Radical Ideas, Personalities, Dispositions

Interview with Naomi Klein on Salon's Broadsheet



"Believing that every life has equal value" - that this should be a radical idea in our time is sad.

I really admire Naomi Klein, I think everyone should read her books; her writing discusses injustices that I care about.

When I think about these issues, it is sometimes difficult to know how much someone of a melancholy disposition ought to engage with social activism. I cannot imagine how do people who work in this field keep from falling into despair. It's hard to see from this side of the personality divide.

There does seem to be a division between the sort of politically aware person who is motivated by information, who rises to do and who can keep fighting, who is active out in the world. And then there's the sort who turns the big picture over in his head, over and over, who can't take it, who doesn't know what to do and ends up either self destructive or paralyzed.

I suppose the difference is that this sort of person is able to see and do one thing at a time, to accomplish smaller victories in battles against the big "-isms"

What sorts of personality traits does it take to be an activist? I am impressed by people who effect social change, and sometimes struggle to make myself that sort of person. But having lain those burdens down by the riverside, it is less paralyzing to focus and be active in the lives the people around me, instead of abstract global big picture thinking, although interested in social change.

It's tricky to find a balance, not to get snowed under, that's the internal challenge. And the external challenge is practical; how to manage time, how much time to spend doing what. Spending my time writing, in creative pursuit, will not do anything for the world, but it will save my life. So what's important?