Clark at Fox news is an analogy of my life.

[yebrent]

IMO, all this arguing about Clark w/ Fox News comes down to two different views on how we can create positive change in this world.

1. Some believe that participating in or working for any institution that you do not agree with is a betrayal. Attacking a damaging institution from the outside is the only way to effectively cause positive change in the institution.

2. Others believe that to change certain institutions, you need to have positive voices working on the inside for change. That from the inside, you can have a more positive effect on the direction of the institution.

I understand this dichotomy more than most. I am a progressive bay area, Californian who works for a large bank. I am sometimes dismissed by supposedly open minded progressives after they learn that I help approve multi million dollar lines of credit for large corporations. They expect that I must be unhappy in my job and wonder why I haven't quit for some more honorable profession. Even after I explain it to them they usually still are not convinced.

What I tell them is this:

I have been with this bank for 6 years and over that time, I have seen the effect I have had on my coworkers. I can tell that my priority of strong ethics has rubbed off on them. I can tell that my concerns about certain companies environmental practices has impacted how my bank does business with them. I can tell that I am making more of a difference fighting in the belly of the beast than I would be from the outside. I tell them that the longer I am with the bank, the more power I will have to make positive change in the institution.

Also, I explain that how you make your money is only one half of the equation. How you spend your money is as equally important. I buy organic, use public transportation as much as possible, eat at independent restaurants, visit independent theaters, and shop as blue as I can. I attend a lot of concerts often giving tickets to friends, which supports a vibrant musical scene here in the Bay Area. I give away more to charity and politics than I can afford.

This often isn't enough. I shrug my shoulders and write this off as the close minded progressives thinking they have all the answers and know best what all of us should be doing to save our country and the world.

Sometimes it is sad, but over time I have found like minded people who do understand that effective change happens from BOTH pressure from the outside and people fighting for change from the inside.