Without reading other replies, I have started to give this a great deal of thought. I had a recent conversation with one of our esteemed former posters and a good friend of mine, Least Original User Name Ever. He is both passionately and usefully engaged in Democratic politics both personally and professionally, and almost preternaturally unbothered by the opposition. He can talk to basically anyone in a reasonable, convincing way, without getting upset or taking things personally, and I greatly admire this in him. I assume this was a skill he acquired based on years knocking on people’s doors to try to convince them to vote for Democrats.
One of the things we agreed upon – something he has always known, and something I am just recently learning – is that taking meaningful action to address a social issue does not require hand-wringing, needless existential suffering, bedwetting or losing sleep. (Sort of - he did point out that these reactions can motivate people to take action, so they can be leveraged in other people when you’re community organizing.) But it’s not necessary. This is a truth I have uncovered with my own activist work, though it took years to get to this point. In fact, the sense of numbing despair is what Republicans want people to be feeling right now, so indulging in and ruminating on those feelings is likely to lead to a sense of helplessness and inaction.
When you can quiet your mind, or turn off the rumination, you get a sense of clarity about what needs to be done. I’m hardly a master, but I’ve seen this work in little ways in my own life.
I haven’t closely followed the news in quite some time, though I pick things up on this board and around. I haven’t been engaged in social media beyond this board in quite some time. I don’t think my social action has reached its full potential by a long shot, but I don’t really feel the need to add fuel to the already existing fire as I think about strategic direction.
My first instinct is to look to the masters - people throughout history who have faced political and social upheaval and made enduring change despite the challenges. I’m thinking Vietnamese social activist Thich Naht Hanh, Nelson Mandela, MLK, etc. So I guess what I’m going to do starts with that kind of research. I’m starting with Thich Naht Hanh’s model of engaged Buddhism, which will hopefully show me a path forward.
I have some personal issues to overcome if I’m going to do anything really useful, but this is my starting point. I may be shit at talking to people, but I’m always available in some behind-the-scenes administrative capacity, in the same way as my current activist work is in the form of grants administration.