I love this! I have been seeing the need for more fun, to be less serious, address loneliness, etc for awhile and I’m glad others notice this too. I have been curious, though, about how to jump people from the fun to political, especially when political stuff feels scary. If people show up to watch sports, when does inserting political stuff feels scary like a bait-and-switch? When does it not? I’m a narrative strategist, not an organizer, so I might be overthinking it but I have been wondering about this for a long time.
I love this question. I agree with the premise as outlined but I've also experienced an inverse when people have treated the fun as the only form of organizing, and the lack of desire to move into the realm of making clear organizing goals leads to liberal /lefty friend groups disguised as an organizing hub. So how to balance is a big wondering
Great stuff! I've been a local organizer in the animal activism movement for 6+ years and I see a lot of the same patterns playing out in our little corner of the activist world. We have a tendency to keep asking for more from our activists without thinking about what we can give back and how we can make their lives better.
I appreciated your referencing the general loneliness crisis and I think we as organizers can underestimate how radical it can be to simply provide a space for community to grow. A lot of the social and literal city infrastructure for communities has been fraying in the past 75 years (a la Bowling Alone). Creating trusted local networks where people look out for each other and can eventually mobilize on each others' behalf is a big step towards a healthy world and incidentally also a powerful political base.
Spot on. I started joinphilly.com last year unintentionally under this premise. I immediately got sucked in to the community/belonging/civic connection space and found that everyone was talking to themselves waving the "civic" and "democracy" banners... failing to meet people where they are. Join Philly was successful from the start, I think, because we led with making it fun and accessible. And then once the leaders and members of clubs were active and engaged give them a fist bump and say "love what you're doing, did you know that you're also actually saving democracy a bit. Here's what else you can do..."
Dakota -- I thoroughly agree with every word of brilliance you have written here. This is such an excellent analysis of what we need to keep our eye on, stay connected and grounded, more than ever. Spot on, friend. Gratitude to you for putting this into the universe.
Yes! Lots of good lessons in here. We gotta make the revolution look irresistible!
I organize in Pennsylvania around enacting Ranked Choice Voting. Something we do that really has been successful at engaging younger folks / politically disillusioned people is by doing fun “ranking” events. It’s a way to meet people where they are at, and not front load the politics, and let people experience ranked choice voting through ranking a favorite beer or ice cream flavor. It’s about prioritizing building community and strong friendships first, then moving people into that deeper organizing work. :-)
Insightful post. The lack of joy in leftwing Gen Z spaces also stems from behavioral issues. These spaces tend to be ideologically rigid and seize upon any minor disagreement by newcomers as a pretext for virtue signaling and "othering" them in the process. Such intolerance can be toxic.
No one's idea of fun involves listening to a PhD student at a bar lecture someone else about being insufficiently progressive. By comparison, rightward spaces—such as Discord channels—tend to be chaotic free-for-alls where the craziest, most nihilistic opinions get the most applause.
Somehow, both leftwing and rightwing political spaces have embraced the worst aspects of Gen Z subculture but in different ways... Leftwing spaces embraced the subculture's blame storming and virtue signaling, while rightwing spaces embraced the subculture's batshit crazy nihilism.
Accordingly, many Gen Zs say they prefer meet-up groups populated by Millennials as they tend to be less intolerant, less extreme, and more welcoming. There might be some truth to that.
There is a Working Families Party chapter in Kansas City with such fertile ground for community support. Parents (I'm a new one) are over stretched, dying for camaraderie, and looking for community. But as far as I can tell, that group mostly just shares progressive memes on Instagram. The possibilities for family-friendly events are endless. And since I'm not seeing it, I guess that means I need to just get involved in making it happen.
I do think it makes sense to build that community with your political affiliation clear up front. A generic dude's game night seems like if it could lead to critical convos about tariffs, it could also lead to convos about pulling back women's rights to bolster the birth rate. I think it makes sense to be clearly progressive at the outset, but without, as you say, an immediate ulterior motive beyond simply building community.
I'm not an organizer, just an interested participant in things like this, but when I look at the groups I've been involved with, the big piece I see missing is really clear communication around how people get involved. Here is our next game night. Here is our communication channel. Here's how often we meet. Here's what people bring to the potluck. A lot of times I've just thrown my email on a list, not gotten quick follow up, not been able to find online when the next meeting is, so I just float away from it.
Great article @Dakota
I love this! I have been seeing the need for more fun, to be less serious, address loneliness, etc for awhile and I’m glad others notice this too. I have been curious, though, about how to jump people from the fun to political, especially when political stuff feels scary. If people show up to watch sports, when does inserting political stuff feels scary like a bait-and-switch? When does it not? I’m a narrative strategist, not an organizer, so I might be overthinking it but I have been wondering about this for a long time.
I love this question. I agree with the premise as outlined but I've also experienced an inverse when people have treated the fun as the only form of organizing, and the lack of desire to move into the realm of making clear organizing goals leads to liberal /lefty friend groups disguised as an organizing hub. So how to balance is a big wondering
Great stuff! I've been a local organizer in the animal activism movement for 6+ years and I see a lot of the same patterns playing out in our little corner of the activist world. We have a tendency to keep asking for more from our activists without thinking about what we can give back and how we can make their lives better.
I appreciated your referencing the general loneliness crisis and I think we as organizers can underestimate how radical it can be to simply provide a space for community to grow. A lot of the social and literal city infrastructure for communities has been fraying in the past 75 years (a la Bowling Alone). Creating trusted local networks where people look out for each other and can eventually mobilize on each others' behalf is a big step towards a healthy world and incidentally also a powerful political base.
Spot on. I started joinphilly.com last year unintentionally under this premise. I immediately got sucked in to the community/belonging/civic connection space and found that everyone was talking to themselves waving the "civic" and "democracy" banners... failing to meet people where they are. Join Philly was successful from the start, I think, because we led with making it fun and accessible. And then once the leaders and members of clubs were active and engaged give them a fist bump and say "love what you're doing, did you know that you're also actually saving democracy a bit. Here's what else you can do..."
Love what you're doing!
This is absolutely spot on!
Dakota -- I thoroughly agree with every word of brilliance you have written here. This is such an excellent analysis of what we need to keep our eye on, stay connected and grounded, more than ever. Spot on, friend. Gratitude to you for putting this into the universe.
Yes! Lots of good lessons in here. We gotta make the revolution look irresistible!
I organize in Pennsylvania around enacting Ranked Choice Voting. Something we do that really has been successful at engaging younger folks / politically disillusioned people is by doing fun “ranking” events. It’s a way to meet people where they are at, and not front load the politics, and let people experience ranked choice voting through ranking a favorite beer or ice cream flavor. It’s about prioritizing building community and strong friendships first, then moving people into that deeper organizing work. :-)
Insightful post. The lack of joy in leftwing Gen Z spaces also stems from behavioral issues. These spaces tend to be ideologically rigid and seize upon any minor disagreement by newcomers as a pretext for virtue signaling and "othering" them in the process. Such intolerance can be toxic.
No one's idea of fun involves listening to a PhD student at a bar lecture someone else about being insufficiently progressive. By comparison, rightward spaces—such as Discord channels—tend to be chaotic free-for-alls where the craziest, most nihilistic opinions get the most applause.
Somehow, both leftwing and rightwing political spaces have embraced the worst aspects of Gen Z subculture but in different ways... Leftwing spaces embraced the subculture's blame storming and virtue signaling, while rightwing spaces embraced the subculture's batshit crazy nihilism.
Accordingly, many Gen Zs say they prefer meet-up groups populated by Millennials as they tend to be less intolerant, less extreme, and more welcoming. There might be some truth to that.
There is a Working Families Party chapter in Kansas City with such fertile ground for community support. Parents (I'm a new one) are over stretched, dying for camaraderie, and looking for community. But as far as I can tell, that group mostly just shares progressive memes on Instagram. The possibilities for family-friendly events are endless. And since I'm not seeing it, I guess that means I need to just get involved in making it happen.
I do think it makes sense to build that community with your political affiliation clear up front. A generic dude's game night seems like if it could lead to critical convos about tariffs, it could also lead to convos about pulling back women's rights to bolster the birth rate. I think it makes sense to be clearly progressive at the outset, but without, as you say, an immediate ulterior motive beyond simply building community.
I'm not an organizer, just an interested participant in things like this, but when I look at the groups I've been involved with, the big piece I see missing is really clear communication around how people get involved. Here is our next game night. Here is our communication channel. Here's how often we meet. Here's what people bring to the potluck. A lot of times I've just thrown my email on a list, not gotten quick follow up, not been able to find online when the next meeting is, so I just float away from it.
Verry interesting piece. Good lessons