You Decide Your Level of Involvement, Start Simple and Progress Rapidly
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Everyone can begin empowering themselves instantly and easily. And anyone can take their empowerment as far as they wish. There is no barrier to entry and no glass ceiling to advancement. Empowerment is some or more, not all-or-nothingEmpowerment is different for each of us. It is not an all-or-nothing binary switch to be thrown for instant change. Conventional activism has alienated the masses by setting the bar too high for casually concerned citizens and then slamming a glass ceiling into the heads of those who do step up and take the challenge to become activists. Getting started is scary, and getting somewhere is difficult. On the one hand, activist groups seem like an all-or-nothing proposition. You are either with them or you’re not, without a connection to what is going on. People want to start where they are comfortable, moving along a gentle gradient of increasing mobilization and working their way up towards becoming full-fledged activists. Participation opportunities should be omnipresent, instantly satisfying and escalating. Everywhere you go, your optimal opportunities to participate should be presented alongside information to make what you learn actionable in a way that is always available and offered without digging. Participation should be instantly rewarding. Individualistic SystemsThe ultimate power in the world is the individual human being. Groups are merely ways of describing the individual actions of many related individuals. All group-centric activism systems to date miss the point. And when empowered individuals join forces, their combined efforts produce historic achievements. The strength of each individual team member is the difference between a herd and an army. The Army Of One concept embodies both of these inextricable ideas: the centrality of individual empowerment and the power of many highly trained individuals acting as one unified team. The Empower Thyself principle is instructive in designing systems to support empowerment. Whereas existing infrastructures tend to be controlled by groups with individuals treated as "members", "users", or some other such subordinate resource unit, an individualistic system starts with the user and frees them to act on their own initiative and associate with groups as they choose or create their own.
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"It's as much mine as it is yours you know... This does not belong to us. We are not special... What do you want? Should I email you? Should I put this on your primary action item list? You decide your own level of involvement! What would you wish you'd done before you die?" —Tyler Durden in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (A two-page spread diagram shows the gradient from disagreement to ignorance to apathy to interest to acivism.) Some of the levels shown
Do you have the time?
What prevents you from getting more involved in your community?
—online opinion poll
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Minions
audience posted by Agent Pugsly Sat, 2008-06-21 19:48Groups: You Decide Your Level of Involvement, Start Simple and Progress Rapidly, Viralink Industries, Think For Yourself, Repetitive Task Work, Mindfulness, Leadership, Group Organizing, Everyone Can Do Something, Consumerism, Collective Effervescence, Christian Conservationism, Apathy, Activism
Some people prefer to be in a position of non-responsibility for projects and missions going on, but still wish to participate in them productively. Sometimes a person will come to the realization that they don't have the experience to work as a peer with a person or group; sometimes an individual will crave being out of the limelights, or sometimes a person will be in so much social and/or material debt that they feel the need to preform services in order to make good on this debt (perceived or not).
There is nothing wrong with being a minion. Minions are the number one source of delegation for a project leader, usually. Most minions, especially empowered ones, will always critically analyze the things they are asked to do. As long as there is no moral interference a minion will usually preform a delegated task. The difference between a minion and a group member is realiability. Minions can be counted on to do what they agree to do just as much as a project leader, they just end up doing more support roles. Sure, speaking on stage at a confrence requires a skill but so does the tedious work of putting up and tearing down said stage.
The difference between a minion and an employee is idealism, usually. An employee will complete requested tasks because it means financial compensation for themselves. A minion generally chooses to preform tasks in order to see a project or idea further, even if they don't feel responsible for that project or don't feel competent to direct the operation in any way.
Sometimes, rarely, a person will take minion status entirely out of schedule limitations. If someone misses meetings most of the time due to schedule constraints but still show up to events and preform assistance role tasks in order to remove burden from active project coordinators they are temporarily taking the role of minion.
Volentary participation in this kind of role is called being a minion. If it's invollentary, it's called slavery.
You Decide Your Level of Involvement
lxpk’s personal idea (something lxpk believes) posted by lxpk Fri, 2008-03-28 15:10Groups: You Decide Your Level of Involvement, Start Simple and Progress Rapidly