maybe we need the big goals, but we must also have smaller, achievable objectives that we can measure along the way. the big goals keep us focused on the point, the small objectives keep us happy because we see that our work is making a difference.

why, yes, i did just finish a week of project management training, why do you ask? :p

while i think project management is mostly a crock of bullshit, i don’t think this is such a bad idea in our context.

i see from the conversation here that no one is actually disagreeing, just having a difference of opinion about how to get to the ultimate goal.

sort of like how no one in the fray over choice/abortion thinks that abortion is a good idea. the opposing sides just have different opinions about how best to fix the problem.

Eschatology doesn’t have to be about “end times.” The King quote Hafidha used is straight out eschatology. And prophecy is much wider and broader than the way you seem to be painting it. The King quote, again, is straight out prophecy.

I also want to be clear that I didn’t set out writing this post with you and your scripts in mind. I’m picking up from your tone that one or the other of us is supposed to be the odd man out, that one of us is supposed to lose. Or be stupid. I don’t care for that.

I’m writing about the predominant liberal ethos around social justice victories and failures. I don’t like that ethos. And I aim to call it out.

I find it much more demoralizing to abandon the larger goals than to recognize that we’ve still got a long way to go to reach them. And articulating ending racism as a goal is actually quite easy: “One of our goals is to end racism.” I’m content to postpone worrying about definitions of what consititutes an end to racism for a while, but Hafidha Sofia’s definition above would certainly suit me for now.

In terms of the success/defeat issue, on the one hand, you say that it’s a problem with liberals; on the other hand, you say that it’s a problem with fundamentalists and evangelicals. So maybe you’re saying that it’s a problem that everybody has.

But I think you’re making a mistake when you interpret “we still have a long way to go” as “oh, we’re such miserable, sinful failures.” Why make that leap? It may be a part of your script, but it’s not a part of mine.

As far as eschatological implications go, it seems to me that you may be trying to turn a goal into a prophecy. The end of institutional racism need not be an end of the world issue.

These goals are so big that they can’t be articulated. That’s part of the problem. How do you know when you’ve finished ending racism? The goal is so abstract.

In the Christian tradition, things like the end of institutional evil are eschatological questions, are they not? The book of Revelations in particular focuses on the final defeat of institutional evil in the form of Empire/Babylon. And, going back further still, eschatology itself popped up, at least in part, because folks started to perceive that evil would never be ended aside from direct divine intervention.

Back to it being demoralizing, the problem is the script we’re using. Accomplishments are immediately framed by “how far we still have to go,” so that every success becomes a defeat. I’ve seen liberals do this for years. Nothing is ever enough.

It reminds me of the spirituality of fundamentalists and evangelicals. “Hey, I repented, sought forgiveness, and quit committing sin fill-in-the-blank.” “Oh, but you are still so, so sinful. Back to prayer and Bible study, and quickly, before you get cocky!”

I do think that keeping the larger goals in mind is critical to achieving the smaller goals along the way. It’s hard for me to see how this way of thinking is demoralizing.

It seems to me something of a stretch to try to tease out eschatological implications from a big idea (articulated on a powerpoint screen!) whose purpose is to inspire and serve as a call to action.

If it is, then we can ask: What is the eschatology implicit in it? And is that an eschatology we want?

My other point is that we have succeeded, and often, but that we don’t give ourselves credit because our many success pale in comparison to the lofty goal of ending institutional sin as we know it. It’s demoralizing.