To clarify, I don’t want to sound like a determinist, where there’s nothing we can do but sit back and watch systems play themselves out. Just that historically, the most effective movements have built on mass organization and consciousness, rather than scattered individuals spontaneously changing their minds. Coordinated systems of people have disproportionate power, like a hammer is more effective than the innumerable molecules that comprise it.
Working to help organize oppressed groups is usually more progressive because they’re primed by their material conditions to be progressive, unlike the oppressors or those that benefit from the oppression.
To clarify, I don’t want to sound like a determinist, where there’s nothing we can do but sit back and watch systems play themselves out.
I am a determinist, and also I think it is morally reprehensible to do nothing while innocent people are being murdered. Our choices are not some magical product of free will, they are biological inevitabilities. But we evolved our feelings for good reason.
Just that historically, the most effective movements have built on mass organization and consciousness, rather than scattered individuals spontaneously changing their minds.
We live in the information age. We can talk to each other faster than ever. It’s why the fascists keep poisoning social media, they fear it.
I think we need to get ahead of the curve. They are ahead of us in some ways. We need to subvert their plans and their backup plans. We need to move faster than they think is possible, faster than they can keep up with.
Easier said than done, admittedly. But maybe we can use the speed of information to our advantage.
To clarify, I don’t want to sound like a determinist, where there’s nothing we can do but sit back and watch systems play themselves out. Just that historically, the most effective movements have built on mass organization and consciousness, rather than scattered individuals spontaneously changing their minds. Coordinated systems of people have disproportionate power, like a hammer is more effective than the innumerable molecules that comprise it.
Working to help organize oppressed groups is usually more progressive because they’re primed by their material conditions to be progressive, unlike the oppressors or those that benefit from the oppression.
Thanks for the discussion!
I am a determinist, and also I think it is morally reprehensible to do nothing while innocent people are being murdered. Our choices are not some magical product of free will, they are biological inevitabilities. But we evolved our feelings for good reason.
We live in the information age. We can talk to each other faster than ever. It’s why the fascists keep poisoning social media, they fear it.
I think we need to get ahead of the curve. They are ahead of us in some ways. We need to subvert their plans and their backup plans. We need to move faster than they think is possible, faster than they can keep up with.
Easier said than done, admittedly. But maybe we can use the speed of information to our advantage.