what is this movement and where the fuck are people moving to?

this entry was partly inspired by the ever inspiring Ms. Levid.

"what is this movement and where the fuck are people moving to?"

progress...movement...activism...all these words employ a sense of motion; specifically forward motion rather than regression or inaction. back in high school it was very rare to meet folk that actually got it, let alone were actually interested in it. so i entered into college hoping to meet folk that were. while there were much more forward thinking folk here than in high school, i attribute that to the larger population more so than the stereotype of the crazy liberal university, which is much more closer to the right than conservative folks would like the masses to believe. finding people that are interested in actually "shaking the core" are far and in between. one of the reasons is the level of commitment it does take. how willing are people to work for a cause they most likely won't benefit from? activism goes far beyond the university and it deals with real people's lives. one example would be the fight to keep the King/Drew Hospital open, a trauma center that intersects minutes from 5 major freeways. it saves tens of thousands of lives every year due to it's positioning, yet it's still slated to shut down. make no mistake, as jollene put it, people have full time careers doing activist work. however, this leads me to another topic..wannabe superstar psuedo activists.

yes it is trendy to be on the left in college. "but you just said liberal universities were a stereotype?" and i also said it was difficult finding folks that want to "shake the core." frankly, i take actions speaking louder than words true to the heart. while it's cool that folks rock Che shirts, a large part of them don't even know who the fuck he is nor do they realize PURCHASING a shirt with his image is actually contrary to what he worked for. there's plenty of stereotypes about activists: megaphone touting, placard carying, militant protestor is one of them. but 10% of the work activists do is in the public, and the wannabe superstars are the ones out for only that 10%. attitudes towards activists are either opposition, ambivalence, or adoration; and yup them psuedo activists are only out for adoration. one of the other stereotypes are the artsy spoken word poets that really don't do shit. see this is a weird place for me cause i enjoy writing and performing; and while i have met a share of poets/spoken word artists that do work, there is a maaasssss majority out there that don't. it's even ten times worse when their poetry sucks. another category of psuedo activism are macktivists.

so what the hell is a macktivist? a cat who wants to get their(usually a his) mack on by pretending to be interested in activism. they're usually either one of the two examples of psuedo activists, or even both, that i listed. there's also folk that try to use their positions in organizations, or do work on a certain issue, just because there's a female involved that they wanna hook up with. to me there is a pretty clear difference between a macktivist and someone that falls into a relationship.

as a great man once said "Leadership is only incidental to the movement." you are not serving the community if you care about praise. it does not matter how much you've so-called fucken done. your titles don't mean shit. if you're in it to get a pat on the head or a cookie, get the fuck out. objectivity and fence sitting should be thrown out the door the moment lives are on the line. a real leader is satisfied that the goal is acheived, not if s/he gets credit for reaching the goal.