LogFAQs > #973162002

I mean even the civil rights movement went too far in things like certain violent acts of the black panthers. But when we look back at history at good movements we tend to just omit the parts that everybody recognizes in retrospect were not good parts.

Things aren't "good guys with no bad points" vs "bad guys with no good points". That's just a lazy way to live and view the world.

I gotta say, for some people on the internet it seems like this isn't about helping anyone or anything but just "feeling good you are on the right side of history." And sorry to break it to you, but actual activism seldom feels good. Some people act like they are "just like the people who marched in Selma" even though those people faced real risks, sometimes went to prison, and like also just didn't sit behind a computer all day.

I doubt MLK spent most of his time and energy just feeling smug as fuck about how "ahead of the times" he was. He didn't spend all his time and energy calling everybody else a bigot, even though the types of bigotry he put up with are 1000x times worse than what gets called bigotry these days. Instead real activist leaders like him fought and caused measurable real world change. And still, I see a lot of people doing nothing tangible to actually improve the world but also clearly just feeling like just the greatest person in history about how ahead of the times they are.

Actual activism is hard work where you meet obstacles and cause measurable change in reality, it's not typing at home feeling good about how much better you are than the "evil bigots" of the world.

That's not activism that's self-indulgence. And some people should learn the difference if they want to actually help the world improve.

I doubt this will get through to anybody. But if it causes somebody to take pause, I'll consider that a win. Put simply, and sorry to burst the self-congratulation bubble here:
Real activism is hard work and doesn't feel great. What many people here who applaud themselves for "being on the right side of history" are doing is literally nothing more than vain self-indulgence.