Thanks Amber and titotal for engaging with this conversation and for being honest about where you’re coming from! Some follow-up questions and thoughts:
In terms of effectiveness, I agree that there is no guarantee that a letter to an MP would be effective. It is very likely that a lot of the letters we send to our MPs don’t lead to any change, but if the volume of these letters is large and the reach to the number of MPs is broad, we may be able to move at least some MPs to act. Perhaps a parallel here with EAs working on high risk high reward projects (i.e., while some of them will have little or no impact, the best could have a very large impact)? When emailing MPs, I used a template I found through the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network, which I then edited. This gave me a starting point for my email and had all the email addresses ready to go, which saved a lot of time. I actually did receive a few responses from the MPs as well, which I then took some time to respond to. You’re right, this did take a while to write up (~20 minutes).
That’s so interesting! I was keen to hear more about your thinking here, so thanks for responding to titotal’s comment on this. a. Is there something about commonly-held perspectives that come across as “going with the flow”, rather than being something people genuinely believe in? Like just saying X to fit in? b. I totally understand that feeling of not being heard; it can genuinely be quite demotivating as oftentimes there is little to no change. In line with titotal’s comment about critical mass, I recently came across this paper, which suggests that the tipping point for social change is 25% (“When minority groups reached the critical mass—that is, the critical group size for initiating social change—they were consistently able to overturn the established behavior”). Would this be a case for persisting, especially with causes that we find meaningful/important?
That’s fair. I’ve tried to follow people on social media with opposing views to make sure I have as balanced a perspective as I can (though to be completely honest, it’s so easy/automatic to dismiss contrary viewpoints. I have noticed it takes conscious choice for me to cognitively engage with posts I don’t immediately agree with), and to double check claims using different sources. Again, as you pointed out, this does take some investment. I find I’m quite emotionally invested in this issue though, so I naturally gravitate towards wanting to spend time learning about it. I understand that this is not the case for everyone, just as I am spending more time learning about this compared to other humanitarian issues.
That’s an excellent point. It’s certainly why I have tried to point people towards EA principles.
Thanks again for your comments. Not only have they helped me understand your perspectives, but they have also made me reflect upon why I hold my own views.
Thanks Amber and titotal for engaging with this conversation and for being honest about where you’re coming from! Some follow-up questions and thoughts:
In terms of effectiveness, I agree that there is no guarantee that a letter to an MP would be effective. It is very likely that a lot of the letters we send to our MPs don’t lead to any change, but if the volume of these letters is large and the reach to the number of MPs is broad, we may be able to move at least some MPs to act. Perhaps a parallel here with EAs working on high risk high reward projects (i.e., while some of them will have little or no impact, the best could have a very large impact)?
When emailing MPs, I used a template I found through the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network, which I then edited. This gave me a starting point for my email and had all the email addresses ready to go, which saved a lot of time. I actually did receive a few responses from the MPs as well, which I then took some time to respond to. You’re right, this did take a while to write up (~20 minutes).
That’s so interesting! I was keen to hear more about your thinking here, so thanks for responding to titotal’s comment on this.
a. Is there something about commonly-held perspectives that come across as “going with the flow”, rather than being something people genuinely believe in? Like just saying X to fit in?
b. I totally understand that feeling of not being heard; it can genuinely be quite demotivating as oftentimes there is little to no change. In line with titotal’s comment about critical mass, I recently came across this paper, which suggests that the tipping point for social change is 25% (“When minority groups reached the critical mass—that is, the critical group size for initiating social change—they were consistently able to overturn the established behavior”). Would this be a case for persisting, especially with causes that we find meaningful/important?
That’s fair. I’ve tried to follow people on social media with opposing views to make sure I have as balanced a perspective as I can (though to be completely honest, it’s so easy/automatic to dismiss contrary viewpoints. I have noticed it takes conscious choice for me to cognitively engage with posts I don’t immediately agree with), and to double check claims using different sources. Again, as you pointed out, this does take some investment. I find I’m quite emotionally invested in this issue though, so I naturally gravitate towards wanting to spend time learning about it. I understand that this is not the case for everyone, just as I am spending more time learning about this compared to other humanitarian issues.
That’s an excellent point. It’s certainly why I have tried to point people towards EA principles.
Thanks again for your comments. Not only have they helped me understand your perspectives, but they have also made me reflect upon why I hold my own views.