Deploying Oughtas

We 'oughta' learn - there's no shortcut to lasting change.

Many of the changes we long for require cooperation with—or change in—someone else. Often, the bigger the change (e.g., ending homelessness, hunger, war, etc.) the more cooperation is needed. 

Clearly one of the greatest challenges is generating this needed cooperation. Leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King changed history for millions by organizing masses that were suffering terrible oppression. Mother Teresa changed the lives of many by inspiring volunteers and donors to help the poorest of the poor. Regardless of the cause or underlying motivation, the path toward large-scale and lasting change seems to be much longer and harder than most of us are willing to walk–and it relies on inspiring others to join us on that journey.

The apparent shortcut that seems increasingly popular is deploying oughtas to try to motivate collective action. We oughta burn less fossil fuel, buy local, donate more, eat less, etc. The catch is, deploying oughtas toward others merely adds one more to the swarm they already face. In the light of overwhelming and complex problems, adding one more oughta is simply unlikely to be effective. The kind of deep change that lasts seldom results from the implicit shame of another oughta, but instead grows slowly by uniting, nurturing and directing existing motivations.