"What Can We Do?" By: Allan Johnson

Premise:

Privilege and oppression
Problems vs. solutions
“tin cup” vs. “business case”
Everybody’s “hook” and nobody’s fault
Fluidity of social systems
Developing a sense of time constancy
Courage
Myth of no effect
Recognition of one’s own power
Ignorance
Awareness
Attentive listening
Decentering oneself

Argument:

Johnson argues that the structure of societies are not set in and stone and that they need to reshape their ways of viewing change and oppression in order to deter the patterns of “exclusion, rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence.” He believes that not only is speaking the words is necessary; people must be courageous and be willing to step outside their comfort zone in order to implement change. Johnson stresses the fact that while one person might not be able to make a large impact, one person may act as a catalyst, instigating others to follow his or her passive, non-discriminatory ways.

Evidence:
· Johnson notes, “…we have to be willing to travels without knowing where we’re going.” He tries to reassure the reader that although sometimes walking blindly, not quite sure of one’s path or direction might be scary and intimidation, we have to have faith that we are doing what is right. We have to be able to counter the established system, not necessarily breaking it, but questioning, and ultimately weakening it.
· Johnson states, “When we dare ask core questions about who we are and how the world works, things happen that we can’t forsee. But they don’t happen unless we move, if only in our minds.” Here Johnson is explaining how true change will come about if people expand their way of thinking and viewing the world. We need to move to change.
· He states, “Social systems are also fluid…Because a system happens only as people participate in it, it cant help being a dynamic process of creation and re-creation from one moment to the next.” He is describing how despite the popular notion that is it fruitless to try to change a society’s ideals, societies, just like people, are subject to change. They shift based on the current and that current is influenced by the will of the people.

Questions/ Comments

Reading this article was extremely similar to the fist piece of his that we read in the beginning of the semester. As I was reading the article, I noticed that some of his metaphors are rather cliché. While sometimes insightful, I feel that some of the descriptions were over simplified. I liked reading about the “myth of no effect” because so many people have the mentality that one person is not going to make a difference but thinking in that way only deters change.