In Theory
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the advice Oliver Burkeman gave in his latest newsletter. On the surface, it’s solid: “Make sure your psychological centre of gravity is in your real and immediate world.”
In other words, when the world is falling apart outside, recognize that while you may be unhappy with what is happening outside, stabilize yourself by paying attention to what is happening inside (e.g., “The world of your family and friends and neighborhood, your work and your creative projects, as opposed to the world of presidencies and governments, social forces and global emergencies.”)
But… the people involved in the local and global emergencies depend on those not involved to educate themselves, support those impacted, and agitate for change when necessary.
I think he meant that getting pulled down by a person who is drowning creates two drowning people; it doesn’t save one. But while he recommends “visiting” what is happening in the world and then retreating to process, gain perspective, and be productive, it also comes from a place of extreme privilege. It assumes that your “real and immediate world” is not impacted by the events of situations deemed far away.
You can hit reply and tell him what you think, but you can’t see anyone else’s thoughts, which is a shame because I think it would be an interesting discussion.
2 comments
I’m not gonna read another think-piece (probably ever) about how to survive this nonsense with your mind intact. This will probably fundamentally change everything about our lives, and I only want instructions on what I can personally do. Those aren’t coming, so I need to figure it out. So, I’m just basing the following on what you wrote – apologies if this is a “just read the article, dummy” situation.
In a sense, he’s correct – change can only come from the “bottom” up at this point. But you can’t ignore what’s going on when it has real consequences in your life. Community can help you find a new job, if your federal one is eliminated…but not if the entire economy tanks. It really feels like “comply in advance” in disguise. Or maybe, to reference an old favorite, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
But you must insulate yourself to some extent, because you can’t resist tyranny if you’re paralyzed by fear. So, I say, stay informed, compartmentalize it, have a chat with Beorn about how terrible everything and everyone are, because you know he absolutely agrees with you but won’t make suggestions. Then have a chat with Josh about how terrible everything and everyone are, and plan for your worst case scenario. That plan will likely involve your community and creativity. But it does not involve cutting off reality.
What a said. It takes a lot of privilege to be able to ignore everything, and even then you start going down the “First they came for” poem and suddenly you’re no longer privileged. (“But I was not trans… But I was not a person of color… “)
RE: What to do, we’re going to be asking our blog readership to help us update our Activism tab for this round. Before then, 5calls.org is an amazing resource if you haven’t seen that. I’ve been trying to do my activism outside of work hours and sort of dissociate from the greater world while at work (which is a little difficult when I’m teaching since even my methods class gets affected by this stuff).
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