{"id":1309,"date":"2025-03-11T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:25:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:25:26","slug":"nonprofit-arts-success-in-a-changing-environment-tip-4-you-cant-tell-rhinoceroses-theyre-dumb-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/scenechange\/2025\/03\/11\/nonprofit-arts-success-in-a-changing-environment-tip-4-you-cant-tell-rhinoceroses-theyre-dumb-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Nonprofit Arts Success in a Changing Environment, Tip 4 \u2014 You Can\u2019t Tell Rhinoceroses They\u2019re Dumb Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nor can you force them to admit they were wrong. Because they\u2019re, you know, rhinoceroses.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not surprisingly, the Trump people believe this about their enemies as well. (Image by Alban Gogh from Pixabay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the new\/old world order of Trumpian policy, your arts organization faces the real possibility that, in the face of anti-arts, anti-education, and anti-truth political muckraking euphemistically calling itself \u201cpopulism,\u201d it will be shut down. To combat that, we need ideas to advance the truth that charity is necessary in order to deflate the tires of the oncoming rich-stomping-the-poor bus before it runs over everyone in its path. We can use our not-all-that-bully pulpit to scream that intelligence is the pinnacle, intimating that those that believe they\u2019ve joined a winning scheme are stupid. That didn\u2019t work during the previous four-year Carnival of Souls<\/a><\/em> pretending to be a Trump presidency, and it won\u2019t work now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Illustration by F. Germain. Public Domain, with a teeny-tiny wee modification)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Jill Filipovic wrote about the backlash movement<\/a> from the first term in her February article in Slate, aptly titled, \u201cCan We Resist Better This Time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTrump really was dangerous, and MAGA really did cost lives. That sense of urgency, though, empowered progressive actors who, though well-meaning, routinely misdiagnosed the problems at hand, stipulated a kind of ideological and often linguistic conformity, and imposed a politics of purity that pushed out rather than pulled in many could-be allies by doubling down on positions far outside of the American norm (there\u2019s no such thing as learning loss from COVID shutdowns; shoplifting is fine; sex at birth is \u201cassigned,\u201d with the suggestion of methodlessness, rather than being identified through a method that proves correct for the vast majority of people on Earth). This was all ultimately alienating for a whole lot of voters and galvanizing for MAGA extremists. I\u2019d even say it opened the door for Trump to return.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This is part of the issue of topsy-turvy politics which we discussed in several previous articles. The left has become a group hewn toward perceived order and civility while the right hewed toward perceived freedom and incivility \u2014 all as a response to uncertainty, a pandemic, and the crescendo of the war drums. 50 years ago, the opposite was true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this way, we can predict the next couple of years without having to work terribly hard in doing so. There are no social guardrails at all and the feed-the-poor-to-the-rich train is careening down the tracks, with the affable nods even of those souls who believe they\u2019ll be spared because of loyalty. The arts have been thrown out by the people who voted for a government where this particular brand of freedom holds sway. No council on the arts and humanities. Coming votes on the elimination of arts funding. Private tech trillionaires-to-be running an open shadow government with the full praise of the president do not want to hear, see, or listen to opposing views (even if they\u2019re facts, which is becoming less and less valuable every day). As such, all they have to do is shout that they\u2019re protecting our freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur,\u201d in this case, is a generalized term meaning that which belongs \u2014 and should belong \u2014 to dominant White, Protestant, male society. I hear people discussing The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> to describe this point in history. I\u2019m not as sure. I think that it\u2019s closer to Ionesco\u2019s Rhinoceros<\/em>, with people rushing to a nonconforming conformity, irrespective of the likelihood of extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThere are certain things which enter the minds of even people without one.\u201d \u2013 Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco, \u201cRhinoceros,\u201d Act 1 (Photo by Kevin Folk on Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Your arts organization can\u2019t change the minds of rhinoceroses with reason or argument. Nor can it be mad at those same beasts by calling them stupid animals, hard-headed, or bullies. Just in case you didn\u2019t already know, that\u2019s what they\u2019ll say about you if you try. They already think you\u2019re elitist snobs. It\u2019s just a wee baby step to insist you\u2019re corrupting minds and have an anti-American agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People don\u2019t generally change their minds until it is safe to do so. But in Robert Cialdini\u2019s seminal book on persuasion, Influence<\/em><\/a>, he discussed the six principles of influence: reciprocity, obligation, consistency and commitment, social proof, authority, and scarcity. Here he describes the kind of changemaking ability you will need to successfully navigate your organization\u2019s success despite all forces working against you (note: these are the tools used by the other side as well, leading to their current hold of power):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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