But we have to do _something!_

No long-winded post this time, just a quick rant. It’s loosely related to my article about CISPA, but also applies to many other discussions that I have had in the past, in particular with regard to activism.

Every time you say that “well, we have to do something!” in response to someone criticizing your course of action, you should ask yourself: Are you really trying to reach a goal, or just trying to make you feel good about yourself?

While the above may sound a bit harsh, it seems that many people follow through with inefficient (or even counter-productive!) actions, just so they can convince themselves that they are “changing the world”. Whether they are actually changing the world is irrelevant – as long as they can convince themselves that they are.

What you should be doing when your course of action is criticized is not stubbornly continuing with it. Instead, you should stop, consider the criticism that is given, and if it seems to be even remotely valid, reconsider what you are doing. Be honest to yourself! As long as you are busy with some kind of action, you will be unable to think about how to improve it.

Often, it’s much better to just do nothing, and spend your newly gained time and effort on finding a better way.

I’m tired of this protest-the-next-lettersoup-bill shit.

Right on schedule, a new scandal has surfaced; CISPA. By now it has been passed by the house of representatives. Another blackout operation is underway, blacking out websites voluntarily to protest the new bill, much like what was done with SOPA. And I’m not going to take part in it – or in any other protests around CISPA, for that matter.

Why not? Consider what has been going on for the past few years. Every so many months, a new scandalous internet-related bill surfaces, with a different acronym to represent it, and slightly different wording. Every so many months, Demand Progress or a similar entity sets up a petition against it. Every so many months, the media reports on it. Every so many months, so much protest is sparked that it is eventually binned.

Only to reappear two months later.

Try approaching the bigger picture. Try challenging people to explain just why these bills keep reappearing. Try to have a constructive conversation, with as goal to establish a plan to kill these things for good. You’ll quickly hit dismissive responses, even hostility and defensiveness. The political system is fine, it’s just this one last bill that we have to get rid of, and the sun will be shining and the waters clear. Corruption doesn’t exist, there’s no need to consider changing the way government works.

I’m sick and tired of this shit. I’m sick and tired of getting bothered every few months with yet another desperate plea for help to please stop this horrible thing, only to be met with total disinterest when attempting to discuss what really has to be done to fix the situation. I’m sick and tired of this endless loop of wanting to do just enough activism to make it disappear from the surface, and to stop caring immediately afterwards. I’m sick and tired of wasting my breath on a mass of people that doesn’t want to fix society, but just wants the illusion that society has been fixed. I’d much rather spend my time on something more useful to society.

You’re on your own.

UPDATE: Turns out Maddox has written about this problem as well.