David HoTBH, this seems worse than having the road blocked by climate activists for a few minutes.
Jacquelyn Gill@davidho I think that's a false dichotomy. I think we can make better activist choices that target bad actors with clear messages. Blocking ambulances and people trying to do school pickups or get to parole meetings or come home after working shit jobs where they're dehumanized all day doesn't build solidarity. Especially with helicopters for the rich.
Gwladys Pendlebury@JacquelynGill @davidho If you protest an issue for decades and there is no public awareness and no media attention and in the case of climate change we are at a tipping point and in the case of BLM there is no change and in fact the Dem president decides to give more funds to the police, what is the next step? continue quietly while being ignored, give up and let wait for the day you can say I told you so, or disrupt in hopes of getting media attention? What?
anlomedad@GwladysPendlebury
Ja. Was waiting for someone in this conver to make that exact point:
the people in the cars are the ones who need to loudly demand change. So activists targeting them while The People are not loudly demanding change but quietly going about their fossil biz as usual, is precisely the right way.
Don't forget: the activist groups do not have billions of dollars to rent permanent billboards across the whole country for getting climate context across to the willingly-ignorant and willingly-quiet people.
There is no other way anymore. The People need to be shaken awake, out of their normalcy bias ( good explainer what normalcy bias is: https://jessicawildfire.substack.com/p/its-not-cool-to-overreact-how-normalcy)
"
GET OUT! NOW!
"
And their momentary anger is a good emotional prop to anchor a climate context in their mind.
They need to take to the streets on a weekly basis, like in GDR from May to November 1989. Only then we get a chance for required change to happen.
So join the activists and do road blocks!!
@anlomedad @JacquelynGill @davidho wow. Thank you for this. As I almost always do, I decided to go to Google scholar to check out normal bias to see if this was some new made up thing, because I had never heard of it. There are dozens of articles and so much research on it, going back years. Most shocking to me is that this along with other biases rings true in my own past behaviors and what I’ve seen in others. Very enlightening.
@GwladysPendlebury
scholar-google is my best friend, too.
In the blog post on normalcy bias above, the author gives the example of the woman in one of the twin towers on 9/11.
I picture her, how she, after the planes have hit, still potters around the big office, maybe starts copying something for her boss... because what has just happened and what she therefore must do now is SO outside her usual reality that she can't compute an adequate reaction.
Until someone YELLS at her:
Out !! NOW !!!!
Very powerful picture to illustrate normalcy bias, isn't it.
I never quite got the meme with the dog drinking coffee while the room around him is in flames. Until I read the blog on normalcy bias.
@JacquelynGill @davidho
@anlomedad @JacquelynGill @davidho Yes. When I hear an alarm, my first reaction is to see what other people think, is it real or are they testing the system? I always thought of myself as acting quickly and being a do-er in panic situations, but after reading, I act if there is a small group, but if there is a large group with lots of authoritative type figures, especially men, I muddle. Our cognitive and social biases have strong constraints.
@GwladysPendlebury @anlomedad @davidho We have fantastic data on public awareness of climate change in the US at a highly granular level. A strong majority of Americans are now Alarmed or Concerned about climate change. What they need are 1) pathways to act, and 2) action from leadership.
I've been a climate scientists and an activist for a long time. Normalcy bias isn't the problem, and blocking traffic for 90 min. isn't the solution, in my opinion.
@GwladysPendlebury @anlomedad @davidho I'd love to see more coalition-building, more targeted protests at billionaires and the FF industry to erode their social license to operate, more local capacity building to give people access to better options, more activism targeted towards decision-makers. Sadly, that takes more work, and isn't as cathartic, but it's where the real action happens.
@GwladysPendlebury @anlomedad @davidho We can look to past and present movements (e.g., labor, social justice) and science communication leadership here -- we know what works. I'm not saying protest doesn't (it's a fantastic tool, when applied well), but it should be well-targeted with clear goals. In fact, there's a lot of research that shows that blocking traffic damages support for movements. Maybe we should pay attention to that?
@GwladysPendlebury @anlomedad @davidho In my experience, and this is also supported by research, targeting corporations and decision-makers is far more effective. Giving the public a clear understanding of who the villains are, and how they can help, grows awareness. Creating solidarity with other groups grows movements.
I'm personally interested in growing effective movements more than catharsis.
Thanks for the thoughtful conversation.
@JacquelynGill @anlomedad @davidho I agree, targeting corporations does work, and it has worked in the past. Strikes and walkouts work great, but that doesn’t work in the case of climate change, blm or abortion. Unfortunately monopolies, especially global ones and ones supported by several government can’t be targeted in the same way as a local and contained businesses.
@JacquelynGill @anlomedad @davidho yes we can look to previous movements, and most of the big ones which overturned monarchies, obtained freedom from oppressive dictatorships, sought freedom from colonialialism all included protests, conflicted with police and/or military, and even heaven forbid, blocked roads. Of course there were conservative objections, demonization of protests and activism, because they don’t want to give up profit or power.
@GwladysPendlebury
Don't forget how the civil rights movement in the 60s "blocked" diner bars and seats in buses.
Those activists targeted the general population with disruptive action.
In Jacquelyn's opinion they should not have done that, and instead, only protested in front of government buildings or similar.
The citizens in the general population need such triggers to get the problem to the forefront in their minds, and eventually, to some percentage, maybe <= 10% like 1989, really increase the pressure on decision makers.
Like the whites in 1960s USA, citizens today do not feel affected by the problem. Hence, they delegate the problem to someone else, and maybe give advice to activists how to better make use of sparse resources and time.
Sitting at the bar in a diner, or in the forbidden bus seat, or in the blocked road makes the topic less ignor-able. That's the only way to eventually increase the number of activists.
Again: only 1000 international scientists rebels... imagine that... the crème de la crème of international intelligentsia, and only 1000 have made climate change their own personal problem and only 1000 see it as their personal job to increase the pressure on decision makers.
And not a single scientist at AGU conference identified the job Peter Kalmus was doing on stage as their own personal job.
They didn't even protest when Kalmus' research was culled from the conference.
Lol.
They're all drinking coffee in the burning lounge and are all delegating the problem to someone else...
That's normalcy bias.