Anatomy of a griefer, part 2

I read back over anatomy of a griefer, and I think it came off a little weak. I think I know why too. I was trying to keep it general, when I'm actually trying to make a very personal point.

I'm a griefer. Maybe I don't unplug people's life support over the internet, but I did plant Kudzu and fill the golf course holes with concrete. And that's just what I'll cop to here, since I already mentioned it before I started watching myself. So I'm speaking from my own insight into my own motivations when I talk about why I think griefers do what they do.

So what makes a person decide they're going to attack a system that millions depend on? For no reason other than to break it?

I think at the core, most griefers are simply people who want to make a difference. But the systems we have only have so much capability to absorb change. Because of how they are designed, with decisions being made at the top then handed down, and because of Dunbar's number, only so many people can actually be invovled in decision making. They systems we have seem specifically designed to block bottom up power, and what that means for the potential griefer is that they have no way to make a difference WITHIN the system.

You don't beleive me? How long have the experts known about climate change. Nearly 50 years at this point. How long did it take us to get serious about it? OH, maybe next year? What about our dependance on oil? Didn't we know from the beginning that one day we'd have to change to more renewable? Why wasn't that our priority? Every superthreat could have been prepared for better, some were preventable, and we knew all were coming. But changes are slow if non-existent. How many of us have known our entire lives that we had to make changes, but have not been in a position to do anything?

That's where the griefer comes from. With no legitimate way to make changes, we resort to working outside the system. And after a while it doesn't matter the changes we make are good changes, so long as we have the ability to make change somehow. If there is one most important phrase to take away from this, it is the next sentence. Griefing is empowering. The systems the griefer grew with are disempowering, and hurting them, bringing them down, is empowering. Even if it objectively makes everything worse. Even if it makes things worse for the griefer himself.

Understand that key thing about griefing, that it isn't about the systems or their goals, but entirely about feeling empowered, is the key to stopping this superthreat. Because if we want to stop making griefers, we simply need to give people who want to make a difference legitimate ways to empower themselves.

And by simple, I mean we need to re-envision every how every level of society is organized.