What the word 'Activism' really means

The word ‘Activism’ (and ‘Activist’) is another clever piece of subliminal social engineering at work. In a wider sense, the word means being upfront or vocal about something that impacts both society and Humanity at large or trying to change something for the better.

But when a whole new term is used to describe some form of activity, it’s also implied that, albeit in a subtle way, that particular set of behavior falls outside of the ‘norm’, and therefore, is indirectly discouraged.

When anyone says that he/she is an Activist, what’s being implied is that his/her actions are actually outside of the general flow of society. The society we live in just wants you to follow a particular set of rules (read activities), which, in relevant to our times is--work, earn, spend, work harder, earn more, consume more, get your social status up, rinse and repeat. Anything that’s outside of this narrow spectrum, is always mocked and discouraged, although in a pretty subtle way.

But from my viewpoint (pun intended), the word ‘Activism’ takes a whole new meaning and significance. It means--to have an ‘active’ approach towards Life and living in a more ‘action-oriented’ and therefore, ‘alive’ way. As we can all agree, there are about two different approaches one can take in their lives. One is the pessimistic or more ‘passive’ way--just going with the flow and following whatever’s current/trendy/propaganda/ etc. Unfortunately, this approach is more prevalent in the world today.

The root of this problem is the herd mentality that most of us is programmed with from our early days. Everybody wants to stay within a group and nobody wants to be left alone, otherwise, the other kids won’t play with ‘em. Yeah, it’s something that’s rooted in our psyche from back in our childhood days. Cause if you want to control Humanity at large, you got to do it as early as you can--especially when they’re too young and incapable of critical thinking.

Anyway, now let’s get back on topic. The second approach one can take in Life is the more ‘activity-centered’ way--living proactively, taking responsibility, raising awareness, changing things, inspiring others through their actions and beyond. This is what I mean by the word ‘activism’--living in a more ‘active’ and ‘heroic’ way.

Of course, everyone can realize this truth at some point in their lives that we are a lot more than our social and cultural conditioning and are not defined by them in any way. And then, the most logical course of action becomes to live a more ‘pro-active’ way of Life instead of just ticking every box that society gives us.

From my viewpoint, living ‘active’-ly is not really a choice but the only natural way to live. And when one does that, they also have a chance of getting involved in making changes to the collective level of society and beyond.

So to sum it all up--‘Activism’ is not really a term but it’s just the natural way of living. We, as humans, have the gift of incredible capacity towards almost any aspect of Life and it’d be a real shame if all of that potential is wasted, right?