This phenomenon happens when we least expect it. Silent sabotage comes in many varieties. Here are some of the most common forms for writers.
So what can you do about this silent sabotage, this automatic negative thinking? Remember, where the mind goes, the man follows.
In the case of slavery, sabotage generally constituted an act of deliberate subversion or destruction of property conducted by slaves against their slave masters. Black slaves often engaged in a variety of forms of sabotage that caused great concern and financial loss for their slave masters. Some slaves performed open acts of sabotage, whereas others manipulated the system of slavery through covert efforts. Their actions helped slaves assert their political agency in a system designed to deny them that autonomy.
The power of white slaveholders over slaves was never total. Enslaved people of African descent relied upon a variety of forms of everyday resistance to challenge the authority of their owners and transform the conditions under which they lived. For former slave Matthew Hume, sabotage was an important tool with which he could express his discontent with work regimes and effectively shape future outcomes. As a child Hume recalled being placed in the field alongside adult laborers to cultivate crops. However, the farming implement with which Hume was provided was inadequate to the task and ensured that he could not keep up with his fellow workers or hear what they were talking about. Knowing that his concerns would not be taken seriously by the overseer, Hume decided to take action into his own hands by striking the hoe against a large rock and breaking it. Hume recalled narrowly missing a whipping and receiving a new tool to replace the old one. After this Hume could keep near enough to hear what the other workers were talking about. Acts of everyday resistance such as Hume's challenged the authority of whites and demonstrated the agency of enslaved people of African descent.