Midterms, Activism, and Jellyfish

Earlier today I was perusing the Intertubes and stumbled across an article on BoingBoing asking why jellyfish don’t sting each other. As Maggie put it, “How does a creature with no brain—but with long, venomous tentacles—manage to travel in dense packs without things getting really socially awkward?”

As weird as this may sound, the behavior here that jellyfish demonstrate is one I see in many groups: from urban professionals to wanna-be politicans and clicktivists alike. It’s a mob-mentality that — at times — is incredibly beneficial and other times stuns me with that “wtf” look that cats make.

To the point, I’m going to rattle off a few examples…

Corporate America: the land of accountants and insurance adjusters. I’ve talked to a few of my ‘career building’ compadres — all of whom are doing quite well for themselves — about their experiences. It seems to boil down to one thing quite often: protectionism. I feel like the capitalist, must-compete mindset of much of business land destroys organizations with real people behind them. With so many sitting behind a cubical desk made of money, plenty are more than willing to hire-down. Or to say, only hire those who don’t pose a threat. Instead of bettering an organization, the mission is too often lost in last-man-standing self-defense.

If you look back at the past midterm elections here in the States, one thing is more comercially painted than anything else: we’re a divided country. You’ve got the Jews which hate the Gays which hate the Christians which hate the Immigrants which hate the… zzzzzzz. This, however, is the first time I’ve seen political parties which have no seemingly co-aligned points of view. People keep screaming ‘small government’ but they cling to their Medicare. On the left, everyone is mad that Obama ‘hasn’t done enough’, but no one shows up to vote. Hell, California can’t even pass Prop 19: everyone I know that grows rallied against it. Politically, the best route would seemingly be to sting sting sting.

Finally, in the world of activism, one thing is painted more than anything else: we’re not divided one bit. Behind the scenes, I don’t believe the activism world is any different than the political underpinnings of DC. There’s a whole industry behind grant proposals, people using their non-profit for personal vendettas, and more shell organizations than I can shake a stick at. The funniest part is that the non-profit world is rife with — what every other industry calls — lobbyists. Organizations in this realm are too often lobbying against their own mission statement for a handful of reasons. At my old job, I’ll never forget the President of the organization sugar-coating the most ridiculous pieces of technology which she would then get multi-million dollar grants for. How? She just stung everyone else in the process. [Edit: she is not alone.]

The long answer about the jellyfish isn’t really that confusing:

Jellyfish can and do sting other jellyfish, he says, but really only when they’re hunting jellies of another species. They don’t sting the other members of their same-species swarm. Neither (luckily) do they zap themselves. It works because jellyfish tentacles aren’t inherently poisonous. Rather, it’s the nematocytes—special cells that line the tentacles. When touched, nematocytes fire off microscopic quills that lodge in a victim and pump in the venom. But this weapon comes with a built-in safety switch.

I wish we, as people, and presumably people who want the world to be a better place, had a built-in safety switch. We spend too much time fighting each other, proving points, and grand standing. Maybe we all — myself included — could take a pointer, or stinger, from the fish-o-jelly.

Posted under Abstract, Internets, Life, Politics by Austin