When a system is flawed, the easy, lazy solution is to destroy the whole system. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater takes no skill, education, or savvy, and it leaves everyone worse off. Productive activism, which is careful to preserve the baby, is much harder. (1/3)
Destructive activists justify their tactics by arguing that what people think of as the baby is actually just more bathwater in disguise. But this simple, extreme view is rarely the case, as the history of productive activism testifies. (2/3)
The hardest part of productive activism is pushing back against destructive activism. The courage to criticize people who seem to be wearing the same uniform as you is the ultimate activist challenge. (3/3)
