Candy Crush
What exactly makes adult people play Candy Crush on every corner of the republic in times of climate change and species extinction? Why the hell is such a thing even allowed!? How are we supposed to save the world with such an infantilized society? I have said it over and over again: we don’t have to convince the majorities of society to give up anything or even to save the world. We have to drag them along in a friendly way. We can safely leave them to the left for now. Let’s focus on the essentials for now and concentrate on the big issues, otherwise we’ll get bogged down in the many small ones. Let’s set priorities.
Social tipping points often occur quickly and unexpectedly when their time comes. We need to drag people along simply because we, as a minority, are able to do so. Because social change has always come from minorities, and it’s only fair that this often privileged class of culturally creative people give back to society. We have to drag people along because we have the physical and the mental capacity for such a task. Because not only historically, but also because of our education, our socialization, and our mental health, we have a responsibility to do something. That’s the only way it can work. But for it to work, we need a plan. And the plan first involves a coalition of all those civil society groups and people who are already working clear-headedly and steadfastly on the numerous counter-designs to what already exists. If we are to achieve realistic social change, we cannot rely on the majorities in our society, nor on politics. Now, it may seem difficult to some to believe that social change brought about by democratic means is possible when, soberly considered, no majorities can be won for this change in the first place. In my view, the emphasis in this case is on dragging along. We have to drag people along, seduce them, catch them off guard and drag them along, because it won’t work any other way. For this to succeed, however, we must not only know their fears and habits well, but we should also secretly agree with them.