Uneasy Rhetoric

Jason at LJ Urban posts a comment by Wendell Berry, taking the “Environmental Movement” to task for its tendency toward oversimplification. I don’t think this is unique to the environmental movement — every movement seeks simplicity in its messaging in order to attract as many followers as possible — but I do think Berry has a point. Movements should not be about which organizations we belong to, who gets our end of the year donation, and whose name we plaster on our bumper stickers. Movements should be about changing lifestyles and changing lives. They should be, as Berry puts it, about a solid social vision.

The true heroes of any movement are not the Al Gores with their PowerPoint presentations or those working to change the behavior of others. The true heroes are those who have so much vision they have changed themselves.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it.
–Wendell Berry (Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front)