No Straight Road Takes You There

1. Embrace the Indirect Path to Change

Walker, there is no path; the path is made by walking.

Indirection's power. The world's most significant changes rarely follow a straight, predictable line. Instead, they emerge from indirect consequences, slow trajectories, and subtle shifts that are often overlooked in the short term. Recognizing this complexity is crucial for understanding history, power, and possibility.

Beyond immediate goals. Movements may not achieve their stated objectives directly, but they can inspire profound, indirect consequences that matter as much or more. This concept of "success without victory" highlights the value of patience, endurance, and long-term vision in driving change. It encourages us to look beyond immediate outcomes and appreciate the intricate webs of causality.

Periphery to center. Many transformative ideas and movements begin at the margins, dismissed as insignificant, only to gradually move toward the center of power and public acceptance. Valuing small events, coincidences, and epiphanies helps us see how culture, operating in the deep substrata of collective worldviews, ultimately shapes politics and societal shifts.

2. Uncertainty Fuels Possibility, Not Despair

Hope in this sense is just the recognition that in that uncertainty there may be the space in which to move toward the best and away from the worst of those possibilities, that the future is not (as it is so often spoken of) a place that already exists, toward which we are trudging, but a place that we are creating with what we do and how we do it (or don’t) in the present.

Rejecting false certainty. Despair, defeatism, cynicism, pessimism, and even naive optimism all share a common flaw: a false certainty about the future that excuses inaction. This discomfort with uncertainty reduces the vast unknown to a predetermined outcome, leading to disengagement and passivity.

Unpredictability as opportunity. The future is not a fixed destination but a space we actively create through our present actions. Embracing unpredictability is crucial, as it reveals the potential for unexpected breakthroughs and positive change. As Audre Lorde noted, refusing to participate in shaping our future is to give it up.

Finding spaciousness. Even in confined or uncertain circumstances, we can find spaciousness by recognizing the illimitable sky of possibility. This perspective, like Prince Andrei's epiphany on the battlefield, allows us to launch into the unknown with the energy of participants, actively authoring an unwritten future rather than passively accepting a predetermined fate.

3. Memory and Stories as Tools for Hope

Memory produces hope in the same way that amnesia produces despair.

The long view. To truly understand change and possibility, one must adopt a long-term perspective, measuring time in large increments. This "longsighted" view reveals how campaigns build, beliefs evolve, and what was once deemed impossible becomes the status quo, countering the short-term view that often breeds defeatism.

History's unpredictability. As Howard Zinn observed, history is full of astonishing ruptures and surprises, reminding us that seemingly invincible systems can crumble unexpectedly. Indigenous peoples, having faced the "end of their world," offer a unique capacity to resist despair through connection to collective memory, serving as crucial leaders for a new world rooted in reciprocity.

Avoiding false prophecies. Prophecies of doom are often self-fulfilling, discouraging participation and making negative outcomes more likely. Instead, we must remember past victories and transformations to equip ourselves for future challenges. This continuity of memory tells us we are both descendants and ancestors, capable of imagining and creating a better future.

4. Challenge the "Ideology of Isolation"

The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.

Beyond nuclear monuments. Traditional societal structures, like the nuclear family, often promote an "ideology of isolation," emphasizing self-sufficiency and transactional relationships. This view diminishes extended families, alternative structures, and the broader social configurations essential for human flourishing.

Mutual aid and symbiosis. Countering social Darwinism's focus on fierce competition, thinkers like Peter Kropotkin highlighted cooperation and collaboration as equally powerful evolutionary forces. Modern biology, through concepts like symbiosis and Lynn Margulis's work on multicellular life, increasingly recognizes that organisms, including humans, are "metabolically complex communities" blurring individual boundaries.

Interconnectionists vs. Isolationists. The political divides of our time can be reframed as a conflict between "isolationists" who deny interconnectedness and "interconnectionists" who embrace it. Mutual aid, exemplified by groups like the Auntie Sewing Squad, embodies this deep belief in inseparability—that our well-being is tied to others, and aid flows from this shared fate, not just symmetrical exchange.

5. Centrism and Status Quo Bias Obscure Truth

The truth is not some compromise halfway between the truth and the lie, the fact and the delusion, the science and the propaganda.

The illusion of neutrality. The idea that the "center" is unbiased is itself a form of status-quo bias, preventing recognition of pervasive prejudices and destructive assumptions. This bias often stems from a belief that the current system is acceptable, dismissing calls for sweeping change as unreasonable.

Failure of imagination. This bias leads to a failure to recognize threats from within, such as white male terrorism or high-status criminals, because they don't fit preconceived notions of danger. As Martin Luther King Jr. noted, the white moderate, devoted to "order" over justice, often becomes a greater stumbling block than outright bigots.

No compromise with injustice. When one side operates on delusions and advocates for harming others, seeking a "middle ground" is a unilateral surrender, not bipartisanship. Deference to intolerance only feeds it. Standing on principle and defending values, even in the face of accusations of extremism, is a winning strategy that refuses to dilute truth or human rights.

6. Reimagine Masculinity Beyond Radical Selfishness

Wearing masks, it turns out, is not manly, when the definition of manly is not having to do fuck-all out of concern for others.

Radical selfishness. A pervasive definition of masculinity equates it with radical selfishness, where one's "right to swing an arm" has no end, and concern for others is deemed unmanly. This ideology, often intersecting with whiteness, has taken a huge toll, from deregulation of weapons to inadequate responses to public health crises.

Gendered burdens. Caregiving and protective work, often gendered as feminine, stand in stark contrast to this self-centered masculinity. The pandemic starkly revealed how women disproportionately bear domestic responsibilities, leading to reduced professional impact, while men often maintain or increase theirs through "strategic obliviousness."

Feminism as the cure. The "pandemic of patriarchy" amplifies crises like Covid-19, punishing women through violence and shifting caregiving responsibilities onto them. Addressing this requires a fundamental shift in societal expectations, where feminism, as a subset of universal human rights, provides the framework for absolute equality and shared responsibility.

7. Abortion Rights are Economic and Human Rights

Abortion is an economic issue, because when it’s not legal, those are the two remaining options, leaving out being dead, which you could argue is either very expensive or absolutely beyond the realm of money.

Profound economic impact. The denial of abortion access is a massive economic blow, forcing individuals into parenthood, criminalization, or even death. It disproportionately affects those without financial capacity to travel for care or defend themselves against legal charges, making it a critical economic justice and labor issue.

Callous disregard. The Dobbs decision's justifications, claiming minimal social and economic impact of bearing a child, are callous lies. They ignore the profound and lasting emotional, psychological, physical, moral, and financial toll of pregnancy and childbirth, which can incapacitate individuals and derail education and careers.

Criminalization of motherhood. Beyond abortion, there's a broader criminalization of pregnancy and motherhood, particularly for poor and nonwhite women, who face prosecution for miscarriages or stillbirths. This, coupled with the denial of life-saving medical care due to fear of prosecution, pushes women back into an era where self-determination is an aspiration, not a given, and economic subordination is enforced.

8. Silicon Valley's Shadow: Isolation and Inequality

The desire of tech workers to live in this dense, diverse place while their products create its opposite is an ongoing conundrum.

The great withdrawal. Tech's innovations, from driverless cars to online shopping, have inadvertently fostered a "social pandemic of loneliness and isolation" by displacing in-person engagement and making human contact redundant. This "great withdrawal" reshapes cityscapes, replacing vibrant public spaces with empty offices and a reluctance to interact with strangers.

Hubris and control. Despite often portraying themselves as edgy outsiders, tech billionaires wield immense power, shaping culture, politics, and the economy. Their wealth fuels a sense of hubris, leading to anti-democratic actions, such as funding recall campaigns against progressive DAs or building private, secluded compounds and islands, demonstrating a desire to be "above or beyond the law."

Exploitation economy. Tech's business models often thrive on disconnection and anonymity, creating an "exploitation economy" where workers are invisible and wealth concentrates at an extraordinary rate. This leads to a kind of feudalism, where a few powerful figures are unaccountable, and their ideals—segregated lives, surveillance, and even immortality—are imposed on a world they claim to be improving.

9. Transform the Climate Story from Doom to Abundance

We are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced. I believe that we are in an imagination battle.

A storytelling crisis. The climate crisis is fundamentally a storytelling crisis, where outdated narratives, industry propaganda, and apocalyptic thinking prevent us from seeing and acting on possibilities for change. We need new stories of a livable future, popular power, and abundance to motivate collective action.

Solutions exist. Contrary to widespread belief, we possess the necessary solutions in solar and wind energy, which are now cheaper and more efficient than fossil fuels. The "only impediment to change is political," not technological. Shifting from individual "climate footprints" to systemic change, like divesting from fossil-fuel-funding banks, is crucial.

Beyond austerity. The transition away from fossil fuels is not about austerity but about embracing a "climate of abundance." It means giving up destructive emissions and moral injury for clean air, water, thriving nature, and a world rich in joy, beauty, and community. This transformation, already underway, offers a path to "better things" and a more equitable, less environmentally stressed future.

10. Feminism: An Ongoing, Global Transformation

You can take away a right through legal means, but you cannot take away the belief in that right so easily.

A long revolution. Feminism is a global human rights movement addressing millennia-old inequalities, and its journey is far from over. While setbacks like the overturning of Roe v. Wade are significant, they occur within a broader context of radical, ongoing transformation in women's status worldwide, from legal rights to cultural perceptions.

Profound shifts. In the last half-century, women have gained unprecedented equality in education, employment, and political representation. Rights once unimaginable, like freedom from marital rape or access to birth control, are now widely accepted. This progress, often subtle and incremental, demonstrates that feminism is working, despite persistent resistance.

Belief endures. Legal reversals, like Dred Scott or Plessy v. Ferguson, did not extinguish the belief in fundamental rights. Similarly, while abortion access may be curtailed, the belief in reproductive autonomy persists, fueled by ongoing conversations about violence, inequality, and gender. This collective consciousness is a powerful force for continued change, transforming society beyond mere legal enforcement.

11. Cultivate a Democracy of Voices

To be powerless means that your facts and truths can be overwhelmed by the powerful, who prefer these facts or voices or stories not be heard.

The hierarchy of audibility. In society, a brutal hierarchy of audibility and credibility often dictates whose facts and truths prevail, not based on merit but on the speaker's power. This system allows the powerful to suppress inconvenient stories, as seen in the fossil fuel industry's climate denial or Harvey Weinstein's silencing of victims.

Double silencing. Sexual assault exemplifies this, where victims are first silenced by the act itself—a disregard for their voice and bodily autonomy—and then again by intimidation, threats, or financial agreements designed to suppress their stories. This societal complicity protects perpetrators and perpetuates a system where truth is secondary to power.

Democratizing truth. True democracy requires a world where power differentials do not corrupt which stories are told and heard. When victims' voices gain audibility and credibility, it challenges impunity and creates consequences for perpetrators. While the struggle is ongoing, democratizing storytelling is a vital step toward a society where respect for human rights replaces the desire and entitlement to commit violence.

Last updated: December 2, 2025