Being an activist right now must be one of the most mentally demanding roles a person can take on. Not because commitment is lacking, but because reality has become so fragmented, fast-moving, and contradictory that the very foundation of activism—clarity, direction, and moral compass—is constantly being questioned.
We live in a time when everything happens at once. Climate crisis, wars, geopolitical realignments, economic anxiety, identity politics, technological acceleration, and social media amplifying every conflict. For the activist, this creates a constant state of cognitive overload. What matters most right now? What demands action—and what kind of action?
When All Struggles Are Fought in Parallel
In the past, activism could often focus on clearer goals: suffrage, labor rights, environmental toxins, nuclear power, apartheid. Today, all struggles are being fought simultaneously—and often in direct conflict with one another.
Standing up for the climate may mean criticizing industry, yet industry is needed for jobs and social stability. Defending human rights can collide with criticism of religion. Supporting minorities may come into conflict with freedom of speech. Advocating for peace can be perceived as naïveté in the face of aggressive regimes.
For the activist, the world becomes a minefield of loyalties. Every position risks being interpreted as a betrayal of something else.
Social Media – Activism’s Accelerator and Its Enemy
Social media has given activists a megaphone—but also a guillotine. Algorithms reward anger, simplification, and absolute certainty. Nuance disappears. Hesitation is seen as weakness. Self-criticism is framed as betrayal.
There is no longer room for the classic activist who says, “I’m still learning.” Today, you are expected to have a fully formed package of opinions, correct language, and approved symbols—and to update them in real time as public opinion shifts.
Making a mistake, or even expressing yourself clumsily, can lead to digital exile. For many activists, the greatest threat is no longer the state or capital—but their own movement.
Irony as a Survival Strategy
Perhaps that is why irony, satire, and exaggeration have become such common expressions. When the world becomes absurd, people respond with humor—not to diminish the seriousness, but to survive it.
Wearing multiple symbols at once, highlighting contradictions, pushing things to the breaking point—these can be ways of saying: “Do you see how complex this has become?”
Irony becomes a shield against dogmatism. A way to maintain distance from one’s own convictions without completely letting go.
The Identity Crisis of Activism
Another difficulty is that activism has increasingly become an identity rather than an action. You are an activist rather than do activism. This creates constant pressure to perform: to appear at the right demonstrations, share the right posts, use the correct vocabulary.
But when activism becomes identity, every question becomes personal. Criticism is no longer intellectual disagreement—it is perceived as an attack on who you are. This hardens the conversation and exhausts the activist.
Many who were once driven by empathy and a desire to improve the world now speak of burnout, cynicism, and a feeling of never being enough.
When Reality Doesn’t Fit the Narrative
Another heavy burden is that reality refuses to be consistent. People who are oppressed in one context may be oppressors in another. Regimes that oppose the West may simultaneously brutalize their own populations. Movements that speak of freedom may have very narrow definitions of who deserves it.
For the activist, a painful gap opens between ideals and reality. Do you cling to the narrative—or acknowledge complexity and risk losing allies?
It is easier to choose the former. But the price is high: intellectual honesty is sacrificed for belonging.
The Moral Wear and Tear No One Talks About
Constant exposure to suffering, injustice, and catastrophe takes its toll. Activists are expected to be strong, uncompromising, and always “on the right side of history.” But they are also human.
Many carry an inner conflict: the desire to do good collides with the awareness of one’s own limitations. You cannot save everything. You cannot know everything. And sometimes, you are simply wrong.
Living with that awareness—in a climate that rarely allows human vulnerability—is incredibly heavy.
Perhaps the Bravest Act Is to Stay
In a time when everything pushes toward polarization, perhaps the hardest—and most radical—thing is to remain in uncertainty. To dare to say: “I don’t know everything, but I care.”
Being an activist today may be less about having all the answers and more about enduring the unresolved. Continuing to listen. Accepting contradictions. Letting empathy be greater than ideology.
The world will not become simpler. But if activism is to survive as a force for change, it must be allowed to be human again.
And right now—when everything rubs, burns, and screams—that may be the hardest role of all.
By Chris...
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