>
>As to Carrol's reply, I find his argument less compelling than shag's
>skepticism: "Yeah, but what are you *really* doing?" It's about the
>disconnection between one's words and actions. So it compels to
>action.
it's not a skepticism about the leftists per se. it's based on something i've only recently started observing, and I'm not really sure why it goes on.
in my observation, the skill of organizing (by which I simply mean, "getting shit done,") is really lacking for most people in general. part of it is lack of self-esteem. part of it is inability or lack of skills in making goals a reality. "We'd like to have bigger attendance." "We'd like to work with other groups to bring in speakers."
Yeah. Me too. Here's what we can do: build a web site, write a blog, post to every free venue available, create fliers and distribute, write to every major tech company, start an email discussion list, put up a forum, email announcements to people we know, post to linkedin and facebook, etc.
and people all nod and say "nice ideas" and then pointedly avoid eye contact lest someone says, "So, Diane, you're a graphic designer, can you make the logo? Bill, you just lost your job. you have time on your hands. Can you draw up a list of all the tech companies in the area?"
some people get irritated b/c they don't like someone else telling them what to do, but are unwilling to start translating the goals into, erm, action items themselves so, since nature abhors a vacuum, shag steps in and says, fuck this noise, let's get some shit done. i'm tired of waiting.
And it doesn't even work to appeal to self-interest. Like, "If you're unemployed, you can put this shit on your resume." Or, at work, I've pointed out that if they lead a seminar, prepare a presentation, run a panel discussion, whatever, we'll be videotaping it and giving them a copy. They can use it on their resume to get another job. A videotape of you talking about MVC frameworks in your workplace is going to go pretty far in proving that, when you say you have proficiency in an MVC environment, you probably aren't bullshitting.
But, wow, it's like herding freakin cats. I don't know whether it's youth, inexperience, lack of self-confidence, or what.
all i know is, what i've learned in large corporate environments is that joanna was right too. i do not regret working hard and getting shit done at all, but i do regret that i only learned it lately.
shag