The Entangled Activist

"An angry activist isn't easy to listen to, and for years I made dinner table conversation unbearable. Like many other progressive activists I would preach tolerance of all diversity...except for those with whom I disagreed. And people felt that judgment, reacting against the person who made them feel bad: me, 'the activist.' Students of sociology and political psychology know that we are prone to form group identities in opposition to each other, so an activist, speaking as an activist, may close down the very conversations they want to have. This matters because activism matters." 

Anthea Lawson is the author of The Entangled Activist, and a former hard-hitting campaigner who learned to view her work in a new light when she realized how activism is often entangled in the problems it seeks to solve.

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