When attempting to address any topics of diverging perspectives/realities/ideals, I feel that in our current social and political climate it is often difficult to do so in a conducive and constructive manner. In our post-election world, there is a lot of pent up anger, fear, and frustration. When I was reading through the principles the article, "Anger works best when you have the moral high ground", caught my attention immediately. In the second paragraph it read:
"There is a crucial distinction to be made between moral indignation and self-righteousness. Moral indignation channels anger into resolve, courage and powerful assertions of dignity. Think: the civil rights movement. Self-righteousness, on the other hand, is predictable and easily dismissed. Think: masked 16-year-olds holding a banner that says “SMASH CAPITALISM AND EAT THE RICH.”
Earlier this year, I went to the a protest the day after the election and I saw a lot of "predictable and easily dismissed anger". There were so many signs with phrases similar to the one above, the chanting were slogans and popular hashtags from a variety of different social justice causes rather than a uniformed idea. There was anger, but there was nothing motivating about it.
"Integrity gives deep meaning and moral force to anger. We should never come off as mad-for-the-sake-of-being-mad, but rather as reluctantly, genuinely angry in the face of outrageous circumstances. Rather than reacting, we respond. "
I feel that this is a reminder I and I'm sure many others need in this new generation of activists. How do we put this anger towards something concrete? In what ways can we turn this hurt into actions of radical love and empowerment? That night of the protest, there was a lot of reaction rather than response. I remember overhearing a male classmate in class during the day saying how excited he was to "riot" and "let off some steam" and it seemed many were there just for those reasons. While seeing that many people gathered for the same cause and participating in the chanting, and screaming, and disruption was both cathartic and moving, it was not resonate.
In future scenarios, I want my anger to always come from a place of integrity and reading this passage was a good reminder of awareness, and to always respond rather than react.
"There is a crucial distinction to be made between moral indignation and self-righteousness. Moral indignation channels anger into resolve, courage and powerful assertions of dignity. Think: the civil rights movement. Self-righteousness, on the other hand, is predictable and easily dismissed. Think: masked 16-year-olds holding a banner that says “SMASH CAPITALISM AND EAT THE RICH.”
Earlier this year, I went to the a protest the day after the election and I saw a lot of "predictable and easily dismissed anger". There were so many signs with phrases similar to the one above, the chanting were slogans and popular hashtags from a variety of different social justice causes rather than a uniformed idea. There was anger, but there was nothing motivating about it.
"Integrity gives deep meaning and moral force to anger. We should never come off as mad-for-the-sake-of-being-mad, but rather as reluctantly, genuinely angry in the face of outrageous circumstances. Rather than reacting, we respond. "
I feel that this is a reminder I and I'm sure many others need in this new generation of activists. How do we put this anger towards something concrete? In what ways can we turn this hurt into actions of radical love and empowerment? That night of the protest, there was a lot of reaction rather than response. I remember overhearing a male classmate in class during the day saying how excited he was to "riot" and "let off some steam" and it seemed many were there just for those reasons. While seeing that many people gathered for the same cause and participating in the chanting, and screaming, and disruption was both cathartic and moving, it was not resonate.
In future scenarios, I want my anger to always come from a place of integrity and reading this passage was a good reminder of awareness, and to always respond rather than react.
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