The Use of Intensity and Passion as Resources for Social Transformation

Baldwin saw his race lynched, beaten, and emotionally tormented, alongside white America’s indifference towards this social problem. He witnessed firsthand the shortcomings of his country. Meanwhile, his father obfuscated this intense reality, which likely paralleled a similarly hidden reality of white people his age whose parents repeatedly eluded such inequalities because it was easier than facing them head-on. For Baldwin, trouncing social injustice requires the white man’s knowledge of how to love the Negro, to love one must suffer reality by facing their fears of experiencing the wicked and unknown. Ironically, the only wicked and unknown is that of the white man’s private fears and longings projected onto the Negro, fear of the burdensome reality that life is tragic and death is inevitable. The Negro more or less accepts his eventual death, since throughout American history he was raped, tortured, humiliated, and experienced a loss of human identity and human authority from confronting the twisted beauty of suffering (Baldwin, 98-99). The Negro was forced to face sensuality, that which Anglo-Teutonic, anti-sexual Whites have not (Baldwin, 43 & 30). â€Å"The [white] person who distrusts himself has no touchstone for reality—for this touchstone can be only oneself† (Baldwin, 43). It is for this reason that the Negro must rise-up, assuming that any potential for social justice rests in his hands. The few relatively conscious whites and relatively conscious blacks must, â€Å"like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others† (Baldwin, 105). Up to this point in American History, blacks and whites have instead experienced universal joylessness (Baldwin, 43). To the white man’s benefit, love for the Negro absolves his ... ...rm their own lives, at the same time the members desire to learn from the students and from inspired self-reflection about how they can transform their own lives. On the other end of the spectrum, extremist examples of passion and intensity used as resources for transformation include groups like Wikileaks.org, Al-Qaida, and the Dove Community Outreach Center. Such resources may invoke the spirit of war, rebellion, and deceit, detract from societal progress and antagonize tensions already rooted in sensitive geopolitical relationships. However, we must recognize that outside the western world, many people see these resources as positive for social and personal transformation. Ascertainable from these diverse resources is that passion and intensity may be leveraged regardless of geographical, political, or social divides, to effect diverse social and personal change.