Trump’s administration is dismantling disability rights and education. History has shown this can be a warning sign for all civil liberties
Trump’s administration is dismantling disability rights and education. History has shown this can be a warning sign for all civil liberties
I don’t think we’re so far gone that we must lose hope.
First: maybe you’re right, and this is the end of everything we’ve ever held dear, the end of all hope forever. But if that’s true, then everything is futile, which gets you nowhere. Plus, nobody can predict the future, so however compelling this idea is, it’s still ultimately a theory. What’s the point of believing a theory that only makes you feel like shit?
Remember that despair only serves the enemy. Moreover, despair is a coping mechanism, an escape - if it’s all hopeless, you don’t have to fight back, so you don’t have to face the possibility of loss and defeat. Whatever happens to you, is this how you want to live?
Lemmy sure loves doomerism, but I’m going to post the facts that currently give me hope anyway:
The Nazis stayed popular because they actually fixed Germany’s economy, at least in the short term. Trump and his cabal of idiots have conclusively shown that they are neither capable of nor interested in this.
They are already massively unpopular. Even in the kinds of business circles that supported Hitler then and would support him today - the fucking Wall Street Journal is criticizing Trump. Bezos’ mouthpiece. Also, y’know, there’s massive rallies and grassroots organizing. Republicans chanting “tax the rich” at their representatives.
We’ve seen stronger, worse governments fall. Argentina’s military junta waged a Dirty War for nearly a decade, using horrific mass torture to totally destroy their political opponents. They succeeded in wiping out all opposition. They even had majority support in the beginning (neither the Nazis nor Trump did). But the junta fell anyway - because they utterly destroyed their economy. Trump probably won’t take a decade to do that.
In summary: hold on to hope, and fight back. You get to choose what that looks like for you. For me, it looks like: stopping my current doomscrolling, doing some chores so I can feel less shitty about how little I’ve done today, then doing some tonglen to deal with my own fear and grief and despair. It won’t end fascism, but maybe it’ll help me become functional enough to organize and build one day.
Good luck, and I hope that if I’m ever strong enough to join those who resist, I’ll meet you among them.
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Fair enough. You can probably tell that I mostly wrote that reply to work through my own despair and apathy.
I’m just personally done with Orwellian imagery. As a faraway threat, the fear it inspires used to motivate me. Now it’s no longer a faraway threat - it’s right here. Now, after learning about ever-worsening mass surveillance, after seeing popular movements crushed, after years of burnout and despair, I find it only makes me want to curl up and die.
In general, I see a lot of people react this way to what’s happening right now. So I try to share what little hope and strength I can muster. Maybe it’ll help someone.
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