Quote:
Originally Posted by rolan86
I have never had a class like this before. This is a class on political advocacy that I need for my poli-sci major, and it is making me really uncomfortable. The whole idea is that writing essays and taking tests in a class on political advocacy is useless, and that it needs to be done, not just learned. So our professor told us very clearly, if you stay in this class, I expect you to actually change something. Find something you are passionate about, something that makes you angry, and work to change it. He says we should anger people, because that is a necessary part of advocacy. We had to write down all consequences we could face, such as arrest, expulsion, etc. I have never done ANY of these things, and don't know if I can stay in this class. He says that if we don't feel comfortable with this, we may drop the class, and if this is the case, urges us to drop it.
This leads me to my next dilemma. I am passionate about NOTHING. I can't think of ANYTHING I would be willing to fight for. This is starting to REALLY upset me. I know it sounds horrible, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how little I care about issues. I have been so priveleged through out my life, that I have never really experienced any struggles. I just don't know what to do. I could say increased tuition, gay rights, police brutality, racism, equality, are all things I would want to see changed, but are they really things I would actually take a step further and FIGHT for? I really don't think so to be honest. Yes I care about things like my family, but I really can't think of any political issues that make me actually angry enough to fight for. This is upsetting because I really do want to take this class and feel it would be an enormously rewarding experience it in the end, but feel I might have to drop it out of simple reason that I don't care about anything. How to tell this to my professor...
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I had this type of assignment too. it didnt mean we had to break any laws. we had to do something that would change our community. my professor used the same words or almost the same words he said to expect to anger people because thats what change on a large scale naturally does. it didnt mean I had to go out and start a riot, war between my neighbors and whole community full of people..
I chose victims rights. I was a sexual abuse survivor and a lesbian. what better than to advocate for victims of sexual abuse and GBLT rights. I contacted the crisis center and told them of my college assignment. they helped me put together a peaceful rally for sexual abuse survivors and GBLT people. I contacted the city government through the county clerks office, and the college to get permits and permission for use of public property (the college campus park) and I found out when the next public meeting was. I met with some survivors and GBLT's in the area. we made up a list of things we would like to see changed, then I went to the city's public meeting and talked with my city's government officials about what they can do for sexual abuse survivors and GBLT's in our area and the changes we had on the list - more education in schools about abuse, and GBLT racism.
we held our survivors of sexual abuse rally on the same night as our city had the "take back the night" walk where those that joined our cause walked the route with "take back the night" and spoke at the "Take back the night" meeting.
our GBLT rally was a different day where we handed out community awareness fliers and gave speeches.
like all controversial things like abuse and sex we had many supporters and yes some people who voiced their anger over our cause, but no one got arrested, no one broke out in voilent fights and no one broke any laws. our city because of our rallys became more aware on these issues and the city government placed proposals out to the public about these issues and our city was one where because they are aware of these issues do things like voting whether to consider marriage between same sex couples. NY is now one of the states where GBLT's in same sex relationships can now marry. I like to think I had a hand in bringing awareness to my city which helped to pave the way for our city to be ready for this state wide vote.
there are lots of things you can do to help your community and make a change... is there a building that you feel would benefit the community by upgrading to an elevator, wider door ways, ...get enough signed on a petition and your city may vote to help that building owner to make these changes.
you can vollunteer with a crisis center, mental health agency that deals with the same issues you have and work with them on how to make your community more aware and ready to make changes..
the crisis center sends us into schools for career day and for public speaking in classes. maybe you can do that.. thats making a change in how students view abuse issues..
there are lots of legal things you can do that wont get you arrested for breaking laws, wont start battles, riots....