BE THE OPPRESSOR THAT YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.
It's sad that I was the only example of power you knew.
When you were fighting for power you were inextricably also fighting for the right to oppress because that was the only manifestation of power and authority that you saw through me.
When you were fighting for power you were inextricably also fighting for the right to oppress because that was the only manifestation of power and authority that you saw through me.
This broadly applies to struggles and movements in any situation. From a
bird's eye view, we can see passionate people excusing the inexcusable
in the name of liberation. We can see the dreamers and visionaries
become butchers and mercenaries. It's not difficult to see how that
slippery slope turns into tumbling and free-falling. Living an
experience creates an indomitable passion in our hearts and it's passion
that drives us to push through unimaginable horrors and it pushes for
devotion to the cause beyond logic.
Passion however gives us an incomparable blind-spot to alternative opinions. We acknowledge the power of constructive dialogue until the moment where we are the affected and the advocates. At that point, we rationalise violence (physical, verbal and online) as a means of expressing out discomfort. We're quick to remind anyone who is not in our particular demographic that they can't possibly understand your experience because they have not lived through our experiences. We close ourselves to the opinions and others and thus become an authority unto ourselves- most of the time equal to what we are personally going through.
I'm extremely terrible at listening to alternative opinions if not explained in a way that I accept, maybe you are, too. I believe in the interconnections of struggles and opening our minds would be infinitely useful in accelerating our success rates.
Long term success is only possible through culture change and dialogue but that's tedious work and lacks immediate gratification and visible results. That's why we go to protests as an end-all solution to decades of conflict and misunderstanding especially involving political conflict. The protest mentality translates into online fist-fights and combative campaigns. These campaigns are intimately satisfying and a great release but elongate the struggle unnecessarily. Freedom isn't easily given and will never be easily given but just because you were oppressed doesn't mean you can't be an oppressor.
Quoting Hugh Masekela: "We're bad imitations of those who oppressed us. "
Passion however gives us an incomparable blind-spot to alternative opinions. We acknowledge the power of constructive dialogue until the moment where we are the affected and the advocates. At that point, we rationalise violence (physical, verbal and online) as a means of expressing out discomfort. We're quick to remind anyone who is not in our particular demographic that they can't possibly understand your experience because they have not lived through our experiences. We close ourselves to the opinions and others and thus become an authority unto ourselves- most of the time equal to what we are personally going through.
I'm extremely terrible at listening to alternative opinions if not explained in a way that I accept, maybe you are, too. I believe in the interconnections of struggles and opening our minds would be infinitely useful in accelerating our success rates.
Long term success is only possible through culture change and dialogue but that's tedious work and lacks immediate gratification and visible results. That's why we go to protests as an end-all solution to decades of conflict and misunderstanding especially involving political conflict. The protest mentality translates into online fist-fights and combative campaigns. These campaigns are intimately satisfying and a great release but elongate the struggle unnecessarily. Freedom isn't easily given and will never be easily given but just because you were oppressed doesn't mean you can't be an oppressor.
Quoting Hugh Masekela: "We're bad imitations of those who oppressed us. "
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