You’ve Got the Power

From the Daily Stoic:

The line from George Bernard Shaw was that “all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” He isn’t wrong. The reasonable man bends himself to the world, because he insists to himself that the world is this way for a reason. The unreasonable man does not accept that and tries–sometimes with futility, sometimes with success–to bend the world to his will.

IMO, the reason most people bend themselves to this world, rather than the other way around, isn’t a belief that the world is this way for a reason, but a feeling of impotence. Many people feel bad about issues of environmental or social injustice, poverty and the like, but they consider themselves powerless to do anything about it.  And, interestingly, this is precisely what empowers evil.

If that last statement sounds fallacious, imagine some form of evil, say the Koch brothers’ investing countless fortunes into confusing the general public about climate change, to enable the ongoing profit from the sale of fossil fuels.  Now, let’s imagine that we live in a vigorous, informed democracy, where the vast majority of people call BS on this.  How effective do you think it would be? How long do you think it would last?

Keep in mind what Henry Kissinger said about the war in Vietnam: “If it weren’t for the outrage of the common American, we’d still be there.”

Never underestimate the power of your voice.