Incite from Maria McMillan
Finding antidotes to fanaticism
Maybe it’s just me, but the world and Aotearoa seem to be in particularly dire straits. Is it a revolution we need, or radical change, or an uprising or a withering away of the existing hierarchies of power and corruption? We need something, something new and dazzling, and when do we need it? Now! But when does our passion for change become fanaticism? When does holding a line become fundamentalism? When does refusing to engage with harmful rhetoric become lazy, dehumanising vilification? Are bad words as bad as bad actions? Does reality even exist, or is that too a far-right/commie conspiracy? If everything is fascism how do we talk about real fascism? But if every challenge to the existing paradigm is woke, how do we bring about change?
Welcome to Incite from me, Maria McMillan, long-time lefty feminist activist from New Zealand, writer of absurdist and earnest poetry, sometime essayist, people-centred, Earth-lover, anti-fanatic.
