Armchair Politician or Advocate for Change?

Armchair Politician or Advocate for Change?

Armchair politicians: those who believe they can put things right in the world – from the comfort the anonymous dim haze of a computer monitor.

Also defined as: Social Media Rant-Mongers (and admit it… we’ve all done it!)

We rant… and more often than not, we keep it “not really aimed at anyone in particular” but laden it with a huge spoonful of “you know who you are”…. (even if they are not your Facebook friend / Twitter follower / LinkedIn contact.

We moan, because

• a) It helps us to feel as if we’re actually doing something about the situation
• b) it gives us a sense of belonging because everyone else is doing it
• c) it helps us to unleash some of that frustrated energy
• c) we just couldn’t be bothered to go against the grain and DO something about the situation.

So inevitably, we rant at those who DO want to be our friends, who DO want to hear what we have to say, who DO already support us (generally). What good is that at all?

I received an email a little while back, which made me chuckle. The intention of the email was to have a moan about a situation that has become quite a hot topic for one of our customers. The email was not constructive, nor was it unbiased. It was simply a good-old-fashioned-I’ll-stand-up-for-what-I-believe-in-but-not-too-much-in-case-someone-objects moan. The subject of the email was in a question format, however, it was delivered as rhetorical, and ending with a sentence that starts with the words, “I just don’t see…”.  (We all love those).
What made me chuckle is that the sender did not, by any means, want to be associated with the content of the mail, nor did they want their name to be mentioned anywhere.

I have to ask – what good is an objection if you are not willing to:

• a) raise your concern with the correct people who are able to make a difference in the first place
• b) stand by your objection and risk being disagreed with.

Does the fact that you portray yourself as a moaner MAKE me want to get involved with your cause and join you in your fight, or does it merely just make me roll my eyes, and hit the big red X in the top right hand corner of my screen?

The reality is, many of us (and I include myself) have become experts at tv-watching, armchair-straddling, political council-ling. When the going gets tough, there are VERY few of us who will actually have the courage to stand up for our convictions, and roll our sleeves up to get involved with that which will help to improve the apparent dire situation. We appear to choose our moan-audience so well – as they are always there with an ear, and an equal moan.

How about you flip the situation. Next time, when you catch yourself with a moan and a grumble on the tip of your tongue, why not ask yourself the very simple, and succinct question, “What can I (or my business) do to help the situation?”. Strangely enough, when you ask THAT question, you’ll be pleased to discover that there are a whole bunch of us who (surprisingly) share your positive take – and are willing to be your action-audience.