The paradox of activism


Problem 1: As rationalists or empiricists, we probably agree we need to observe a problem before we can fix it.

Problem 2: The more we start to observe, the more we see that warrants fixing.

Problem 3: Truly grasping the immense cruelty that needs fixing tends to leave one terribly depressed.

Problem 4: Depression demotivates people to fix a problem.

This is the basic principle of career activists and their push to get activists to “turn off” and engage in periodic self care. Being woke is bloody exhausting. Trying to wrap your head around the state of world affairs leaves you with a cold chill–yet you must do it if changing the world matters to you. You need information. You need data. You need the patterns, the knowledge, because those lead to answers and solutions.

But you have to not snap like a twig under the weight of the whole world while you find them.

Good luck.

-Shiv

Comments

  1. says

    Add to that,”Get yelled at online by people who think you’re just making up the empirical data to fit your own agenda,” and you’ve got the story of my life!