Ethics

Don’t Let Leaders and Activists Dupe You

Duped

Photo Credit: One Hundred Hearts

When trying to lead a righteous movement or advocate for a noble cause, one must have an authentic commitment to truth and justice. You cannot have a genuine commitment to justice if you’re not willing to tell the whole truth, which includes the whole truth about yourself—not just the whole truth about others. It’s easy to tell the truth about others, to expose others, but never forget to give a full account of your truth. Although in this moment of “alternative facts” it may seem that truth and truth-telling don’t matter, they still do. In fact, they’re more important than ever. Those calling themselves leaders and social justice activists have an obligation to tell those they’re leading the whole truth—even when it’s unsettling.

One way to know if someone has integrity is to learn what he or she does in private. Most of the time, of course, we cannot know what people do in private. When they engage in corruption in private, however, that corruption has a way of telling the truth on them in public. Once we discover their corruption, we shouldn’t immediately attempt to justify them and/or their corruption. We have to hold our leaders and social justice activists accountable.

Never deify a human being.

Before you place too much investment in leaders and social justice activists, do the work necessary to gain an understanding of who they really are. Don’t just listen to a few of their speeches. Don’t just attend a few of their rallies. Don’t just look at their nice physical appearance. Research them, ask them probing questions, and discern their values and principles.

Yes, no man or woman is perfect, but do your due diligence to discover if a leader and/or activist you support truly aligns with your values and principles.

If you find out that a leader or activist you support has a record of committing fraudulent acts, will you continue to trust this person? Yes, the person may have engaged in these acts years ago, but was he or she honest with you about past wrongs? When people have committed certain wrongs, no matter how long ago they happened, those misdeeds may warrant reassessing your connection to them. You can value their productive work, but when you continue to lend your support to corrupt people—and “stand by your man or woman”—you become complicit in their corruption.

Integrity is telling the truth when it hurts. Integrity is telling the truth when it may cast you in an undesirable light. Integrity is not misleading people about who you are. Integrity is not permitting people to advertise you as someone you aren’t.

Understand this: If a person does not have integrity, he or she isn’t committed to justice. Why? Because integrity and justice are inextricably linked.

We all have a responsibility to hold ourselves accountable to honoring truth and justice. We all fail truth and justice when we allow people we have exalted, placed on a pedestal, to trample on truth and justice. If we’re willing to let these people lie to us, then we have to question our own commitment to truth and justice.

Ethical principles should reign supreme over unhealthy ties to people.

Closely examine the leaders and social justice activists you support and determine if they’re holding firmly to the values and principles you desire them to maintain. If you discover they aren’t who you thought they were, and aren’t principled individuals, then don’t foolishly continue to lend your support to them.

Make wise decisions about who and what you elect to champion.

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

You Don’t Call Until You Want Something

Black Man Yelling

Stop calling me only when you want something!

Do you know people who don’t call you until they want something?  Do you know people who don’t even want to have anything to do with you until they want something?  If your answer to one or both of the aforementioned queries is yes, then you know people like this can become burdensome and exhausting really fast.  You don’t have to tolerate those individuals anymore.  All you need to do is treat them like they treat you and they will flee from you.

One excuse folks like this will use when you call them out on this issue is “I stay so busy.”  However, when they need something from you, they’re able to find all of the time in the world to talk to you.  “I stay so busy” is simply a lie.  This is language people employ to attempt to camouflage the fact that they only care about what you can do for them and don’t have the slightest concern about you.  When these folks don’t need you, you’re nothing more than an afterthought and footnote.  You need to know that people like this are only using you or attempting to use you.

You may be busy but you’re not “so busy” that you cannot take a few minutes to call someone you always call when you want something

People who call you only when they need something should be more honest and transparent.  Are you afraid to let people know you’re only interested in them for what they can do for you?  Stop telling lies about being “so busy” all the time.  You can find the time to call someone just to say hello or check on them on your way to work or to the store.  Even if you let a person know you don’t have but a few minutes to talk, this will show them you’re interested in them more than just for what they can do for you.  It would seem like you would have enough sense to call folks enough so that it does not seem like you’re just using them, even if it’s really your intention to use them.

When people who only call you when they want something call you or text you, stop returning their calls and text messages.  Shut down all communication with them.  You have to do something to let them know you’re not going to accept this type of behavior from them.  If you continue to allow this type of behavior to occur, then you have to take just as much responsibility as they do.  People will do as much as you allow them.

Don’t feel guilty when you end all communication with people who call you only when they want something.  You have nothing to feel guilty about, considering they’re the individuals responsible for this termination of communication.

If you’ve never given it much thought about when people call you, I encourage you to begin to observe when people call you.  You need to begin to seriously observe if people are calling only when they want something.  Eliminate these individuals from your life and you will see how much you ameliorate your life.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Selling Out to Gain Favor

It’s tremendously disconcerting that people are willing to try to undermine people who are genuinely supportive of them and who they have developed a special bond with in some way. Some people simply don’t care who they have to hurt to get what they want. Some people are willing to disassemble a special bond they have established with others just to mollify their own selfish interests. You could have shared information in confidence with someone and that person can be so consumed with selfishness that he or she will not mind divulging that information to others just to gain favor from those who will be interested in the information and/or who can benefit from the information.

Have you ever shared information with another person who was in the same or similar position as you and the both of you exchanged information that was not to be revealed to anyone else? To gain a job, a vote, friends, acceptance, and etc., has anyone ever used this information against you to receive a quid pro quo from those who don’t support you? Well, if this has never happened to you, you need to know that it can happen and it does happen.

When individuals have not accomplished anything, that is, have no genuine achievements, and are seeking to obtain something to requires genuine accomplishments, you have to watch these individuals. People like this just might sell you out and/or attack you to secure the favor of the people who will be judging their record, a record that doesn’t feature a single authentic accomplishment.

If you have ever been sold out by someone, you need to know that this person will not prosper forever. This person is going to suffer greatly for the wrong that he or she has done to you. What these type of people don’t understand is the people who they have malevolently obtained favor from recognize what type of human beings they are to do what they did. When you are willing to sell out your friends, supporters, family, and others who you have a positive relationship with, this means that you have no morals and standards.

Selling out those who are on your side evinces that you are an empty human being trying to fill yourself up through what you sold people out for to get. The answer to ending your emptiness will not be in what you have gained; the answer to ridding yourself of your emptiness will be in eliminating your selfishness.

When things get to happening to you and nothing seems to go right for you, think about the people who you have sold out to conciliate your selfish interests. You better learn that people will retaliate and will do things to you that are far greater than what you have done. If they do retaliate against you, then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Therefore, go ahead and celebrate while you can and for as long as what you gained lasts. Your celebration is going to be anti-climactic. You need to remember that the people who you sold out have information that they can use against you—don’t forget that! Enjoy your ephemeral and nefarious celebration!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Fear of Those Who Resist Social Cloning and Psychic Slavery

Mental Slavery

What I am often unsettled and unnerved by is the reality that many people always want me to be like them. Because I am willing to be myself, this unsettles, unnerves, and unhouses them in fundamental ways. I am a truly emancipated Black man. This means that I do not allow societal expectations and norms to limit me in any way. Even though I am tremendously happy with being a truly emancipated Black man, this does not stop people from attempting to change me and make me more like them. What I have learned is people want to change me because they do not want me to outshine them, and they do not want me to make them feel uncomfortable and embarrass them in front of their friends and colleagues. The purpose of this article is to explain the phenomenon of “social cloning,” explain the problems “social cloning” engenders, and elucidate why it is important to resist.

I know you have to be saying—what is “social cloning”? Just to make my definition clear to you, “social cloning” is the process by which people force others to be more like them or exactly like them. It seems that people do not want you to be “different.” For some reason, “difference” threatens the safety of their embracement of hegemony, the status quo, and societal expectations and norms. Fortunately, there are some people, like me, who find simply embracing hegemony, the status quo, and societal expectations and norms to be problematic. What seems to be the goal of those who try to force people to be just like them is to allow themselves to remain safe and comfortable in their limited world of possibilities. The reason why they have limited possibilities is they have self-imposed a life of slavery on themselves. They allow themselves to fall prey to psychic slavery. As we all know, this is the most damaging form of slavery because it has the potential to last forever.

Unfortunately, many Black people allow themselves to be victimized by self-imposed psychic slavery. They are not willing to live a free life—a life without limits. While I am certainly not advocating that people should not be law-abiding citizens, I am arguing for people to do the things that please them most. You should not live a life that is based on what other people think that you should be and what they think you should be doing. You also should not live a life that is not real. I see so many unhappy people because they are living lives and doing things that they do not want to do. For example, I know many people who get married, have babies, maintain heterosexual relationships, try to act like thugs, pretend to be straight, but these things are not really what they want to be and/or do. They just do these things so that they will not be considered “different.” For many people, being “different” is not something that they can handle. It is almost like being dirty: When one gets dirty, there is always this feeling that you need to be cleansed. Living a socially cloned life and life of self-imposed psychic slavery has to be a miserable life. Life is too short—one should live life with much more freedom and with much more concern for what he or she can uniquely contribute to the world.

I am often criticized for virtually everything that I do—simply because I am a truly emancipated Black man. Efforts to criticize my freedom-saturated actions are aimed at trying to make me stop doing things that are outside of the norm, and people want me to stop making them have to constantly live with the reality that they are unwilling to live a life of Truth, instead of a life of falsehoods. Because I am such a compassionate person, I want my readers to know that I am not attacking those who allow themselves to be socially cloned and be victimized by a self-imposed psychic slavery. I simply have to tell them the Truth. As I often say, justice is what love looks like in public. As a person who fights for justice, I have to tell people that living a lie is a self-denial of experiencing and enjoying the fullness of the Earth.

You can always identify those people who live a life of self-imposed psychic slavery and who have been socially cloned: These are the people who are always pointing out the harm in everything that you do that goes against the status quo. What people really would like for people who resist social cloning and psychic slavery to do is just sit down and shut up. Please do not succumb to this pressure. I know that it can often be hard to resist and can be tremendously unpopular. The world, however, needs people who are willing to be “different” and needs people who are willing to take “unpopular” positions and actions. Just think about it: When you take unpopular positions and actions and are willing to be different, you will be in the company of the greatest man you can ever know: Jesus. Jesus took unpopular positions and actions and was willing to be different.

People know the difference between real and fake, so please do not think that you are fooling anybody. When you work so hard to put on false images, the world knows that these are false images, so stop investing great time in maintaining these images. The people who really gain the real respect of people are the people who are authentic. In order to be authentic, you must be guided by transparency in nearly all that you do and say. I really hope that people will begin to improve the world dramatically by offering us your authenticity and not your socially cloned selves. I long for a day when real people will rise up and make this world a truly better place to live in, a place where true and pervasive freedom can blossom.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

Principle Matters

Just like the tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved. Recently, people got together and attempted to derail my efforts to pursue a fascinating opportunity. They used lies and unethical tactics to try to defeat me. While they may think that they have won the battle, I am going to win the war! Their goal was to try to destroy me and take away what is inside of me that makes me so great. Envy and jealous motivated their efforts. The purpose of this article, however, is not to give the Enemy victory, but to encourage you to stay motivated and resolved—no matter what the Enemy tries to do to you.

One of the dimensions of Antonio Maurice Daniels that I am most proud of is the fact that he will never sacrifice his principle for anything or anybody. We need more people who have the courage to maintain their principle, even when it might cost them something in the short term. When you are willing to sacrifice your principle for temporary gain, you are simply prostituting your body; that is, you are selling yourself for a quick and easy return. We have to understand that quick and easy returns have no staying power. If your life is going to matter, you are going to have to learn how to be willing to lose something. If you matter, the Enemy is going to take some things from you at some point. What will matter will not be what you lost, but how you pursued justice in recovering what you have lost.

I look forward to a day when we will rise beyond the superficial and move to the substantial. We need to move from the trivial to Truth. You cannot allow yourself to fall prey to the trivial and the superficial—you must reach beyond them. I am learning each day that the Lord will take care of my enemies. I used to think that it was necessary for me to respond to everything that my enemies did to me. Unfortunately, responding to everything that my enemies did to me was tremendously exhausting. I have adopted an approach of letting God handle them, because when I let Him handle them, they are defeated in ways that I could never have fathomed. My enemies are now restless because God will not allow them to rest on their sin. If you are one of my enemies and you happen to be reading this, please know that your current situation will not improve until you get things right with me.

I will never give the Enemy victory. I will stand up against the Enemy’s devices because I know that greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world. It never ceases to amaze me how people will go out their way to try to do harm to me. They always lose, however. I want you all to know that what God has for you—it already is!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison