Collective Ethical Patience and Problem Solving in a Capitalist Society (Part II)
Ethical patience, as I wrote about from the perspective of science fiction, is not an abstraction. It does indeed go against everything we were taught about the civil rights movement. That is, at least, on the surface against the backdrop of how popular culture thinks about civil rights. How long shall we wait? That is the ageless question. I agree with that sentiment, wholeheartedly, but what I am attempting to communicate is a place of sociological entry that is not unlike asceticism. Endurance for the benefit of those would do nothing to benefit you is also part of the civil rights movement. It is a rather ancient idea that has been woven into multiple faiths, religions, and philosophies. There is something worth considering with an enduring patience, no matter the personal cost.
Let me stress, this sense of self-sacrifice is not what I am advocating as being a better change agent than other methods. I do, however, believe there is another perception that can be gained from the long, long suffering in myriad ways which we endure injustice for the sake of the unjust, with equal passion as we would position ourselves in to become victims of injustice on behalf of others who have been subject to injustice. Ethical patience does have ability to counter the weight of mis-balanced power. Within that space there lies a gained perspective of seeing the world through a cosmic manner of adroit willingness, in the absence of misdirecting passions.
Change may come faster and farther through other means, but I do think there is something to be gained through ethical patience. Though I would also say this does not apply when physical harm is coming to innocent people and our collective inaction only furthers this indoctrination. That is not ethical patience. That is carelessness. It is not my intention to be esoteric and I do not believe I am spelling out anything that cannot be easily grasped. Action is not dismissed under a perspective of ethical patience. This is one of the early lessons of conflict resolution. Action, in fact, is the entire point. However, reactionary thinking in response to reactionary behavior will benefit very few and is unlikely to have lasting endurance.