"An iconoclast originally referred to a person who destroyed icons,
that is, sacred paintings or sculpture."
from the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iconoclast
High-tech workers tend to be on the cutting edge of both work and society,
so it isn't surprising that you will find an iconoclast or two among
our ranks. These are the people who purposely seek out the sacred cows,
the ironclad beliefs of our business and unassailable facts and delight
in mocking, attacking and disproving them. Often, though, these iconoclasts
can forget that not everyone needs such a fervent attack. Not everyone
is part of the great unwashed, and uneducated, masses. There are plenty
of folks out there that are already on their side. When this is forgotten,
these free-thinkers can actually harm their goals by "preaching
to the choir" with a bit too much fervor.
Take a break
Anyone who seeks to change opinions and actions needs to understand
that not every occasion needs to be a teachable moment. You can often
find iconoclasts in online mailing lists, where every message that
is not their own, is fair game for proselytizing their message. This
is not to say their message is unimportant, only that repetition
is not necessarily the best method for spreading your message,
especially
among friends. You need to know when you are among friends so that
your message does not turn into a harangue. No one likes to be told
what they are doing wrong every single day. Sometimes you just need
to take a break, let a message slide, build up your invective for
a truly worthy response.
Those who see their life as a never-ending battle against ignorance
can easily come to believe that no one, other than themselves, truly
understands. They begin to feel isolated and angry, which drives
them to increase the pitch of their remarks and attacks. All this
does,
though, is drive support further and further away. No one wants to
be around someone who can only talk about one topic. They quickly
exhaust any attempts at conversation and, in many cases, it becomes
a monologue.
A monologue that the other person has already heard many times before.
This has exactly the opposite of the intended effect, isolating the
iconoclast even more.
Pick your battles
The secret to being a productive iconoclast is to know your audience.
When you are around liked-minded individuals, you can reduce the
tenor of your rhetoric, You can provide support for your ideas
instead of
bludgeoning people with them. You can tell others about the strides
that are being made. You can point out those people, companies or
governments that most need to change their behaviors.
You cannot, though, treat everyone like your most strident critic.
You can't assume that they haven't heard the message just because
they might not live the message with the same vigor that you do.
You should
never assume that they disagree with all your positions when they
disagree with a portion of them and you should never assume that
they are lesser
people than you simply because your opinions differ. Once an iconoclast
steps over this line, they move into the realm of harassment, not persuasion.
We need iconoclasts in the world. Wrong-headed ideas are deeply embedded
in our cultures and it is only by calling them out that we can hope
to change them. In America we once thought slavery, male-only suffrage
and McCarthyism were pretty good ideas. It was the iconoclasts (abolitinists,
feminists and Edward R. Murrow) that lead the charge to newer, better
ideas. That said, unchecked fervor and a lack of understanding the
audience can lead many iconoclasts down the road to ineffectual harpy,
if they allow it. If they allow themselves to see the world only
as black and white, they are doomed to a downward spiral that will
leave
them feeling even more isolated and cynical about the state of man
and society. Cynicism brings efforts to force others to believe your
message rather than persuade.
Stand up for those things you believe in. Get your message out, but
beware of allowing your fervor to run away with you. Seeing every
conversation as a battle, every meeting as a debate, every non-believer
as a threat
will stunt the importance of your message beneath overbearing personal
behaviors...making it that much harder to accomplish your goals.
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