I'm glad to see so many experts on activism here. I'm sure you're all very experienced in that field, and know what's best for Neven and this community. With all these climate change protests erupting lately, you must really get a chance to practice your work. Telling me and other young people:
"hey,easy there kids. make sure you don't get angry. Don't resort to tribalism. Take some time and listen to the democrats and republicans too. I know it sucks that my generation robbed you of your future, but just make sure you maintain decorum"
I'm also happy in the insistence that we need to give people like Bob and Rob a platform. Their neoliberal agenda is already supported by mainstream media, governments, corporations, and the majority of westerners. they have a monopoly on narrative and discourse, and they are well equipped to silence dissent. What are we accomplishing by giving neoliberals another avenue for propaganda? Unless... our goal is to maintain the status quo
Zizek, I'm sure I'm not much older than you, and I am involved with more than a couple of climate change activist groups currently. I understand your rage; I feel a ton of resentment at being unable to become an adult in many ways, because doing so would require me to buy into a system that I know is destroying so much. I live a life of uncertainty that is often very lonely, and riddled with despair.
That said, right now rage -- though useful to some degree -- is not enough. There will be no revolution, and it's unlikely that a revolution would solve our problems. What older folk do have -- even if they sometimes fail to see what seems obvious -- is an understanding of how difficult it is to change things. China, India and Vladimir Putin are all obstacles to a different world, just as the U.S. BAU model is. There are nothing but massive challenges. There are no quick solutions; we're in serious trouble, quite obviously. Yelling at people online does nothing to move us closer to any of our goals, all it does is threaten to undermine one of the more important climate change related sites on the internet.
Sure, maybe it's important to be loud. But maybe focus on getting young people out and loud in the streets? On this forum, I almost think it's more useful to tell someone like a Rob about your personal story, just as he shared his (which has obviously influenced him greatly). Maybe once the older generation starts hearing what it's like for us, why we feel so angry, they will begin to understand that there's more wrong than they might want to think. Rather than raging on about something happening half way around the world, (which after all we don't know about first hand and often comes down to whose testimony we believe), why not say, "look, I can't even begin to start thinking about having a family. I feel like I'm in a state of war but I don't even have an enemy to shoot at. I have no agency, except when there is an election, but none of the candidates come anywhere close to understanding what it is we are hoping for. etc etc" This will do a lot more than a JD rant, perhaps. At least it can't do less.
And if you really care about change, then efficacy should be your main concern, above being right, or righteous.
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