That’s a poignant image. Dude’s just gone, his existence has been erased from the USA. These fuckers are trying to say it’s an economic thing but who’s running that ice cream cart now? No one. No one is now paying the taxes that he used to. No one is now circulating currency in the local economy. That’s gone now.
And this whole Iranian thing. HOLY SHIT. These people DON’T LIKE the Ayatollah. NONE OF THEM. That’s why they are here. But noooooo, country of origin is more important than belief.
Reminds me of the trailer to A Day Without a Mexican, a film that is now more relevant than ever.
Holy shit that photo hits hard.
they (we) need to do something before there’s no one left to do anything. peaceful protesting was a good effort, but changed nothing. same as occupy wall street, BLM,
#metoo. no kings was nationwide, and changed literally nothingA LOT of important lessons, orgs, new theory, and new praxis grew out of both Occupy and the uprisings of 2020. I promise you, people are ready to use a diverse array of tactics to win this fight, but there’s one crucial thing still missing: critical mass. If you don’t have a large enough group of people, you get bowled over.
Things like No Kings (a reformist effort from well meaning, but status quo-protecting liberals), are largely toothless, but they DO have the positive side effect of radicalizing liberals. It’s like revolutionary Kindergarten.
So stuff like No Kings, while kind of annoying and not really anything, feed into that pool of people necessary to achieve that critical mass.
We’re getting there, but moving too fast can ensure a bloody and ultimately defeated revolution and help to cement authoritarian rule, if you’re not careful.
Start building networks with the people around you. Get to know your neighbors. Lend out your tools. Feed hungry people in your neighborhood. That’s how you build a revolution. The fighting can’t start without people taking care of people.
one crucial thing still missing: critical mass
yea, i mentioned this in another reply below. too many people still think somehow things will just get better on their own. we are on a trajectory that has happened before, and can clearly see the endpoint. but there’s still too much “that could never happen, this is america!”
moving too fast can ensure a bloody and ultimately defeated revolution
it’s already bloody. the bloodshed will increase either way. the thing is, they are systematically removing the very people who might be in a position to do anything
Start building networks with the people around you
agreed, but with caution. you need to be aware that everyone has a price, and to be asking yourself “what would be this person’s price for selling me out?” because yea, if it’s either your neighbor or your kids, then the answer is obvious.
these are ugly conversations no one wants to have, but here we are, forced to have them.
I’d say it’s less that “things will get better on their own” and more “somebody else will take the steps/sacrifice to fix it”
6 of one, half-dozen of the other
To add on to that theres things you can do for yourself too. Self care is also very important. Getting in shape, eating better, and being mentally sound are all critical parts of being ready when shit does pop off. You’re gonna be of no use if you aren’t physically and mentally capable. Take a basic and combat first aid class as well. Learn how to use a tourniquet and learn CPR. I don’t know how necessary this knowledge will be but it could also be a good idea to familiarize yourself with your 2A rights and some basic firearms. There’s some great youtube channels out there if you can’t be hands on. I also recommend learning about steel and ceramic ballistic plates and plate carriers. Not that you’ll need them but the knowledge will be good to have in case things do go that way. Most important of all though is to be kind to yourself and others (unless that other person is a fascist).
I agree with everything except #metoo. That movement had a profound effect on corporate America. The reason it had an effect is because it had teeth. If you got outed as a predator, the online lynch mob would cancel the fuck out of you. They’d call your job and flood them with bad PR until they fired you. You would become radioactive.
Everything else. Every other protest has little to no consequences attached. No consequences, no results.
i’m glad that metoo did something. but we literally have a rapist for potus
We do, that’s a fact, but a movement’s success shouldn’t be judged by whether or not it had a 100% closing rate.
My wife and I have been working since the 90’s. The amount of inappropriate shit I have seen prior to #metoo would fill volumes, and I worked in what was considered a more progressive industry. Because of #metoo and similar corporate policies regarding behaviour have dramatically changed and it has been shown that even the executive floor can be affected. Sure, most CEO’s will get a lot of leeway where a manager would not, but I can guarantee you that a CIO is going to think really hard before walking into the office of a woman in her twenties, at two in the morning during an all night downtime, close the door, and proceed to “chat her up”. He would also think twice before telling a room full of senior managers, of which she was the only female, that he had been having dreams about her. Both of these things, and a lot more, happened to my wife. Years after she walked out of that job, many of her ex-coworkers, including some of the managers in that meeting, expressed surprise that she did not sue. The truth is that she didn’t feel that she had the power to do so. The #metoo movement changed many of the aspects of her scenarios. Although the male managers twenty years ago would have spoken up if asked to testify in a lawsuit, many of them would have spoken out at the moment today…unprompted. Women today know that inappropriate situations do not have to be tolerated and that male coworkers can be willing allies.
No it isn’t perfect. Far from it. But it is light years away from where we started.
fair enough. i hate that women have had to and still have to go through this shit. even here, now, we have people (men) getting angry and defensive about any criticism of men. god fucking forbid a woman express her own anger. you can observe this in some of my recent comments that were massivelly downvoted. this comment will be downvoted for it too.
but you’re right-- steps forward, even if they’re baby steps, are steps forward nonetheless.
i’m just so tired
This is what my wife tells me and one of the ways she reminds herself of the progress made. She began working in the late 1990’s and she’s never worn a skirt to work. I know it sounds like a dumb thing to focus on, but just a few years earlier many firms required women to wear skirts in the office. It didn’t matter how you felt about it or if you had good reasons to not (like scars). If you wanted the job you had to wear a skirt.
To me, skirts to pants is a baby step. The changes made every since #metoo I’d consider to be a seismic shift, which is why many weak men have their knickers in a twist. Still…we have a long way to go before we can claim that we have an equal and safe work environment for all.
No Kings would have been a weak-ass protest even in the Bush era. I can’t think of any better way to illustrate how useless the “resistance” is. If I was an alt-right piece of shit, those protests would have made me downright ecstatic.
too true. a critical mass of people need to stop living in denial of how bad it is, and how much worse it’s going to get, before anything can happen. there’s still too much “they can’t do that! it’s against the law!” going on. laws are meaningless when the only ones enforcing them are the ones who are ignoring and breaking them
edit: “alt-right”–let’s not give them more power by referring to them by the bullshit name they chose for themselves, and instead call them what they are: fucking nazis
