Al Gore on Civil Disobedience

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration."--Al Gore speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative

I've long admired practitioners of civil disobedience from Thoreau, to Gandhi, to Martin Luther King Jr. and it is refreshing to hear somebody of Gore's stature advocating civil disobedience as a legitimate strategy. I, however, am not sure as to the efficacy of such an endeavor aimed at the prevention of "the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration." It seems a little too nuanced of a position (that some coal plants are okay, but only so long as they utilize a certain technology which mitigates their harms) and if there is one thing I've realized from watching the last two election cycles, it's that the American people don't do well with nuance; the American people need "coal bad, solar good."

Taking the example of the civil rights movement (that of the 1950's to 1960's--again, more nuance), we see that people need dramatic images framed in terms of right and wrong. It was the televised broadcasts of innocent men and women being mauled by dogs and sprayed by fire hoses that aroused the conscience of Americans. I think it would be difficult to frame these coal plant acts thusly. Instead, I see them being dismissed as the isolated actions of tree-huggers--not to be taken seriously. That's not to say it's impossible...solely that their work is cut out for them and a proper frame will be a necessity.

One of the most difficult parts will be garnering sustained media attention, because as a society, we have the attention span of gnats. A mass movement is necessary to raise these actions above the din of the 10 second news cycle. Perhaps if a civil disobedience demonstration were planned for the opening of every single new coal plant that didn't possess carbon capture technology it might be meaningful enough to gain some coverage.

Non-violent civil disobedience, distinguished from other lawlessness by a willful acceptance of the penalty, is a tremendously powerful philosophy--one which the medical marijuana legalization movement would do well to adopt. I've always envisioned a rally on the steps of the Capitol Building with hundreds of patients, the more sickly the better, lighting up and subsequently being arrested. We must harness the lessons of the civil rights movement by employing the power of images. By replacing the image in people's minds of a young person gaming the system in order to get high with that of a police officer hauling off a wheelchair bound cancer patient, we can leverage action by politicians. It is much more difficult to dismiss an injustice when you are confronted with the face of the victim.

This was a criticism I had of a march against the DEA's closure of Santa Barbara's cannabis clubs that I recently attended. For every twenty relatively healthy looking people there was one person who looked seriously ill. Now, as a medical cannabis user who probably fits the stereotype of a healthy looking, college age student, I'd like to say that not all of us carry our scars on the outside. However, I also understand the power of framing and the importance of striking visual imagery.

"Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine."- Thoreau

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."- Thoreau

"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is force to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored."- MLK Jr.

“One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”- MLK Jr.

National Coming Out Day

Let me rant for a moment about an incident I had with a coworker that I feel is sadly revealing, but will eventually bring me to a point. Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and the irritating...and my job. I work processing gifts made to a local institution. It's not fulfilling in the least and I frequently enter existential crisis mode, but it pays $18/hour, plus great benefits, which because of my Crohn's disease, are a necessity. We have a new woman working with us in the office who, suffice to say, is not well liked...not for lack of trying as much as severe personality deficits (she can be overbearing--the type that will corner you in your cubicle and tell you about the problems she has with her kids without any prompting). I'll call her Jill.

When the kids downstairs (mostly freshman and sophomores from the nearby university) call to generate pledges, they sometimes leave comments about the person they called for future reference. The new group of callers have proven fond of potty humor (not that I'm not...I just recognize that there's a time and a place for it...and work...not so much) and in the comments section wrote, "did I just fart?" I remarked, "that's what happens when you make listings calling for fun and energetic people instead of professional and hardworking ones." Jill replies, "they should just fire all the drug users."

Being a medical marijuana patient, I took exception to that remark. My coworkers, in unison, chimed in with "if you did that there wouldn't be anybody downstairs." And I, irritated, added, "you obviously never went to college." Certainly it wasn't the best approach, but I'm seldom at my most diplomatic at 8:30 in the morning. She retorts snippily, "I did go to college and I graduated with honors, but that's because I never did drugs--I studied."

My level of irritation rising, I reply "It is possible to do both. I graduated from UCSB with high honors and I happen to be a medical marijuana patient." I wasn't prepared for what she said next: "Well, my Dad was a pothead so I don't buy that." You don't buy it? I'm not selling it to you! Before I could say "sorry your Dad was a crappy parent, but it wasn't the pot's fault," another coworker rightfully intervened and told us to get back to work.

Now, I honestly believe that I could not have made it through college without marijuana to combat the pain, nausea, diarrhea, etc. that are typical of Crohn's disease (an autoimmune disease resulting in chronic inflammation and ulceration of the intestinal lining) and if there's one thing I won't tolerate it's condescension, but I let it go.

My coworker's issues aside though, I feel that one of the major areas of neglect in the drug law reform movement is in combating stereotypes of drug users. Admittedly, this is making headway in popular culture. Harold and Kumar (at least the first one) went a tremendous ways towards depicting 'stoners' in a positive light.

What the world needs, however, is a National Coming Out Day for marijuana smokers. We need people to realize that there are a host of successful individuals, judges, lawyers, doctors, scientists and other professionals who have and still smoke marijuana to no ill effect. Although successful, nobody would be shocked to hear that Snoop Dogg smokes and therefore would do nothing to change people's opinions of the drug. Just like racial prejudice can be combated by knowing multiple successful people of different races, so too can drug user prejudice. Certainly, this is complicated by marijuana's status as an illicit drug, but nobody can be arrested for admitting that they have smoked previously, or even for being high--only for possession. This idea will only work en masse. Without a critical mass of people, any individual could be subject to persecution, but you can't fire half of your workforce. One of the members of NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) once remarked at a national conference that if 1% of marijuana users joined the organization and paid dues they would be the most powerful lobbying group in the nation and pot would be legal. There is strength beyond imagine in numbers, so stand up and be counted!