Hey Thom, thanks for engaging. I’m evolving my thoughts as I go here, so what ensues might slightly contradict some parts of the main post:
On short-term pragmatism being a straw man: I think you’re right that my description of short-term pragmatism is a straw man at the individual level, but I think it holds true about our movement-level expression. I don’t think any individual non-profit or person would necessarily embody short-term pragmatism — I imagine/hope that everyone involved in a campaign/project has (a) some end goal they truly want; and (b) some model in their head of how their current work moves toward that goal.
But I rarely see those models articulated publicly (and I’ve spoken to quite a few deeply involved people who observe the same). This creates a movement-wide dynamic where, even if many are acting on long-term plans, those plans remain out of sight from others, and unexamined. So even if individuals are thinking long-term, the movement’s collective expression looks short-termist.
The effect of this is that it’s hard to be confident we’re walking an effective path towards a bigger end goal. If we don’t share our theories of victory, we can’t coordinate around them, notice if we’re working at cross-purposes, challenge assumptions, or build on each other’s insights.
On timelines: I agree that we should have conversations about timelines to aspire towards (I would add, trying to find a sweet spot between ambitious and realistic). And I think we could have much more productive conversations about that if we made our theories of victory more explicit. FWIW, I have no strong opinions on timelines, probably leaning in the direction of “a few decades at minimum”.
Hey Thom, thanks for engaging. I’m evolving my thoughts as I go here, so what ensues might slightly contradict some parts of the main post:
On short-term pragmatism being a straw man: I think you’re right that my description of short-term pragmatism is a straw man at the individual level, but I think it holds true about our movement-level expression. I don’t think any individual non-profit or person would necessarily embody short-term pragmatism — I imagine/hope that everyone involved in a campaign/project has (a) some end goal they truly want; and (b) some model in their head of how their current work moves toward that goal.
But I rarely see those models articulated publicly (and I’ve spoken to quite a few deeply involved people who observe the same). This creates a movement-wide dynamic where, even if many are acting on long-term plans, those plans remain out of sight from others, and unexamined. So even if individuals are thinking long-term, the movement’s collective expression looks short-termist.
The effect of this is that it’s hard to be confident we’re walking an effective path towards a bigger end goal. If we don’t share our theories of victory, we can’t coordinate around them, notice if we’re working at cross-purposes, challenge assumptions, or build on each other’s insights.
On timelines: I agree that we should have conversations about timelines to aspire towards (I would add, trying to find a sweet spot between ambitious and realistic). And I think we could have much more productive conversations about that if we made our theories of victory more explicit. FWIW, I have no strong opinions on timelines, probably leaning in the direction of “a few decades at minimum”.