Risk emerges only from one’s own decision and action, never from inaction

Evidence

The recent women’s movement failed to adequately address the issue of sexist oppression, but that failure does not change the fact that it exists, that we are victimized by it to varying degrees, nor does it free any of us from assuming responsibility for change. Many black women are daily victimized by sexist oppression. More often than not we bear our pain in silence, patiently waiting for a change to come. But neither passive acceptance nor stoic endurance lead to change. Change occurs only when there is action, movement, revolution. The 19th century black female was a woman of action. Her suffering, the harshness of her lot in a racist, sexist world, and her concern for the plight of others motivated her to join feminist struggle. She did not allow the racism of white women’s rights advocates or the sexism of black men to deter her from political involvement. She did not rely on any group to provide her with a blueprint for change. She was a maker of blueprints. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 557 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Danger and risk are closely related but are not the same. The difference does not depend upon whether or not an individual consciously weighs alternatives in contemplating or undertaking a particular course of action. What risk presumes is precisely danger (not necessarily awareness of danger). A person who risks something courts danger, where danger is understood as a threat to desired outcomes. Anyone who takes a “calculated risk” is aware of the threat or threats which a specific course of action brings into play. But it is certainly possible to undertake actions or to be subject to situations which are inherently risky without the individuals involved being aware how risky they are. In other words, they are unaware of the dangers they run. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 90 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Trusting is only knowledge; acting on trust is what carries risk; One can be subject to inherent risks while unaware of the dangers run. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 90; Building mutual trust requires confronting risk rather than avoiding it (+5 more)

Related

• Change comes only through action, not passive acceptance or endurance (similarity 0.83)
• One can be subject to inherent risks while unaware of the dangers run. (similarity 0.81)
• Movements only become transformative when they learn nothing exists naturally. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Trusting is only knowledge; acting on trust is what carries risk #qualifies (0.85)
• One can be subject to inherent risks while unaware of the dangers run. #contradicts (0.85) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 90
• Change comes only through action, not passive acceptance or endurance #corroborates (0.85) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 557
• Trust means predicating one’s actions on others’ risky actions #qualifies (0.80) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2424
• Building mutual trust requires confronting risk rather than avoiding it #qualifies (0.75)
• Every decision permanently shapes the context of later decisions #expands (0.75) — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 567