Once you do something, others will join you
Have you ever felt you're the only one who cares about some issue? Say
there's a small diner that you and your friends go to. The owner/chef
sometimes likes to come out and say hello. Whenever he does, he makes
rude, sexist, prejudiced comments. You don't say anything, but it really
annoys you. However, since no one else says anything, you assume you're
the only one who feels this way. But say you're the person to the right
of you. He's upset and looks around, but doesn't see anyone, including
you, making any motion. So, he figures he's the only one who feels this
way. It goes around the entire table like this, and no one says
anything. If one person would stand up and say something, everyone else
would be behind her, but no one stand up, so no one does anything. This
is a documented psychological phenomenon called pluralistic ignorance, "a
state in which people mistake each other's beliefs by misinterpreting
their behavior." (Sabini, 1995, p. 40-41.)
Here's an alternate situation. Let's say you finally stand up and say
something. You tell the owner that you don't think he's funny, that you
think he's rude, that he makes you uncomfortable, and that you're
thinking about not coming back. Well, the second you ay that, you let
out a floodgate. The owner calls you some rude names. Someone at the table
backs you up, then another, then another. Before you realize it
completely, you've all marched out of the diner vowing never to return.
You go back to the diner another day, once your head it calm, to try to
talk to the owner, but he will not speak with you. So you, as
individuals, have decided to boycott the diner. You can go
further. You can start talking to your friends and ask them to join you
in your boycott. You can put up signs, hand out flyers, whatever you
want. It doesn't take all that much time, and you're taking a stand
towards treating everyone equally. You ask that the owner of the diner
make an official apology. If 50% of his customers are boycotting the
place, he may have to.
Look at that, all because you decided to say no. It wouldn't be the first
time.
Admittedly, the sitatuion doesn't usually go this smoothly, but you'll
never know just how smoothly it will go unless you try it. You may want
to seek out people who may agree with them and talk ith them one-on-one.
If you don't know of anyone, spend a few minutes to put up a few flyers
to announce a meeting of people looking to create change. Here at the
University of Pennsylvania, known to be pretty conservative, the first
meeting to the Progressive Activist Network drew 35 people, and this was
when many people had already gone home for Thanksgiving and many others
were busy with upcoming finals. Truth is, you'll never know what will
happen until you try.
Related Pages
The work of each individual helps
If the system doesn't work, change it
Protest is an effective means of creating
change
Protest is nothing new
So you're ready to start a movement
Please mail any comment or suggestions to kerig@sas.upenn.edu
