[lbo-talk] Re: Boycotting the Unorganized?

Jon Johanning zenner41 at mac.com
Sun Jan 23 13:03:12 PST 2005


On Jan 22, 2005, at 8:37 PM, Brian Charles Dauth wrote:


> As you say below, perosnal lives affects our activism. Hets, by
> and large, conform sexually. I think this conformity tends to color
> their view of sexual activism. They give it a low ranking/importance
> since it rarely has a part to play in their life.

Yes, this is an instance of the general principle that we humans tend to neglect anything that is not central to our own individual lives and the lives of our families or clans or tribes; if that were not the case, paradise would have been built on earth long ago.

Keeping all of the myriad ills of the world in mind at the same time and according all of them the importance they deserve is quite a chore. Consciousness constantly needs to be raised; it is like the left rear tire on my car, which currently has a slow leak and has to be pumped up nearly every time I use it. The alternative, I guess, is to check out of the business of social concern entirely, and not care about anything except what benefits me and those closest to me.

Perhaps the best approach is to take raising one's consciousness as a project of curiosity: "Wow, I didn't know that that group of people were suffering in that way! That's very interesting; I'll try to keep it in mind and contribute what I can to helping out. I can't do the whole job myself, and I might not be able to do exactly what that group wants, but I need to consider what they say carefully."

Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________ Wege entstehen dadurch, dass man sie geht. (Paths arise from the fact that we walk them) -- Franz Kafka



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list