An Interesting Fiesty Comment, “Never Enough” Activism, and the Derailing Technique
Hi guys,
I hope you are having a great holiday wherever you are.
I got a comment today you can read in my Are Vans Vegan? post, that was written in a very feisty way…which I liked…I love comment action…basically saying it’s stupid to buy vegan shoes from companies that are not ethical companies…because “Last I understood (being a Vegan and all), Veganism isn’t about slavishly avoiding animal products only. It’s about not contributing to the suffering of other sentient life in general….”
This commenter was like, you should care about the working conditions of the people in the factories etc etc.
Ok ok, though I never defined vegan that way, but he has an interesting point. It would be cool to be even more careful with what you put your $ towards and make a bigger difference for animals.
It got me on a train of thinking. Reevaluating what I am doing by refusing to wear leather, wool, silk, and eat animal products. Wondering how effective this all is… I wonder whether it makes any difference. I should do more. Or something more effective. Or nothing.
There probably is something more effective I could be doing. But I’m not really sure what.
Some people are doing way more effective things than me…like making films like The Ghosts in the Machine, doing national campaigns and demonstrations like PETA, and other awesome animal orgs.
However, then I thought of this great quote I read on one of my favorite blogs DanceswithFat which has majorly changed my life. (it’s about size acceptance and Health at Every Size. If you are dieting or worrying about your weight, you GOT to check it out. It may change your life too).
She talks about “never enough” activism–a common trap people fall into where you think what you are doing is too minor and not good enough ….she also describes what she calls the derailing technique where people try to convince you that what you are doing isn’t good enough.
Don’t worry if what you are doing is small she says. “It’s nobody’s job to address every problem that exists – none of us can do everything, but everyone who wants to can do something,” she writes.
A lot of little things added up…can make a big difference. Profound, I know.
Don’t feel guilty if you aren’t changing the world in one fell swoop through your actions. If you want to get involved in activism, get involved. Don’t feel the need to be Atlas, supporting the world on your shoulders. A little support, a little help, however much you want to do…is great, is enough. If you want to do more, the more HEROISM to you…
Well she says it so much better than me…so read the quote:
The derailing technique [is something] that people use when they say that you shouldn’t work on this problem because there are other problems… it’s something that happens to almost anyone who tries to make a change in the world or address a problem. People who do animal rescue are chided that they could be helping people. People who help starving adults are chided that they could help starving children. As I said in the segment, the fact that there are other problems does not negate the fact that this thing is also a problem. This is an extension of what I call “never enough” activism – the idea that no matter what you do it will never be good enough. In this version we are told that we shouldn’t try to solve a problem that we are passionate about because there are other, bigger problems in the world. This goes wrong because if we decide that we are all only going to work on the biggest problem, then what will actually happen is that we will spend all of our time arguing about what the biggest problem is. Also, let’s remember that the “bigger problems” may well be bigger because people were told that they shouldn’t bother to address them when they were small.
I’m telling you this by way of saying that I hope that if you want to get involved with activism you will pick a change, or a problem, that you are passionate about and work on that, whether by leading work or joining work. I hope that you will not be dissuaded by those who try to tell you that your best isn’t good enough or that your problem isn’t big enough. It’s nobody’s job to address every problem that exists – none of us can do everything, but everyone who wants to can do something.
I struggle with this myself (in the “I’m not doing enough” sense) and with other people (“why are you helping animals when people need help?”), so I appreciate you addressing it. It’s nice to know other vegans wrestle with these same thoughts.
It reminds me of the story of the boy and the sea stars. Thousands of sea stars are washed up on shore, and a little boy goes up to one and throws it back in the water. Then he throws a second one in, then a third. An old man comes up to him and says “There are too many. You can’t make a difference.” And the little boy throws a fourth one back in and says “I just made a difference for that one.” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get the gist!)
Every little bit we can do, for any living thing, is a step in the right direction.
P.S. Love your blog. xo
Thanks Jen. Totally. I love this quote and it really is a tricky question. I feel the reason the “derailing technique” is so effective is it really does prey on our insecurities that we could be doing more and that think we SHOULD be doing more–like we are ashamed not to be. It’s deep, for sure. It’s hard to accept that doing just a little bit can make a difference. Like many vegans together can start a movemement. The story about the starfish is really true. I used to do this with worms when I was little. They would all crawl onto my driveway when it rained and as soon as the sun came up they’d start to die. Me and my sister would race around trying to throw as many back into the grass as possible before they dried up. It matters to the worm! Totally. I still do this when i see a worm on the street–peeps must think I’m really gross picking up a worm as I walk along, but whatever.