Things I learned from activism
3 min read
- Obvious, but your career choice is probably the most important impactful thing you do in this world. See how to start to know more.
- The Diminishing returns effect: if there are already 200 lobbyists for animals in your parliament, the 201 will probably not make such a big difference. But if there are zero lobbyists and you can be the first one, that could be very effective
- You're riding the wave, activism for animals is going great? Don't think it is going to last. The natural force of society is working against you, especially if your activism is more "radical" --> less evolutionary friendly. The decline of the Israeli animal rights movement taught me that I am too optimistic; the society doesn't have an incentive to become more moral for a group that has zero political power (and depend only on us). The fight for animals is totally different than the fight for human groups, and the arc of the moral universe is long, and it is not necessarily bending towards justice
- Always prepare for rainy days, and remember outside circumstances are very influential as well. A startup CEO once told me ~“Sometimes it’s a bit depressing. The valuation of our startup fluctuates very rapidly because of global changes, and it often feels like my own work, whether I have an amazing month or a terrible one, has less to do with the company’s valuation than those external forces”
- People are enchanted by contradictions. Give them something that doesn't fit, that keeps the rules but breaks them, and it will blow their mind. You need to surprise them, in a way that doesn't align with what they expect. It's like with music; in order to be enjoyable, the next chord needs to be surprising, but usually not too surprising
- Gary Yourofsky's viral lecture about the torture of factory farming and veganism was the single most influential act to bring people to activism and veganism in Israel. I think one of the reasons for its success was that veganism "doesn't fit" with macho figures like Gary. It seemed contradictory. If you put his speech on mute and only look at his rhetoric and performance, you can think he's promoting meat. Same is true for this Israeli investigative show host
- Think community, think Glocal, think you are part of the world's leading directors working for the most oppressed, biggest groups
- Enhance cooperation among activists is extremely important. Always be a friend to the whole community, invest time in helping the whole community, at the expense of your own work. How much community helping time do you do every week? Every activist, whether new or veteran, needs to feel a red carpet is rolling out beneath his feet. I also used to think a Central Knowledge hub for the Animal Advocacy Movement is essential, but I became doubtful about that
- Mitigating infighting is crucial. It was one of the leading causes to the decline of the Israeli animal rights movement
- We need to tell many more individual stories, and there are many ways to do so. I spoke about it in this EA forum post: Are We Leaving the Individual Behind? The Role of Animal Storytelling in the Animal Rights Movement, and in this lecture about Animal voices on AVA, the animal rights biggest yearly conference held in the US.
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