A satirical article about Jordan Peterson's recovery from drugs inspires some thoughts on the nature of power

https://thebeaverton.com/2020/02/postmedia-columnists-take-a-break-from-dehumanizing-drug-users-to-humanize-jordan-petersons-drug-problem/?fbclid=IwAR3XE2rbHW0kc0LmCc5951_lg2yRQmAQ_REhvucISgynj2FEqNolszRRslA

I have been reflecting lately a lot on power.

The way in which an action is perceived differently depending on how much power the person has. The very same action can elicit compassion or punishment! Even the legal system is implicated as is sadly obvious from the outcomes of sentencing of black and white folks.

In our culture, money is mainly the way we have power, but power can also be celebrity, as in Peterson's case, or doubly so if the celebrity is aligned with the powerful.

What can we do about this, really? Personally I believe there are two major ways to have power. One, your own personal dignity and two, collective action.

Power isn't even really about beliefs or ideologies. It doesn't matter about left or right, Christian or atheist, etc etc, all the binaries and gray areas between them we can think of. Power is very contextual and very historical, and it compounds through time, resources, incidences and connections.
You can slowly change people's relationship to power in themselves from 'power over' to 'power with' through personal development work and healing. It's a long road but it's worth it.

In the short term, collective action grounded in personal dignity is the only means to stand up to self-interested power.

If you stay grounded in personal dignity, you create a system where you're enacting power that is non-corrupt because dignity welcomes people, including self, to be well, rather than tries to control people for exploitation.

So stay grounded in your own personal dignity power and reach out to others doing same and take the kind of power that changes everyone for the better; power grounded in respect for individual rights with collaboration.

It's a slow process but every moment makes a difference.