"First they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,
then they fight you,
then you win."
[Quote frequently misattributed to Mohandas Gandhi]
The quote above is burned in my mind, though I only recently learned of the fact that it's likely misattributed. Gandhi never said it, or at least not quite the way that is so often quoted. It is a rough paraphrasing of things he wrote when discussing the idea of "Satyagraha", a Sanskrit compound word combining satya ("truth") and agraha ("polite insistence", or "holding firmly to"). Ideas about non-violence as a path to social and political reform always find firm footing with me: a key element in Taoism is 'overcoming through acquiescence'. If that sounds silly, go ahead and laugh. It's important someone does.
The quote was adopted by both the Sanders and Drumpf campaigns in US presidential race, but horribly out of context from what I can see. Gandhi isn't talking about your average schmuck, and he's not talking about someone facing an average challenge. He's talking about the oppressed and the marginalized. He's speaking to the struggle for equality and for freedom. He's talking about a struggle that is daily, not periodic. And he's saying violent revolution is not required, because in the end, sooner or later, the truth always wins. So "hold firmly to the truth", and trust that it will win.
That fact that I have a skeptical mind and a tendency to rant about things from time to time, lends itself to an overall impression that I'm a very cynical person. But I feel I'm not, really. I'm actually a pretty positive person much of the time, at least inside my head. It's not rose-coloured glasses, to be sure, but I try to maintain a very balanced outlook on life. I'm usually pretty happy with my life these days. I hold hope for the future.
It's hard to maintain a balanced outlook sometimes, what with all that's going on with the American elections, with BlackLivesMatter, with the struggles of trans folk of which I'm now much more keenly aware.
That quote, however, is the thing that springs to mind for me, and it actually lifts me up. The way I see it is this: if you look back at civil rights movements, what is being described by that quote is a process. It's a repeatable process. It's a repeating process. It's an inevitable process.
First, racial equality wasn't even a discussion. Then it was just lots of "nigger" jokes. Then it's a movement, and people are arguing on both sides. Finally, we see things like the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yes, absolutely there's still issues that still need solving. That part is clear. But my point is that the pattern is there, and progress has certainly been made.
The idea of women's suffrage first wasn't even an idea. Then it was considered a laughable one. Then comes the fighting. Then comes the vote.
In my youth, no one was talking about what "gay" even was at first, and then came the "fag" jokes and Three's Company practically building a whole sitcom around making fun of homosexuals. Next came a decade of arguing over marriage equality, and now, province by province, country by country, things are changing. We're watching as the truth win.
So when the likes of Jordan Peterson... ...let's be clear, I don't even truly consider this political activism, I just think he's an asshole. If I'm introduced as Patrick and I shake your hand and say "please, call me Pat" and you insist on calling me "Mr Constantine" I'm going to think "what a rude douchebag", not "oooh, perhaps he's a clever person making a intellectual statement of some sort".
I digress.
When people like Jordan Peterson fight about so simple a thing as paying someone the effortless courtesy of the pronoun they use, I remember the words attributed to Gandhi, and in doing so, try not to become disheartened or angry.
Because Jordan not ignoring trans people. He's laughing and he's fighting. And so long as he's laughing and fighting, it means things are well on their way. Get ignored. Get laughed at. Get fought. Win.
So you keep fighting, Jordan, because it just means we are getting closer to winning. You're furthering conversation, and making it impossible for people to be ignored.
We need only politely insist on holding to the truth.
The quote was adopted by both the Sanders and Drumpf campaigns in US presidential race, but horribly out of context from what I can see. Gandhi isn't talking about your average schmuck, and he's not talking about someone facing an average challenge. He's talking about the oppressed and the marginalized. He's speaking to the struggle for equality and for freedom. He's talking about a struggle that is daily, not periodic. And he's saying violent revolution is not required, because in the end, sooner or later, the truth always wins. So "hold firmly to the truth", and trust that it will win.
That fact that I have a skeptical mind and a tendency to rant about things from time to time, lends itself to an overall impression that I'm a very cynical person. But I feel I'm not, really. I'm actually a pretty positive person much of the time, at least inside my head. It's not rose-coloured glasses, to be sure, but I try to maintain a very balanced outlook on life. I'm usually pretty happy with my life these days. I hold hope for the future.
It's hard to maintain a balanced outlook sometimes, what with all that's going on with the American elections, with BlackLivesMatter, with the struggles of trans folk of which I'm now much more keenly aware.
That quote, however, is the thing that springs to mind for me, and it actually lifts me up. The way I see it is this: if you look back at civil rights movements, what is being described by that quote is a process. It's a repeatable process. It's a repeating process. It's an inevitable process.
First, racial equality wasn't even a discussion. Then it was just lots of "nigger" jokes. Then it's a movement, and people are arguing on both sides. Finally, we see things like the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Yes, absolutely there's still issues that still need solving. That part is clear. But my point is that the pattern is there, and progress has certainly been made.
The idea of women's suffrage first wasn't even an idea. Then it was considered a laughable one. Then comes the fighting. Then comes the vote.
In my youth, no one was talking about what "gay" even was at first, and then came the "fag" jokes and Three's Company practically building a whole sitcom around making fun of homosexuals. Next came a decade of arguing over marriage equality, and now, province by province, country by country, things are changing. We're watching as the truth win.
So when the likes of Jordan Peterson... ...let's be clear, I don't even truly consider this political activism, I just think he's an asshole. If I'm introduced as Patrick and I shake your hand and say "please, call me Pat" and you insist on calling me "Mr Constantine" I'm going to think "what a rude douchebag", not "oooh, perhaps he's a clever person making a intellectual statement of some sort".
I digress.
When people like Jordan Peterson fight about so simple a thing as paying someone the effortless courtesy of the pronoun they use, I remember the words attributed to Gandhi, and in doing so, try not to become disheartened or angry.
Because Jordan not ignoring trans people. He's laughing and he's fighting. And so long as he's laughing and fighting, it means things are well on their way. Get ignored. Get laughed at. Get fought. Win.
So you keep fighting, Jordan, because it just means we are getting closer to winning. You're furthering conversation, and making it impossible for people to be ignored.
We need only politely insist on holding to the truth.
By the way, you may have noticed that I didn't refer to Gandhi above as "Mahatma". It seems he didn't much care for the honorific "Mahatma".
I think it fair to call him by the name he chose to use.
I think it fair to call him by the name he chose to use.
"Often the title has deeply pained me,
and there is not a moment I can recall
when it may be said to have tickled me."
[Mohandas Gandhi]
