That may be a little bit cynical. Very often it is people's experience in life that drives them into a particular position over a matter and from there to become active in promoting it. Rather than 'using' their suffering perhaps they see that they can help other people avoid that suffering by being what you call 'activist'. The opposite would be passivity which is no way to change anything that needs to be changed.

Providing a backstory that people can relate to will help to make your argument more persuasive.

that does make sense