To #normalizenothing

For a long time, I’ve been deeply interested in the notion of radical change. What constitutes it? What spurs it? What is the threshold writ large between ripples of change (however meaningful they might be) and massive, earth-shattering waves of change?

Can we just attribute those waves to the “natural cycles” of history (the theory that we’re due for some productive entropy, catharsis, and change every few decades)? Is it the work of a larger-than-life person who acts with courage, wisdom, grace, without fear, and fights for what he/she knows is right and just, and in doing so, inspires others to do the same? Is it what social philosopher Herbert Marcuse described in One-Dimensional Man as the recognition of a “disharmony between the individual and the social needs, and the lack of representative institutions in which the individuals work for themselves and speak for themselves?” Or is it alternatively an earth-shattering event, much like the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that prompts people everywhere to choose “between hell and reason” (Camus), to begin thinking ‘dangerous thoughts’ about…resistance, rebellion, and the fraternity of all men everywhere” (Macdonald)?

In San Francisco (and elsewhere, to be certain), we live in an echo chamber (ever more reverberant given social media). We share, we sympathize, we affirm, and we confirm one another’s ideas and ideals, perhaps with minor points of disagreement along the way. Consequently, it’s easy, wedded as we are to our own paradigms and institutions, to [perhaps unknowingly] become self-reinforcing instruments of these institutions. The institutions themselves might be harmful (at worst), neutral or somewhat effective, or effective and deeply humane (at best), but history has cyclically instructed us in the immense value of relentless questioning — perhaps what we could call a constant vigilance to discern and to call out the very “disharmony” that Marcuse powerfully describes.

What does it mean to #normalizenothing? On the level of a hashtag, it signifies a common consciousness, a constant vigilance, a commitment to identifying intolerance and inhumanity as such if/when we bear witness to it.

On a grander scale, I’m not quite sure yet, other than that I’d like to start with some reading and sharing of ideas. Like lots of other Americans (look to the results of the popular vote if you need proof) and global citizens the world over, I’m still reeling from the events of this past week — to be certain, not the election results (Trump’s victory didn’t surprise me all that much, though it did shatter my expectations around what I held, in 2016, to be universal standards for basic moral decency, or rather what constitutes enough of an indecency for a voter to disavow him/herself of a particular candidate), but the blatant and disgusting displays of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance, seemingly unfettered. Our President-elect, demonstrating none of the dignity that would befit a world leader, has not so much as disparaged or decried the acts of vandalism and intolerance that have been reported around the country, instead calling the protests taking place in our urban centers “unfair” (in the unabashed spirit of a petulant teenager on social media) and belatedly telling the bigots among us to “stop it” (nothing more).

In this collaborative effort (perhaps just a reading group at first, and hopefully something more after that), I’m not interested in party lines, partially because I don’t associate with either of the mainline political parties, partially because I don’t believe that this election was fought or won along party lines, and partially because thinkers and activists across the political continuum can and should unify and contribute to efforts to fight the hatred, intolerance, bigotry, and misunderstandings that fester among us. In his 1945 essay (written when much of the world was reeling from the inhumanities of World War II), Dwight Macdonald noted the dangers of normalizing the violence that had torn major swaths of the developed world to shreds, “reveal[ing] how inhuman our normal life ha[d] become.”

This is less about politics (we will not be constrained by the structures that be) than it is about the *political, moral, and deeply human exigencies of our times*, of the need to put our surfeit of energy, passion, and good intentions to work to advance justice, reason, and our common humanity, to rebuke the hatred, intolerance, and invective spewed in our midst, to make second-nature a common and constant vigilance, to #normalizenothing. I will not be silent, I will not stand down, I will not be told to “calm down,” whether about a seemingly inconsequential Tweet (social media is the currency of our times and thus is consequential) or a political appointment. I plan to stand tall and to speak up whenever I even remotely suspect that reason, justice, and our common humanity are at risk.

So, let’s get to work. I’ll follow up in the next few days with some suggested reading on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and other grassroots organizations that spurred profound change during the 1960s. I hope that we can together draw some valuable lessons and methodologies from these readings and thus powerfully direct our energies toward fighting hatred, intolerance, and bigotry in all forms, not just when they rear their ugly heads, but at their very core.

Sources:

Macdonald, Dwight. “The Bomb.” Politics August/September 1945.

Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964.