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>Just how hard it is to change the world was brought home to me yet again by the book Difficult Women, which I read recently during lockdown. Written by British

>Just how hard it is to change the world was brought home to me yet again by the book Difficult Women, which I read recently during lockdown. Written by British journalist Helen Lewis, it’s a history of feminism in Great Britain, but ought to be required reading for anyone aspiring to create a better world. >By “difficult”, Lewis means three things: > It’s difficult to change the world. You have to make sacrifices. > Many revolutionaries are difficult. Progress tends to start with people who are obstinate and obnoxious and deliberately rock the boat. > Doing good doesn’t mean you’re perfect. The heroes of history were rarely as squeaky clean as they’re later made out to be. >Lewis’s criticism is that many activists appear to ignore this complexity, and that makes them markedly less effective. Look at Twitter, which is rife with people who seem more interested in judging other tweeters. Yesterday’s hero is toppled tomorrow at the first awkward remark or stain of controversy. #MeToo is going to burn itself out. It's a witch-hunt. The only good that could come from it would be a society where failures aren't permanent brands, but I don't think that's going to happen. The twist that cancel culture prevents change is ironic. Then again, I wonder if the people who are super into cancelling were the type to revolt to begin with?

IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago
You're equating the "being difficult" of revolutionaries with the "being difficult" of rapists. And, yes, these two groups do share the distinction of being publicly criticised. But "let's just stop complaining" as a strategy to support the good revolutionaries, and to start doing so by giving sexual predators a break, is almost too incoherent to be intended in all its cynical might. Plus, obviously, the "difficult revolutionary's" modus operandi is to complain/"cancel"/whatever: how, exactly, do you want them to be "difficult" and changing-things while not annoying you and refraining from exerting any power?

IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago

You're equating the "being difficult" of revolutionaries with the "being difficult" of rapists. And, yes, these two groups do share the distinction of being publicly criticised. But "let's just stop complaining" as a strategy to support the good revolutionaries, and to start doing so by giving sexual predators a break, is almost too incoherent to be intended in all its cynical might. Plus, obviously, the "difficult revolutionary's" modus operandi is to complain/"cancel"/whatever: how, exactly, do you want them to be "difficult" and changing-things while not annoying you and refraining from exerting any power?