I will not be writing about the origins of America’s need for resistance today. I refuse to be one more voice to add to the noise of reasons to be afraid, anxious or angry. I am tired of the continual tendency of media to diagnose a problem with their various labels, without offering any potential solutions or plans of action. The plans of action have all come from the people.
From economic blackouts to bipartisan protests and marches, resistance is happening seemingly everywhere. It’s taking up space in our social media feeds, news outlets and our collective consciousness. With the constant current of new information about political failures and the need for a defense of democracy, as well as plans of action to get involved, it can feel paralyzing and discomposing. In the desire to resist, it is easy to find oneself in complete overload.
I’ve written on “news overload” before, in an article with that title, give it a read if you want some neuroscientists’ opinions on the problem. Generally speaking though, resistance feels like one big balancing game. It’s like walking the tightrope, juggling our desire to be informed, be a part of the resistance movements, while maintaining all of the other mundane difficulties of day-to-day life. We need a model. The good news is, people have resisted injustice and political corruption for millennia. We might have something to learn from them.
In turning to those who have done this kind of resistance before (for me this has primarily been Civil Rights and Appalachian labor movement leaders and various anti-authoritarian resistors), I’ve noticed consistent themes in the most successful resistance movements. These themes form a kind of model: education, action, rest and joy.
Each of these four pieces keep one another in check, and when we find ourselves overwhelmed it’s pretty easy to notice which one of our four pillars is lacking and which one might be taking up too much of our time and energy. To adopt this model, we first have to come to terms with two facts. We are human beings with limited ability. We cannot read, watch or do absolutely everything we may want to. The sooner we come to terms with this, the sooner we can adopt sustainable courses of action. Second, resistance takes sacrifice. Our time, our energy, sometimes our reputation. This does not mean that we become martyrs for the sake of it or that we neglect our fundamental needs. Political turmoil thrives off of keeping people at the end of their rope. Maintaining well-being and sanity is resistance in and of itself.
The first piece of advice I’ve come across is not historical: doomscrolling is not education. Amanda Miller Littlejohn writes about this in her Forbes article “How to Stop ‘Doomscrolling’ And Stay Informed Without Burning Out.” But even without doomscrolling, the sheer number of rights and ideals under threat makes education overwhelming.
Something that I’ve gleaned from predecessors in resistance is to gather with those around you who are also trying to resist. With our human limits, we cannot educate ourselves and take action on every single issue. By creating a community, individuals can take charge of different topics for education and action – one person keeps up to date with immigration, another with the economy, another with voting rights, etc. It may also be helpful to take the advice the New York Times columnist David French gave when he came to Asbury: “Find the three smartest people who disagree with you – and listen to them.” Be challenged in your ideas, even if just to understand the logic and motivations behind the things you fight against. Your education cannot be one-sided.
Make sure in your assignment of roles that you focus on those that need the most protection, those worse off than yourself. Care for “the least of these” not only the issues that individually affect you and those in your network. Sometimes this may mean putting your own neck on the line for those with the most to lose.
By dividing the responsibility, not only do you have a better chance of avoiding overload, but you dig deeper into relationship and human connection, forming a network that helps fight that feeling of standing alone against the world as it crumbles.
Community and relationship should not be limited to the world of political action though. In comes one of the other pillars of resistance: joy. Mia Birdsong writes on the role of joy in resistance in her book “How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship and Community.” She says, “Joy is a birthright. It’s a practice as much as it can be an experience… In a culture built on extraction and the commodification of people, labor, and time, marginalized people’s acts of joy are a form of rebellion and a deep affirmation of life, love, creativity, connectedness, and spirit – and it’s also healing.”
Hand in hand with joy is rest. Rest physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Keep the sabbath, meditate, turn off the notifications that are going to tell you the same thing: there’s a new problem.
Keeping joy and rest amidst chaos can feel like a luxury. When kept in check with education and action though, it allows us to embody the world we desire to create. A world that prioritizes people, relationship and wellbeing. It keeps us from action that just serves as a Band-Aid over current issues and pushes us toward a broader vision, reminding us not only what we’re fighting against, but what we’re fighting for.
Joy can come in many forms. Have dinner with friends and loved ones, go on a morning walk, read Wendell Berry, sing your hymns and praises even louder from the pews. Just know that even when the world feels like it is falling apart, your joy is worthwhile.
People have resisted before, and it has worked. The forces we are fighting against want us to be uninformed, paralyzed and miserable. So, we will be educated, active and full of joy and life despite our world telling us we have no reason to be.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
A Model for Resistance
I will not be writing about the origins of America’s need for resistance today. I refuse to be one more voice to add to the noise of reasons to be afraid, anxious or angry. I am tired of the continual tendency of media to diagnose a problem with their various labels, without offering any potential solutions or plans of action. The plans of action have all come from the people.
From economic blackouts to bipartisan protests and marches, resistance is happening seemingly everywhere. It’s taking up space in our social media feeds, news outlets and our collective consciousness. With the constant current of new information about political failures and the need for a defense of democracy, as well as plans of action to get involved, it can feel paralyzing and discomposing. In the desire to resist, it is easy to find oneself in complete overload.
I’ve written on “news overload” before, in an article with that title, give it a read if you want some neuroscientists’ opinions on the problem. Generally speaking though, resistance feels like one big balancing game. It’s like walking the tightrope, juggling our desire to be informed, be a part of the resistance movements, while maintaining all of the other mundane difficulties of day-to-day life. We need a model. The good news is, people have resisted injustice and political corruption for millennia. We might have something to learn from them.
In turning to those who have done this kind of resistance before (for me this has primarily been Civil Rights and Appalachian labor movement leaders and various anti-authoritarian resistors), I’ve noticed consistent themes in the most successful resistance movements. These themes form a kind of model: education, action, rest and joy.
Each of these four pieces keep one another in check, and when we find ourselves overwhelmed it’s pretty easy to notice which one of our four pillars is lacking and which one might be taking up too much of our time and energy. To adopt this model, we first have to come to terms with two facts. We are human beings with limited ability. We cannot read, watch or do absolutely everything we may want to. The sooner we come to terms with this, the sooner we can adopt sustainable courses of action. Second, resistance takes sacrifice. Our time, our energy, sometimes our reputation. This does not mean that we become martyrs for the sake of it or that we neglect our fundamental needs. Political turmoil thrives off of keeping people at the end of their rope. Maintaining well-being and sanity is resistance in and of itself.
The first piece of advice I’ve come across is not historical: doomscrolling is not education. Amanda Miller Littlejohn writes about this in her Forbes article “How to Stop ‘Doomscrolling’ And Stay Informed Without Burning Out.” But even without doomscrolling, the sheer number of rights and ideals under threat makes education overwhelming.
Something that I’ve gleaned from predecessors in resistance is to gather with those around you who are also trying to resist. With our human limits, we cannot educate ourselves and take action on every single issue. By creating a community, individuals can take charge of different topics for education and action – one person keeps up to date with immigration, another with the economy, another with voting rights, etc. It may also be helpful to take the advice the New York Times columnist David French gave when he came to Asbury: “Find the three smartest people who disagree with you – and listen to them.” Be challenged in your ideas, even if just to understand the logic and motivations behind the things you fight against. Your education cannot be one-sided.
Make sure in your assignment of roles that you focus on those that need the most protection, those worse off than yourself. Care for “the least of these” not only the issues that individually affect you and those in your network. Sometimes this may mean putting your own neck on the line for those with the most to lose.
By dividing the responsibility, not only do you have a better chance of avoiding overload, but you dig deeper into relationship and human connection, forming a network that helps fight that feeling of standing alone against the world as it crumbles.
Community and relationship should not be limited to the world of political action though. In comes one of the other pillars of resistance: joy. Mia Birdsong writes on the role of joy in resistance in her book “How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship and Community.” She says, “Joy is a birthright. It’s a practice as much as it can be an experience… In a culture built on extraction and the commodification of people, labor, and time, marginalized people’s acts of joy are a form of rebellion and a deep affirmation of life, love, creativity, connectedness, and spirit – and it’s also healing.”
Freedom of speech and how the Internet is doing it wrong
Hand in hand with joy is rest. Rest physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Keep the sabbath, meditate, turn off the notifications that are going to tell you the same thing: there’s a new problem.
Keeping joy and rest amidst chaos can feel like a luxury. When kept in check with education and action though, it allows us to embody the world we desire to create. A world that prioritizes people, relationship and wellbeing. It keeps us from action that just serves as a Band-Aid over current issues and pushes us toward a broader vision, reminding us not only what we’re fighting against, but what we’re fighting for.
Joy can come in many forms. Have dinner with friends and loved ones, go on a morning walk, read Wendell Berry, sing your hymns and praises even louder from the pews. Just know that even when the world feels like it is falling apart, your joy is worthwhile.
People have resisted before, and it has worked. The forces we are fighting against want us to be uninformed, paralyzed and miserable. So, we will be educated, active and full of joy and life despite our world telling us we have no reason to be.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.