I hadn’t thought about the activist “uniform,” but it is often geared towards being striking rather than approachable. There’s also a danger of our identities as activists getting tied up in our apparel choices. I just started reading Change of Heart byNick Cooney (one of the THL founders) and he tells a fitting story of an environmental campaigner speaking at a rally to an enthusiastic group of young campaigners:
“He shouted to the crowd, “Are you ready to get out there and fight for the environment?” To which they responded an enthusiastic, “Yeah!” “Are you ready to get arrested and go to jail for the environment?” “Yeah!!” “Are you ready to give your life for the environment?” “Yeah!!” “Are you willing to cut your hair and put on a suit for the environment?” The crowd fell silent.”
The lack of investment in activating people makes sense. Maybe there’s some instances of incentives shifting as well. Once you have a nonprofit, a big part of your time becomes justifying the nonprofit’s existence, which will automatically syphon away attention from capacity building unless you intentionally redirect it.
Agree that activating people is an end in and of itself. With the loneliness epidemic going on, activating people and building community is a public service in its own right (even if it might not reach the EA bar on its own). And the nice thing to building capacity is that we can redirect a lot of that power to different causes, especially if we don’t tie our group identities too closely to any specific organization. I’d love to see different organizations playing up their different aesthetics while retaining collaborative ties—would really help with our recruiting surface area.
Great additions!
I hadn’t thought about the activist “uniform,” but it is often geared towards being striking rather than approachable. There’s also a danger of our identities as activists getting tied up in our apparel choices. I just started reading Change of Heart by Nick Cooney (one of the THL founders) and he tells a fitting story of an environmental campaigner speaking at a rally to an enthusiastic group of young campaigners:
The lack of investment in activating people makes sense. Maybe there’s some instances of incentives shifting as well. Once you have a nonprofit, a big part of your time becomes justifying the nonprofit’s existence, which will automatically syphon away attention from capacity building unless you intentionally redirect it.
Agree that activating people is an end in and of itself. With the loneliness epidemic going on, activating people and building community is a public service in its own right (even if it might not reach the EA bar on its own). And the nice thing to building capacity is that we can redirect a lot of that power to different causes, especially if we don’t tie our group identities too closely to any specific organization. I’d love to see different organizations playing up their different aesthetics while retaining collaborative ties—would really help with our recruiting surface area.