Cause Cynicism

Shannon had a post on his blog describing an attempt to rally against government sanctions threatening internet radio. And his post got me to thinking – I have never been a big proponent of causes. It as not as though I don’t agree with the motivation and goal of certain causes. I suppose my biggest problem stems from a pessimistic attitude about the actual success of such causes. Do petitions actually work? Does contacting your senator actually work? Do thousands of names or thousands of letters actually sway government officials more than lobbyers? I tend to think no. Just because I think guns are an evil of society that need to be done away with, no matter how many signatures I get, I cannot influence my senator to introduce or vote for gun laws if s/he is in league with the gun companies.

But there are also causes that make little sense to me and I don’t see how the desired outcome is worth all of the effort. So many causes seem trite and though many rally around under the banner of “religious persecution,” the problem may not actually lie with the government or school system or whatever else. For example, though they have died down lately, I felt bombarded with email petitions and actual petitions from Christians wanting to “get prayer back in school.” These petitioners seemed to think that Christianity might become extinct if students could not pray visually. What is worse, they couched this cause as a reaction to persecution. It seems to be that such labeling does a great injustice to the real persecution that Christians endure in the rest of the world. Removing religion (all religions, not just Christianity) from schools is the government’s way of being impartial. It isn’t a Christian government, so why should they have special sympathies for Christianity? More than that, I think that we have bigger issues with our students than their perceived inability to pray. How about the rising pre-marital sex rate, the rising rate of depression among teens, or the presence of violence that seems to pervade our schools?

I tend to think that personal communication and changing worldviews through relationships is the way to affect real change. Sure, my technique is not as broad sweeping as a law change, but we all know that morality is not formed by law keeping. Causes are not a bad thing, as long as I see their validity. By making such a statement I understand that I am not the final say on what is valid. What is pertinent to me may not be so to others and vice versa. Just don’t get mad when I don’t forward the email, sign the sheet, or walk the streets with sign in hand.