Hi everyone, I’ve been stress-eating chocolate, so I’m not sure how coherent this post will be. Besides the general state of the world, I also have my book launching next week with an in-person event in Seattle, the logistics have been bringing up gala-related trauma from my previous years as an executive director.
A few weeks ago I was talking to Jacqueline Ebanks, President and CEO of Nonprofit New York, planning for my keynote at their conference on November 12th. We were discussing challenges preventing our sector from reaching its full potential, and I mentioned our sector and liberals-in-generals’ suppressed imagination and lack of vision. “You know who do have a clear vision?” she said, “the tech billionaires.”
She’s right. These dudes have some terrifying visions for our world. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, envisions a world where artificial intelligence provides basic and vital human connections. We’d have AI chat bots for friends and even therapists, in part to address the loneliness epidemic.
Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison, meanwhile, waxes about an Orwellian future with “citizens on their best behavior” because technology will be surveilling their every move.
And if that’s not chilling enough, there’s Elon Musk and his “Dark MAGA” movement which pushes for a future where there are no more democracy or elections or government, just society being ruled by tech bros. If you’re up for a horrifying glimpse into what he and his followers are working toward, Rosie the Resister lays it all out.
We need to take these guys seriously. They have all the power and resources, and few barriers, in making their visions a reality. One of the things we, and must, do, is to provide our own vision to counter the awful ones they’re proposing. This has been challenging. I think over time, the right-wing has controlled so much of the narrative that the left has been forced into a defensive mode, where we only think about survival and protecting communities from the awfulness. We’ve been spending so much time putting out fires that we haven’t been able to dream of what we can build when we finally stop the arsonists.
I see this in our sector. All organizations have a vision statement. Beautiful and ambitious things like a peaceful and just world where every kid is safe and there’s no more poverty or violence. But these visions run into the cold reality of financial challenges, political barriers, and white moderate tendencies of people to be “practical.” Over time, these vision statements become hollow and meaningless, something we create without believing are possible.
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Read full article here.
