a child in school. the 'proper' method is to tell a teacher, or some other faculty.
how often did that help?
how often has that helped?
or even as a child in school. the 'proper' method is to tell a teacher, or some other faculty.
how often did that help?
meanwhile, if you go over their head, create a media firestorm, or do a strike, whatever, suddenly all those 'reasonable' people actually want to do things you wanted. or they stop some of the things you wanted, but not all of them.
'reasonableness' is only for avoiding tension.
'reasonableness' is only for avoiding tension.
and a lot of people want to avoid tension, but that doesn't actually solve problems. solving problems solves problems. if there is to be conflict had when solving those problems, so be it. better to confront that conflict than avoid it for decades for want of avoiding 'tension'.
MLK's description of "negative peace" remains one of the most important things of his i've read when i finally started reading the non-whitewashed version of him. the absence of tension is not the presence of justice, and is certainly not preferable to it. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/when-peace-becomes-obnoxious
one followup: part of the problem is people frequently mistake the way you can get change on a personal level, say, friend to friend, as the same way you'd get change when trying to change your company, trying to change laws, trying to change your country.
it isn't.
it isn't.
people gotta get a theory of power, and that the 'nicer' methodology you might use to get your friend to knock off some shit is very, very different than the methodology you'd use for anyone or anything who has great power over you and others.
