commit: 65fbda1f138a375a4e47e76ce7533ec1e139d599
parent 2182153129d3c6694b8e09d960938fa91af1ca98
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2023 13:27:01 +0200
Going off-script
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+---
+title: Going off-script
+date: 2023-10-13
+---
+
+There is a phenomenon in society which I find quite bizarre. Upon our entry to
+this mortal coil, we are endowed with self-awareness, agency, and free will.
+Each of the 8 billion members of this human race represents a unique person, a
+unique worldview, and a unique agency. Yet, many of us have the same fundamental
+goals and strive to live the same life.
+
+I think of such a life experiences as "following the script". Society lays down
+for us a framework for living out our lives. Everyone deviates from the script
+to some extent, but most people hit the important beats. In Western society,
+these beats are something like, go to school, go to college, get a degree, build
+a career, get married, have 1.5 children, retire to Florida, die.
+
+There are a number of reasons that someone may deviate from the script. The most
+common case is that the deviations are imposed by circumstance. A queer person
+will face discrimination, for instance, in marriage, or in adopting and raising
+children. Someone born into the lower class will have reduced access to higher
+education and their opportunities for career-building are curtailed accordingly;
+similar experiences follow for people from marginalized groups. Furthermore,
+more and more people who might otherwise be able to follow the script are
+finding that they can't afford a home and don't have the resources to build a
+family.
+
+There are nevertheless many people who are afforded the opportunity to follow
+the script, and when they do so, they often experience something resembling a
+happy and fulfilling life. Generally this is not the result of a deliberate
+choice -- no one was presented with the script and asked "is this what you
+want"? Each day simply follows the last and you make the choices that correspond
+with what you were told a good life looks like, and sometimes a good life
+follows.
+
+Of course, it is entirely valid to want the "scripted" life. But you were not
+asked if you wanted it: it was just handed to you on a platter. The average
+person lacks the philosophical background which underpins their worldview and
+lifestyle, and consequently cannot explain *why* it's "good", for them or
+generally. Consider your career. You were told that it was a desirable thing to
+build for yourself, and you understand how to execute your duties as a member of
+the working class, but can you explain why those duties are important and why
+you should spend half of your waking life executing them? Of course, if you are
+good at following the script, you are rewarded for doing so, generally with
+money, but not necessarily with self-actualization.
+
+This state of affairs leads to some complex conflicts. This approach to life
+favors the status quo and preserves existing power structures, which explains in
+part why it is re-enforced by education and broader social pressures. It also
+leads to a sense of learned helplessness, a sense that this is the only way
+things can be, which reduces the initiative to pursue social change -- for
+example, by forming a union.
+
+It can also be uncomfortable to encounter someone who does not follow the
+script, or even questions the script. You may be playing along, and mostly or
+entirely exposed to people who play along. Meeting someone who doesn't -- they
+skipped college, they don't want kids, they practice polyamory, they identify as
+a gender other than what you presumed, etc -- this creates a moment of
+dissonance and often resistance. This tends to re-enforce biases and can even
+present as inadvertent micro-aggressions.
+
+I think it's important to question the script, even if you decide that you like
+it. You should be able to explain *why* you like it. This process of questioning
+is a radical act. A radical, in its non-pejorative usage, is born when someone
+questions their life and worldview, decides that they want something else, and
+seeks out others who came to similar conclusions. They organize, they examine
+their discomfort and put it to words, and they share these words in the hope
+that they can explain a similar discomfort that others might feel within
+themselves. Radical movements, which by definition is any movement which
+challenges the status quo, are the stories of the birth and spread of radical
+ideas.
+
+Ask yourself: who are you? Did you choose to be this person? Who do you want to
+be, and how will you become that person? Should you change your major? Drop out?
+Quit your job, start a business, found a labor union? Pick up a new hobby? Join
+or establish a social club? An activist group? Get a less demanding job, move
+into a smaller apartment, and spend more time writing or making art? However you
+choose to live, choose it deliberately.
+
+The next step is an exercise in solidarity. How do you feel about others who
+made their own choices, choices which may be alike or different to your own?
+Or those whose choices were constrained by their circumstances? What can you do
+together that you couldn't do alone?
+
+Who do you want to be? Do you know?
