all jokes and memes aside, the situation im seeing now really deeply terrifies me. Im getting out to protest but i know at any second i could be arrested, kidnapped, or even killed and the police would not be held accountable. how do yall lefties deal with the paranoia and hopelessness?
I know deep down that I have to keep going, keep fighting, keep trying to build something new and different. if I get hurt or die in the process, okay, that was going to happen anyway. if you're white, cis, and male (I am not any of these), then maybe it seems like there is actually an alternative. fascism annihilates itself, there's no real refuge in shutting down, internalizing the fear, and toeing their line. eventually they will come for all of us. if I watch them take the people I love first, I've only made it easier to come for me next. and they will. fascism always does.
there's no hope in hiding. there's no hope in sitting still and watching the darkness swallow you whole. there's no hope that you'll be overlooked, in passing for the majority identity. the clip in the OP, what's happening in Portland -- the kidnappings, the brutality -- they're done to make you feel fear. just enough fear and, they think, you'll seek refuge in these false hopes. you, I, we all know that they aren't real but with enough fear you can shut that sense of reality up and adopt the "realism", the "pragmatism" they offer you in it's place.
the fear is rational. we all feel it. it's real and it's valid. but the paranoia and helplessness are as much weapons being turned against you to cloud your judgement and once set aside, there's only one path any of us can take: planning ahead for what you can, accepting the consequences for what you cannot.
what's the alternative? giving up and dying? fat chance. they can come take me, my health, my life but I know what my best odds for survival are: to build the community that can shelter me through this storm, that can take power and shelter us all.
all jokes and memes aside, the situation im seeing now really deeply terrifies me. Im getting out to protest but i know at any second i could be arrested, kidnapped, or even killed and the police would not be held accountable. how do yall lefties deal with the paranoia and hopelessness?
Pessimism of the mind, optimism of the spirit.
Also consider learning to operate and owning a firearm
Learn from people who've been on the ground for awhile.
Here's a great thread on twitter about a bunch of different things related to protest: https://twitter.com/OccupiedSeattle/status/1279186579286720512
I know deep down that I have to keep going, keep fighting, keep trying to build something new and different. if I get hurt or die in the process, okay, that was going to happen anyway. if you're white, cis, and male (I am not any of these), then maybe it seems like there is actually an alternative. fascism annihilates itself, there's no real refuge in shutting down, internalizing the fear, and toeing their line. eventually they will come for all of us. if I watch them take the people I love first, I've only made it easier to come for me next. and they will. fascism always does.
there's no hope in hiding. there's no hope in sitting still and watching the darkness swallow you whole. there's no hope that you'll be overlooked, in passing for the majority identity. the clip in the OP, what's happening in Portland -- the kidnappings, the brutality -- they're done to make you feel fear. just enough fear and, they think, you'll seek refuge in these false hopes. you, I, we all know that they aren't real but with enough fear you can shut that sense of reality up and adopt the "realism", the "pragmatism" they offer you in it's place.
the fear is rational. we all feel it. it's real and it's valid. but the paranoia and helplessness are as much weapons being turned against you to cloud your judgement and once set aside, there's only one path any of us can take: planning ahead for what you can, accepting the consequences for what you cannot.
what's the alternative? giving up and dying? fat chance. they can come take me, my health, my life but I know what my best odds for survival are: to build the community that can shelter me through this storm, that can take power and shelter us all.