Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Resistance to Change
"Having a network of supporters makes all the difference when under attack, and meeting socially to tell stories helps a lot. It also gives you a chance to remind them not to be suckered into repeating the opposition's talking points."
This, I have concluded, is a good measure of whether or not a community can handle the outspoken truth. If a handful of activists are not seeing and researching the same stuff, the community cannot bear the exposure, the activist is self-immolating. Simply put...the truth is always good, but I think it takes an extraordinary individual to stand alone and be martyred. If -- as a community activist -- you can find no like minded individuals, then it is a massacre. It is bad enough when you are pillaried, but it is even worse when no one stands with you.
I have discovered my community is only at the level of quiet opposition research. There is NO ONE, NO BLOG, NO ACTIVIST, NO PROGRESSIVE, NO HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER who is curious to uncover the wretched local structure. Boy, oh boy Spartacus. I am learning burn-out is a real thing in this field.
Nancy 06.13.06 - 11:12 am #
Richard Atleo, in his book Tsawalk, writes about civilizations completing phases of growth, and likens the resistance to change or transformation to the reluctance of individuals to leave the comfort zones of womb, home, and immediate family as they mature and encounter institutions and ideas outside their infantile experience.
He specifically denotes the exhausted model of the colonial enterprise, and remarks on how it has changed the natural environment and the spiritual capacity of both indigenous and colonial peoples. The need to make a spiritual connection in order to advance has him concerned that great harm might take place as we struggle to get unstuck from this unworkable arrangement of relationships.
Given the degree of dysfunction and disharmony we live in, I suppose it is inevitable that sacrifices will have to be made.
Spartacus Homepage 06.13.06 - 12:01 pm #
This, I have concluded, is a good measure of whether or not a community can handle the outspoken truth. If a handful of activists are not seeing and researching the same stuff, the community cannot bear the exposure, the activist is self-immolating. Simply put...the truth is always good, but I think it takes an extraordinary individual to stand alone and be martyred. If -- as a community activist -- you can find no like minded individuals, then it is a massacre. It is bad enough when you are pillaried, but it is even worse when no one stands with you.
I have discovered my community is only at the level of quiet opposition research. There is NO ONE, NO BLOG, NO ACTIVIST, NO PROGRESSIVE, NO HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER who is curious to uncover the wretched local structure. Boy, oh boy Spartacus. I am learning burn-out is a real thing in this field.
Nancy 06.13.06 - 11:12 am #
Richard Atleo, in his book Tsawalk, writes about civilizations completing phases of growth, and likens the resistance to change or transformation to the reluctance of individuals to leave the comfort zones of womb, home, and immediate family as they mature and encounter institutions and ideas outside their infantile experience.
He specifically denotes the exhausted model of the colonial enterprise, and remarks on how it has changed the natural environment and the spiritual capacity of both indigenous and colonial peoples. The need to make a spiritual connection in order to advance has him concerned that great harm might take place as we struggle to get unstuck from this unworkable arrangement of relationships.
Given the degree of dysfunction and disharmony we live in, I suppose it is inevitable that sacrifices will have to be made.
Spartacus Homepage 06.13.06 - 12:01 pm #
