Mr. Reich: I really liked something you said a month ago on Twitter: "If you respond to what's happened in DC with more cynicism and apathy, the radical right wins completely. Instead: Organize and mobilize!" I'm trying to figure out how to live this out. I'm 30, and halfway towards a Ph.D in computer science. I love the work, but I don't love that most people in my field don't care about politics (or they say they don't, but what they really mean is that they're happy with what the system is doing for them as a privileged white guy, and don't feel they need to change anything) and don't want to use their skills for anything more than increasing the number of clickthroughs on some Web ad. I'm also a pretty disorganized person, so volunteering for something in my spare time probably won't cut it -- I'm too tired in my spare time. I feel like if I'm going to organize for change, it has to be my full-time job.
The problem is, I don't know how; all of my connections are in a field that I'm not particularly inspired to keep working in. I also don't know what; I'm not independently wealthy, so if I'm changing the world, I have to be employed while I'm doing it. So, what would you recommend to a 30-year-old with a liberal arts bachelor's degree and an engineering master's degree (the latter from Berkeley, by the by, and the libertarians in my department were just the beginning of my disenchantment with my academic field) who has no dependents, nothing tying him down to one particular location, who is more or less completely free to do anything, and who wants to do something with his life that will ameliorate social inequality? I'm really hoping the answer isn't law school.
catamorphism65 karma
Mr. Reich: I really liked something you said a month ago on Twitter: "If you respond to what's happened in DC with more cynicism and apathy, the radical right wins completely. Instead: Organize and mobilize!" I'm trying to figure out how to live this out. I'm 30, and halfway towards a Ph.D in computer science. I love the work, but I don't love that most people in my field don't care about politics (or they say they don't, but what they really mean is that they're happy with what the system is doing for them as a privileged white guy, and don't feel they need to change anything) and don't want to use their skills for anything more than increasing the number of clickthroughs on some Web ad. I'm also a pretty disorganized person, so volunteering for something in my spare time probably won't cut it -- I'm too tired in my spare time. I feel like if I'm going to organize for change, it has to be my full-time job.
The problem is, I don't know how; all of my connections are in a field that I'm not particularly inspired to keep working in. I also don't know what; I'm not independently wealthy, so if I'm changing the world, I have to be employed while I'm doing it. So, what would you recommend to a 30-year-old with a liberal arts bachelor's degree and an engineering master's degree (the latter from Berkeley, by the by, and the libertarians in my department were just the beginning of my disenchantment with my academic field) who has no dependents, nothing tying him down to one particular location, who is more or less completely free to do anything, and who wants to do something with his life that will ameliorate social inequality? I'm really hoping the answer isn't law school.
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