Using Reasonable Efforts
1.
Welcome to Reasonable Efforts.
So, what’s with the name?
In my line of work, when people agree to “use reasonable efforts”, they’re agreeing to “take all reasonable steps to solve problems” with each other.1 It’s not a high bar. We’re not asking people to be selfless angels, we’re not asking them to bend over backwards and make grand sacrifices. We’re not even asking them to be right all the time. Reasonable efforts don’t “require unreasonable, unwarranted, or impractical efforts and expenditures of time and money out of all proportion to economic reality.”2 What we are asking, though, when we ask someone to use reasonable efforts, is to “promise to act in good faith.”3 We’re asking them to be authentic and to engage honestly.
I think that’s the minimum moral standard we should expect of one another. You should expect reasonable efforts from your leaders. You should expect reasonable efforts from elites and experts. And you should expect reasonable efforts from those bringing you the random content you consume (like me!).
Reasonable Efforts is a project that explores what, exactly, that means; what the consequences are in our lives when we do that, and when we don’t; and what it means to be reasonable, and what it doesn’t. It’s a project about trust, and how to find it. It’s a project dedicated to helping you help yourself during these weird times and, hopefully, beyond.
2.
Let’s set some ground rules, to set you up for what you’re getting into:
First, my job is to be authentic and honest, not “right”. This is an exercise in what it means to be reasonable, not “rational” or “true” or “constructive” or anything else. When I’m wrong (and when I’m right), I promise to walk you through my logic. I promise to show my work as I slouch and crawl towards reasonableness.
Second, I know you haven’t laughed yet, but you will with this next one — I am writing this as a comic, and I want you to read the material with that in mind. No, seriously (well, not seriously, but, you know). Comedy is a pro-social release valve. We laugh when we’re surprised, when we’re tense, and when we encounter something that speaks to our deeper selves. That last one is what Reasonable Efforts is about, and sometimes it’ll cause nothing more than a sharp exhale, or a small grin. That’s close enough to a laugh for me, and that’s what I’m going for.
Third, most of the content on Reasonable Efforts will be free, but some will be available to subscribers only. To subscribe, all you need to do is take me out for coffee once a month. You don’t even need to actually join me for the drink — just click the “Subscribe” button and I’ll know the coffee’s from you.
Subscribers will enjoy at least one piece of exclusive content per week (starting October 2020 or so), in the form of a weekly news-round up — my thoughts on the world today, what you should be paying attention to, and who’s being especially reasonable (or unreasonable), and, as always, why.
Besides the round-up, here’s how I decide what’s free and what’s for subscribers only:
Why this breakdown? Here’s the logic:
I believe the measure of freedom in a society is how much real, actual fun we can have before people start judging us as unreasonable. In our conversations, that means looking at what we can argue about, and what we can joke about. The more stuff that falls in the lower left quadrant, the less fun we’re allowed to have, and vice versa for the upper right.
If you can argue and joke about it, you’re in a safe conversational space, and there’s usually nothing controversial there. Anything I write that falls in this quadrant will be free. But, to be honest, I won’t write much that fits here because it’s mostly boring. You can read about these topics somewhere else.
If you can joke about it, but not argue about it, those are the topics policed by those in power. Those who hope to speak truth to power (but don’t want to, you know, actually fight the power and deal with that whole mess) must do so with their tongue firmly planted in their cheek. My goal here is to enlighten and inspire you crazy assholes that would actually do the fighting. Anything I write in this quadrant will also be free.
If you can argue about it, but not joke about, those are the topics policed by those vying for power. Those who want power but don’t have it aim will grab whatever influence they can, and usually that means trying to control language and culture. Anything I write in this quadrant will be for subscribers only.
And if you can’t argue about it, and you can’t joke about it, then… well, these are those topics that no one really wants you to talk about. Fortunately, despite how the world feels these days, we don’t live in a dystopian hellhole, because there’s not too much in this quadrant worth talking about. There are some, though, especially those that touch on some of the most contradictory and self-destructive parts of our collective experience. Anything I write in this quadrant will also be for subscribers only.
So, to put it plain, I want you to have some skin in the game if you choose to read things that might offend you. It’s like you’re buying a ticket to a comedy show or (for you perverts who still do it) to watch porn in a theater — you know you’re signing up to maybe engage with some strong emotions. You might not like what you see, or what you feel. Or, who knows, maybe it’ll get you off.
That’s why you bought the ticket, isn’t it?
Thanks to all who encouraged me to do this, if only as a joke.