Principle: Anger works best when you have the moral high ground
“Anger is potent. Use it wisely. If you have the moral higher ground, it is compelling and people will join you. If you don’t, you’ll look like a cranky wingnut.”
I’ve been noticing more and more, the anger that I will hold inside when confronted with issues that I care about. It is easy for those emotions to get the better of me - they want to lash out as a means of protection. Anger is one of our most primal defense mechanisms, but if we’re not able to use that energy and mold it into a moral and ethical argument, in most cases, it becomes a waste of energy.
Tactic: Invisible Theatre
“To pose a moral dilemma in the midst of everyday life — this can be particularly useful on a topic that people might normally be “too polite” to bring up, such as poverty, racism or homophobia.”
To me, invisible theater is incredibly important, however, there’s always the issue of safety - how far are actors willing to go in order to maintain an act? And with invisible theater, the situations are meant to provoke and rile up the audience. There’s genuine danger in it and I find that interesting and terrifying.
Theory: Memes
“Memes (rhymes with “dreams”) are self-replicating units of cultural information that spread virally from mind to mind, network to network, generation to generation.”
At first I was annoyed that means were even considered a theory. But I was surprised to learn that the term was coined in 1976. It just seems so modern of an idea but it has a deeper meaning and roots. “The term is derived from the ancient Greek word mimema, meaning, “something imitated.”” The scientist who created this term, Richard Dawkins, used it as a way of understanding how various cultures and cultural practices spread throughout their own societies.
Comments
Post a Comment