Lessons I learned from Frederick Douglass, abolitionist.

1. Expect in-fighting 
2. Expect mobs
3. Diversify your comms strategies 
4. Develop a thick skin 
5. Be a pragmatist 
6. Expect imperfection

• The umpteenth book about a moral hero I’ve read where there’s constant scandal-mongering about him and how often his most persistent enemies are people on his own side.

He had a falling out with one abolitionist leader and faction, who then spent time and money spreading rumors about him and posting flyers around each town in his lecture circuit, calling him a fraud.
Usually this was over what in retrospect seems really trivial things, and surely they could have still worked together or at least peacefully pursue separate strategies (e.g. should they prioritize legal reform or changing public opinion? Did one activist cheat on his wife with a colleague?)

Reading his biography, it's unclear who attacked him more: the slave owners or his fellow abolitionists. 

In-fighting is part of every single movement I’ve ever read about. EA and AI safety are not special in that regard.

“I am not at all surprised when some of those for whom I have lived and labored lift their heels against me. Since the days of Moses such has been the fate of all men earnestly endeavouring to serve the oppressed and unfortunate.”

• He didn’t face internet mobs. He faced actual mobs. Violent ones.

It doesn’t mean internet mobs aren’t also terrible to deal with, but it reminds me to feel grateful for our current state.

If you do advocacy nowadays, you must fear character assassination, but rarely physical assassination (at least in democratic rich countries).

• “The time had passed for arcane argument. His Scottish audiences liked a vaguer kind of eloquence”

Quote from the book where some other abolitionists thought he was bad for the movement because he wasn’t arguing about obscure Constitutional law and was instead trying to appeal to a larger audience with vaguer messages.

Reminds me of the debates over AI safety comms, where some people want things to be precise and dry and maximally credible to academics, and other people want to appeal to a larger audience using emotions, metaphor, and not getting into arcane details

• He was famous for making people laugh and cry in his speeches

Emphasizes that humor is a way to spread your message. People are more likely to listen if you mix in laugher with getting them to look at the darkness.

• He considered it a duty to hope.

He was a leader, and he knew that without hope, people wouldn’t fight.

• He was ahead of his times but also a product of his times

He was ahead of the curve on women’s rights, which is no small feat in the 1800s.

But he was also a temperance advocate, being against alcohol. And he really hated Catholics.

It’s a good reminder to be humble about your ethical beliefs. If you spend a lot of time thinking about ethics and putting it into practice, you’ll likely be ahead of your time in some ways. But you’ll also probably be wrong about some things.

Remember - the road to hell isn’t paved with good intentions. 
​
It’s paved with overconfident intentions.

• Moral suasionist is a word, and I love it

Moral suasion is a persuasive technique that uses rhetorical appeals and persuasion to change a person or group's behavior. It's a non-coercive way to influence people to act in a certain way.

• He struggled with the constant attacks, both from his opponents and his own side, but he learned to deal with it with hope and optimism

Loved this excerpt: Treated as a “deserter from the fold,” he nevertheless, or so he claimed, let his colleagues “search me and probe me to the bottom.” Facing what he considered outright lies, he stood firm against the hailstorm of “side blows, innuendo, dark suspicions, such as avarice, faithlessness, treachery, ingratitude and what not.” Whistling in the graveyard, he assured Smith proudly that he felt “strengthened to bear it without perturbation.”

And this line: “Turning affliction into hope, however many friends he might lose“

• He was a pragmatist. He would work with anybody if they helped him abolish slavery.

“I would unite with anybody to do right,” he said, “and with nobody to do wrong.”

“I contend that I have a right to cooperate with anybody with everybody for the overthrow of slavery”

“Stop seeking purity, he told his critics among radicals, and start with what is possible”

• He was not morally perfect. I have yet to find a moral hero who was

He cheated on his wife. He was racist (against the Irish and Native Americans), prejudiced against Catholics, and overly sensitive to perceived slights.

And yet, he is a moral hero nevertheless.

Don’t expect perfection from anybody, including yourself. Practice the virtues of understanding and forgiveness, and we’re all better off.
​

• The physical copy of this biography is perhaps the best feeling book I’ve ever owned

​Not a lesson learned really, but had to be said.

Seriously, the book has a gorgeous cover, has the cool roughcut edges of the pages, has a properly serious looking “Winner of Pullitzer Prize” award on the front, feels just the right level of heavy, and is just the most satisfying weighty tome.

Referring to the hardcover edition of David W Blight’s biography.

Read more:

All
AI Safety And Pause
Anti Woke And Culture Wars
Charity Entrepreneurship
Fiction And Stories
Happiness And Psychology
Productivity