That doesn’t sound like an activist. That sounds like “sucker doing other people’s work for free”, which doesn’t sound like an effective plan for bringing about positive change—those people tend to “weed themselves out” over the long run.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do things to make the world a better place, like: not litter, drive courteously, etc. (Although you should be careful about which things actually accomplish a net good.) “Be the change you want in the world” (attr. Ghandi) is a good motto to keep. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t expect major problems to get solved by Someone Else at no cost to you, nor complain about someone pointing out the dirty river instead of immediately cleaning it up.
Personally, I’m very good at discovering what’s wrong with a process or situation. I can detect flaws easily and accurately. What I’ve found I need is someone who, after I’ve done my analysis, will look me in the eye and say, “OK. So how do we fix it?”
Without that simple question, I find that far too often I stop at the identification step, shaking my head at the deplorable state of affairs.
So for example, it would make sense for me to try and personally swoop in and free Chinese political prisoners, but if I’m not prepared to do that, I shouldn’t protest their incarceration.
I don’t think this rule leads to the right kind of behavour.
That doesn’t sound like an activist. That sounds like “sucker doing other people’s work for free”, which doesn’t sound like an effective plan for bringing about positive change—those people tend to “weed themselves out” over the long run.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do things to make the world a better place, like: not litter, drive courteously, etc. (Although you should be careful about which things actually accomplish a net good.) “Be the change you want in the world” (attr. Ghandi) is a good motto to keep. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t expect major problems to get solved by Someone Else at no cost to you, nor complain about someone pointing out the dirty river instead of immediately cleaning it up.
Personally, I’m very good at discovering what’s wrong with a process or situation. I can detect flaws easily and accurately. What I’ve found I need is someone who, after I’ve done my analysis, will look me in the eye and say, “OK. So how do we fix it?”
Without that simple question, I find that far too often I stop at the identification step, shaking my head at the deplorable state of affairs.
The question analogous to to the Perot quote would be “So why don’t you fix it?”.
So for example, it would make sense for me to try and personally swoop in and free Chinese political prisoners, but if I’m not prepared to do that, I shouldn’t protest their incarceration.
I don’t think this rule leads to the right kind of behavour.
It doesn’t, and it annoys me. That makes me quite ambivalent about the quote.
How is this comment responsive to my point or supportive of the original post?
Does this work better for you?:
“The rationalist is not the man who complains about biases. The rationalist is the man who works to understand his biases.”
(coin-flipped for male)