Series: Activism, environmentalism, and getting a clue - Pt. 2
In part 1, I alluded to the importance of being involved with those issues that you do understand (and not criticizing those that you don’t.) Here, I’d like to discuss the mob mentality, going along with the crowd, jumping on the bandwagon, yadda yadda yadda. The Regis Philbin Million Dollar Question is, does the crowd really know what its doing?
You want to be involved with the world around you, probably fight injustice like Superman- the good vs. evil deal. Maybe you want to show your moral superiority or fill a spiritual void. That’s great and all, but you shouldn’t pick and choose the issues that you feel suites your moral or spiritual needs at the moment.
That’s the easy thing to do. But as our President Kennedy reminded us, we tackle great challenges not because they are easy but because they are hard. Social and environmental issues, if you really care about them, should be thought of as long and hard challenges that you would commit wholeheartedly to see some change. As such, it should be hard to deal with…and that means NOT following the crowd.
The crowd often goes with issues that are easy to understand, easy because there’s a lot of publicity behind it. Easy because the publicity makes your involvement seem that much more important. Easy because, hey, so many people are behind the cause and they surely know what they’re doing…they can’t possibly be like me just joining in on the action. Easy because being different or fighting for a cause no one recognizes is just not worth while.
Demonstrations and protests are often overblown, especially if the better part of the people involved are not personally affected. Let’s talk about Walmart, for example. Of the endless things social activists complain about Walmart, one of the newest stories around Walmart is the Chicago government wants to enforce more employee protection through better wages and benefits. Its great publicity for the social activists and the politicians who are trying to win votes, but is Walmart really that bad and is giving people better wages and benefits a positive thing?
The actual Chicago local community where the new Walmart will open DO NOT want this social experiment to happen. The activists and politicians have this grand do-gooder theme going that they don’t do what’s best for the people in the community, who are the people in need and who the activism SHOULD BE helping! Sure, Walmart’s not perfect, but no company is. The thing to note is Walmart creates so many quality jobs and opportunities for people who would be living a much harder life otherwise. If the Chicago government enforces such a tough compensation for the employees, Walmart might just not bother opening a store because it’ll lose money. In the end, this act of righteousness to give the poor a lot ends in the poor having nothing, just as before.
The message here was that the locals, who are directly influenced by a Walmart, WANT the Walmart there. They want it so they can have a quality large retail with low prices so they can actually have SAVINGS in their SAVINGS account. They want it so they can have a relatively easy job in a store instead of NOT having a job or doing backbreaking jobs for much less pay.
I don’t think the activists understand the people they are fighting for because they are not the same. Fighting for social issues is often a luxury, luxury out of leisure time finding something to do. On the other hand, those needing help are those really in the down and out. BUT, if you aren’t in the same boat as those you’re trying to help, you’re not facing the same problems and can’t possibly understand what it is they want and need. For instance, if you have nothing, having a little is a lot. If you have a lot, having a little extra is invisible. That’s the lesson here. Truly understand the problem, even if its hard to go against what everyone wants to say is correct. Put yourself in the right shoes, the shoes of those you’re trying to help. Then, walk around for a while in them.
