What We Can Learn From The Arrogance Of Advocacy

Sometimes we feel so strongly about something, we think all we have to do is tell and show others and they’ll agree with it — and then do something. When they aren’t so quick to come along, we think we’ve failed. Then we’re tempted to get discouraged.

The Arrogance of Advocacy can really get in the way of getting things done.

Consider the article We’ve Already Reached the Tipping Point on Global Warming. I’ve Seen It by Camille Seaman. Its take-home message has applicability to virtually any situation where someone sees a problem obviously in need of attention, and then sets out to convince others.

Ms. Seaman went to within 500 miles of the North Pole and saw that things were not as they should be: There was no snow. Polar bears, deprived of their normal aquatic diet, were roaming around, raiding the nests of birds who had flown thousands of miles to lay them. The author took and published some photos, presumably expecting an outpouring of outrage and then — what? Some remedial action, perhaps? When it didn’t happen, she proclaimed that she had “failed as a photographer.”

At first reading, it seems like a simple, sincere plea for the rest of us to stand up for the environment. But a closer reading reveals an awakening in the author as she found there was something wrong with her attitude and tone. In her words you can hear her beginning to question her own assumptions about how to convince others of something about which she feels passionately, and a dawning realization that it was going to take more than a show-and-tell to get people working together to untangle the intricate web of problems presented by climate change:

“I do continue to photograph the beauty and wonder of this planet, but with no expectation that my images alone can or will change anything. I have increased my vocabulary of communication. I have expanded my definition of what it means to be a citizen of Earth — this place that gives us everything and asks for so little. Each one of has a personal decision to make. What does it mean to be an Earthling? What duty or responsibility do we hold ourselves to in service of this planet?”

We would all do well to keep this in mind: With any initiative, you have to start — not with your desire to convert others to your point of view — but by acknowledging your kinship with others who may have their own thoughts and feelings that might conflict with your own. What do they need and want? Is there a way to help them get it — or part of it — and reconcile that with what you want to accomplish?

To move forward — to make progress — we have to “increase our vocabulary of communication” to reflect a recognition of how our own concerns relate to those of other people.