In the Quartz post ‘The most successful activists don’t fight backlash, they embrace it‘, the author explains how activists of such causes as gay, immigration climate change etc do in fact embrace resistance to progress their cause.
Of course when there is change, there is resistance: “Where there are revolutions, protests, and massive legislative changes, there is always backlash. Sometimes this backlash is more powerful and influential than the initial change itself. Even simple acts of persuasion are readily met with a counterargument. Whether the interactions are big or small, humans are conditioned to fight back.”
However, “this doesn’t mean that progress is unattainable. Accepting backlash as inevitable can be a powerful way of conducting advocacy because it allows you to take control of the narrative and steer it towards your goals. There are two ways to embrace backlash and leverage it for change. Stoke it, or repurpose it.”. Stoking backlash means heightening the opposition getting your group united in opposing the resistance; re-purposing the backlash means playing with its expression form to create an opposite result.
It is good to meet resistance: it means we are actually achieving to move something. And embracing backlash and resistance is the way to progress, instead of opposing straight up. Would you find situations where the force should come from your opponent?
