From the article: Social workers started .. asked me if I felt safe in my home. They asked if I was okay.
I lied because I'd been taught a valuable lesson ... When you complain, people judge you.
It doesn't matter what you're complaining about. It doesn't matter what you're protesting or whistle-blowing.
It doesn't matter if your life is at stake. It doesn't matter if thousands of lives are at stake. It doesn't matter if the fate of humanity is at stake.
Someone's first instinct is to suspect you. It's to accuse you of lying. It's to label you a troublemaker.
My longish life repeatedly taught me the above is absolutely true.
It also taught me a corollary:
No one, anywhere, wants to clean up their own house.
Political parties. Gov agencies. NGOs. 501c3. Worldwide religion. Local meeting house. Think tank. Grassroots org.
When someone identifies dysfunction, entropy and corruption - when someone works out a legitimately better way and wants to be part of the solution: They can expect suspicion, accusation and being labeled.
It's often couched at first. It's increasingly open if the 'troublemaker' persists.
Size matters, in my experience. Large orgs can have lots of pragmatic folks who get reality. They try to not overly focus on how they contribute. Which I get.
In Smaller/Local orgs, it's common for members to deny they'd ever discourage improvement - even while they actively marginalize 'troublemakers'. Which I have never understood.
None of this is absolute and unvarying but it's common to the point of being the rule.
I lied because I'd been taught a valuable lesson ... When you complain, people judge you.
It doesn't matter what you're complaining about. It doesn't matter what you're protesting or whistle-blowing.
It doesn't matter if your life is at stake. It doesn't matter if thousands of lives are at stake. It doesn't matter if the fate of humanity is at stake.
Someone's first instinct is to suspect you. It's to accuse you of lying. It's to label you a troublemaker.
My longish life repeatedly taught me the above is absolutely true.
It also taught me a corollary:
Political parties. Gov agencies. NGOs. 501c3. Worldwide religion. Local meeting house. Think tank. Grassroots org.When someone identifies dysfunction, entropy and corruption - when someone works out a legitimately better way and wants to be part of the solution: They can expect suspicion, accusation and being labeled.
It's often couched at first. It's increasingly open if the 'troublemaker' persists.
Size matters, in my experience. Large orgs can have lots of pragmatic folks who get reality. They try to not overly focus on how they contribute. Which I get.
In Smaller/Local orgs, it's common for members to deny they'd ever discourage improvement - even while they actively marginalize 'troublemakers'. Which I have never understood.
None of this is absolute and unvarying but it's common to the point of being the rule.