As we wait for the playing field to clear, another little lecture, lol. Or if you are not completely cynical….another observation on a facet of political effectiveness
Cynicism is a necessary phase in political activism. And like an old comfy pair of jeans, it is a good thing to always keep around, in limited quantities. But it can’t be your whole ‘political wardrobe.’
Too little cynicism and you are just another naive chump, buying the okeydoke from those who have spent their whole political lives doing nothing but honing what is considered a critical political skill by the operatives and politicians they work for……selling the okeydoke to naive chumps.
Too much though and it can kill the spark of life within you, it can rob you of healthy hope just as quick as it can protect you from unhealthy and unrealistic hope.
But it is a necessary phase, cynicism. And once you pass through it’s maze, IF you don’t get lost in the hate and frustration and destructive bitterness at the center of it, you come out with your eyes wide open, your illusions on BOTH ends of it’s spectrum shattered and are ready to get to work.
But this takes some detachment. It is hard not to hate those who are so obviously manipulating The People’s emotions to enhance and advance their own power. It is very hard to not automatically assume and ascribe the worst and most cynical motives to them. But we must always remember that THEY think they are the righteous ones….just like we do, lol. And that they ascribe the same things to us….and we know that THAT is not true.
It is VERY tempting to retreat behind the armor of cynicism to protect what little hope and optimism you still have after learning just how fucked our System is , and how that System was carefully crafted to keep the Ruling Class in power.
There is only one problem, hiding behind that armor won’t actually protect you, and can and very often does limit ones effectiveness in fighting for actual change.
Cynicism is just another form of illusion. As bad as is it is, the world and the System is NOT as bad ……as a whole….as our cynicism would have us believe.
We are NOT powerless.
Not when we are united, with our eyes wide open, and with a healthy balance of distrust and hope.
And cynicism, in it’s most destructive form, sells us the illusion that we are.
And ALL illusions are harmful to our effectiveness, to our work as activists.
Don’t buy either brand of the okeydoke. Find a balance that allows you to keep working hard and that allows you to trust just enough, lol, to retain hope. Not trust in politicians, not trust in The System, but trust in (the best of) The People and trust in what MLK called the “arc of the moral universe” that bends towards justice.
It is a long journey, with many obstacles, and is a hard road to walk without getting worn down.
But then again…..what else do you have to do?
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I would say that just because I post cynical things doesn’t mean I Are A Cynic. Or rather, I want to eat cynicism before it eats me.
Wait, you mean you weren’t just talking to me? 🙂
gotta pace yourself
I am a redneck redneck from a red state. I am at the bottom of the cynicism state. Worked hard for Obama then got to the point I could not watch him spin on TV. Rupture of the STOU and I quit.
have to let go and let nature take it’s course as far as gravity goes, move out of the way so those looming ‘too big’s’ can topple. Hopefully they will take the delusions of those who both fear them and support them with them. Detachment is where I’m at having gotten tired of cynicism, which is as boring as apathy in it’s own way. Maybe adaptation to change can only occur when the structures that supports peoples prevailing belief systems has totally collapsed. The apathetic center is not so apathetic as they are conditioned not to participate, they like to follow leaders, yet they do watch the parking meters. It’s a is a mystery to me as to why they pay the price for the spaces there getting.
Not a large difference at this point in knocking your head against those that support donkeys or elephants. They both act like participation is rooting for the delusional faith based leadership that gets to tell them what is or isn’t possible, and charges you for the bullets they use to kill you. Politics is at this point a meaningless game and a distraction from the fierce urgency of now that threatens to take you house,rob you blind, ruin your marriage, kill your granny, and heat up the world till it boils and turns you into a socialist or a teabagger. Meanwhile there’s Lilly Ledbetter, a great piece of legislation that allows women to sue for years over their right to make a fair buck, (maybe?) and more then universal Healthcare is something we can all be proud of. Jeeze no wonder I’m cynical! for a minute there I thought I was detaching.