From the Stonewall Riots to the movement for reproductive rights in America, from the burning of the Manusmriti to debates over freedom of speech in India, our actions for change and progress can span a gamut of tactics. We live in a nation where the daily fight for survival is visible on every corner of the streets. But whether you live in a developed country or a developing one; your lives, your human rights, your civic and political freedoms, you have one thing in common: your life is uncommonly influenced by the decisions of oligarchs, politicians and big businesses.

So if you’re an activist, how do you defend your values?

Lily Zheng and Inge Hansen in their book, “The Ethical Sellout: Maintaining Your Integrity in the Age of Compromise,” provide a solution – of sorts. They claim that everyone sells out. No matter what, at least once in your life you will be confronted with a dilemma where you can’t make a choice. Would you choose an option that’s better for the world or an option that is better for you and your loved ones? Or will a middle way be the answer?  

Everyone’s answer to this question differs because humans have different life experiences and brain chemistry. Even a single person’s answer to the above questions would depend on the environment that this question is being asked in. And their answers might change depending on the intensity of issues they face at the given moment. All of this is done by your inner moral compass.

Zheng and Hansen introduce the concept of a moral smoke detector. They explain that when a dilemma is thrown at  you there are two factors that are at work: (a) your moral compass, and (b) your moral smoke detector. A moral compass – exactly like we’ve read and learnt over the years – tells you what your true North is and what beliefs you will stand for no matter what. 

But the concept of a moral compass works in a vacuum. It isn’t the most accurate thing when you’re emotional or triggered. This is where the concept of a smoke detector comes in. It has no other work than to account for where you’re going wrong – with a healthy dose of guilt, shame, anxiety, stress and pressure. 

When a house catches a fire, the smoke detectors’ only work is to detect it and not put it out. The smoke detector just tells you where the fire is. Similarly, the initial and most important work, is to find out that there’s something wrong. Both these factors – your moral compass and your moral smoke detector –  work simultaneously. 

In this book, the authors highlight the importance of intersectionality. They interview people coming from various marginalized and ostracized communities. These interviews – with ‘people like us’ and not just celebrities – help us understand that people view their identities and positions in hierarchies differently depending on their contexts. 

For example, a Dalit queer person is likely to be more worried –  comparatively –  about their caste than about their queerness in India. But in China, the reverse may be true for a queer person from a minority group. Queerphobia, casteism and ethnic discrimination are all life threatening anxieties. But their intensities change according to the environment you are in; in this case, your location.

Imagine, you are a young Dalit man fresh out of undergraduate college and joining the corporate world. You join one of the biggest companies in the country. The position pays you well, but your manager is blatantly casteist and the senior management doesn’t care. It's affecting your mental health; but you need that job. Will you resign? Or will you continue? 

On one side are: your morals, and your health. On the other side: financial stability, and the possibility of a successful career. What do you do?

To navigate selling out unethically in situations like these, Lily and Inge have developed a structure called the “CHANGE framework.” It helps people understand how human societies work and how compromise is, in fact, an everyday thing. The acronym CHANGE stands for the following skills:

1. Compassion: Compassion for others is really important, but it’s equally important to have compassion for oneself. Whether you are on the verge of making an impossible choice or have just made one, you need to be kind to yourself. Compassion also is the basis of building a community. And you need a community – they are what help you retain your composure when contemplating your decisions. Even if it feels like it, you are not alone. You are not the only one who has to make difficult choices. You're not the only one whose identities intersect on multiple levels. 

2. Honesty: Our minds are storytellers. They weave loose ends of irrational thoughts to rationalize the questionable decisions you make. For one to be aware of the compromise they’re making, they need to be honest with themselves.  Honesty is what eventually leads to accountability.

3. Accountability: As the name suggests, this is about owning your choices. Whether a decision has turned out to be positive for you or punitive, it’s YOU who made that decision. If you make a wrong choice, you need to be held accountable, either by yourself or by someone else. This is so you can do better in the future. Being held accountable gives us a more nuanced understanding of the consequences that follow our decisions and choices. 

4. Nuance: Folk stories have always had a good vs bad storyline. There are always heroes vs villains in the blockbuster movies we watch – but that’s not true for the real world. The thing with nuance is to focus on the bigger picture rather than to box yourself into a hypothetical “100% morally correct” theory.

5. Growth: With the understanding of how societies work and how no one can be a pure activist, comes growth. It’s when you embrace your changing identities and environments. And when you are immersed in your culture and surroundings, but also question it at the same time. Growth is when you sit with all the discomforting decisions you’ve made in life and study through those patterns and connect with your true inner values.

6. Exploration: The moment of selling out is not the only time that the decision to do so will affect you. It is every time you think of the decision and regret it. Or, have a battle in your mind about doing the right thing or not. Exploring these thoughts before making a choice makes future trauma easier to digest. Let your mind act like a beginner.  Explore all possible outcomes and consequences before selling out.  And if at the end, your decision is still the same –  then make it. After all, sometimes hard decisions are the right decisions. 

This CHANGE framework is not just a theoretical concept but a practical one too. The writers describe real-life stories with issues that intersect different parts of their identities. Later, these people – just like us – are thrown into tricky situations to make impossible choices. All of this is documented in a way that’s easy to read. The writing style in the book is focused on making theory and complex topics comprehensible. 

I, as a neurodivergent person, had a smooth experience in reading this book. The topics might be heavy, but the writers use clear and simple language. The book is very conversational and it puts you on the spot to think of solutions for various issues. It also shows you a window of the real world and how that situation is tackled. The book creates a stark – but real –  difference between a person’s thought process and their real-life actions.

Many of us, caught up in the daily struggle to live a good life, excel at work, and balance our values with our needs, likely fight a version of this battle in their mind: are they a “good activist” or not? I know I do. If you’re like me, take a chance on The Ethical Sellout. It’s a book that offers a roadmap – and some answers. 

Harshvardhan Bhaskar (he/they) is a queer Dalit artist and writer who works on the themes of caste, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, and human rights. He is currently a member of the Godrej DEI Lab and works on design and media there. They hope to make spaces around them more accessible and intersectional.