Kneel before me, for I am an ... Activist!

Simon

I thought it was just me that had a negative view of people who proclaim themselves to be activists.

But no, it seems I'm not alone!

vienne

The didn't ask me, but I'd have ticked "very negative."

ozziepost

My impression of the good folk who make these videos and label themselves as activists is that they are still early in their journey from dubdom, they can’t let go.

There is a whole wonderful world out there and hopefully they will find it.

Cheers,

Ozzie 🍷

NonCoinCollector

To me an activist is simply a rebranded word for troublemaker. This goes double for climate activist.

Listener

I think a lot of ex JW activists may use that term simply with reference to the idea that they actively support work against the Watchtower organization.

The Miriam Webster dictionary states

: one who advocates or practices activism : a person who uses or supports strong actions (such as public protests) in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue

Lloyd coined the phrase "aggressive activism" and included public protests in this term. He did this to distinguish his type of activism as being acceptable as opposed to actions of other JWs as being unacceptable. However, what he is doing as opposed to other activists fall under the same definition.

He's simply changed the dictionary term of 'strong' to 'aggressive'

It's not activism that most ex JWs provide, it's support, encouragement and exposure.

But where do you draw the line of whether an ex JW is an activist or not?

For instance, I gather Simon wouldn't consider himself an activist and I doubt Raymond Franz would.

LoveUniHateExams

To me, an activist is someone who is obsessed with one thing.

As a result of this, they often can't see the bigger picture.

E.g. Just Stop Oil activists want all of us to stop using oil now.

And we just can't do that. We can only transition from oil to more environmentally-friendly options over a period of time.

Also, I note a lot of activists are intellectually dishonest in their arguments, again because of their tendency toward monomania. Some opinions (e.g. 'trans women aren't women') simply won't be engaged with.

TonusOH

The phrase 'aggressive activism' seems like a redundant term, since activism is itself an aggressive approach to an issue. And that is probably why the poll shows such a negative view of it. Like LUHE said, I tend to think of activists as people who are so focused on an issue that they lose any sense of balance and annoy/anger everyone by never turning their activism off. Like Evans, most activists feel empowered by their self-identification- being an activist means you are doing something important and meaningful with your life, unlike the uncaring plebes all around you. It's almost designed for narcissistic personalities.

truth_b_known

How about "Reluctant" Activists?

GabeAthouse

Even worse than 'activist' is people whose profession is described as 'influencer'. God Almighty. For 15 seconds after reading the term, I just want them to choke on whatever they eat next.