It is my life mission or something. No I don’t get tired of it.
Real and chad
No, I work pretty hard to scorn all the republicans and other filth I encounter. It’s honestly pretty invigorating.
That’s impossible. You pick a slice and donate or volunteer to improve that group. Words do nothing, you have to actually get out and do something.
A rising tide and all that. Things that would benefit me that I work to will also benefit others. End of the day you still need to look out for yourself overall. Just don’t be a jerk who wants to take away the ability for others to get better is all.
I’ve been tired of it.
I don’t have all of the answers for you. I’m not your speaker. I get told that I’m full of shit or that I’m wrong even when I do actually present honest and truthful methods in how to go about undoing the damage being caused onto all of us.
In the end, all I’m caring about and looking out for is me and a few others. You’re on your own, you need to be the one stepping up, you need to be the one to come up with your own opinions and thoughts. More importantly, you need to be the one to take that action. I can’t do everything for you and nobody should just because you won’t.
What have you done that hasn’t been recognized?
Nope. I’m barely capable of managing my own life.
No, I don’t guess. If you want to make life easier, get rid of the billionaires and stop making clown laws. It is actually this simple. We just have a critical mass of mouth breathers and the exploiters they let cuck them.
get rid of the billionaires and stop making clown laws. It is actually this simple.
There is no part of that that’s simple.
If you want to solve the energy problem, invent and mass produce a cheap, non-polluting, zero-point energy generator. It is actually this simple.
Place renewables every where, easy. It doesnt need to be non polluting. And if you were really serious about pollution you’d get rid of the cars everywhere and build public transport. This shit isnt rocket science or hard. Its obfuscated on purpose by the wealthy.
If it’s so easy, why don’t you do it? You don’t feel like it?
Its obfuscated on purpose by the wealthy
Why would that matter? You said it was easy.
I have no power. No one listens to me. Case in point; this thread.
Because merely identifying another near-insurmountable cause and saying it’s “simple” or “easy” is pointless and dismissive. That’s my point. You’ve offered no solutions or even suggestions for how to find a solution.
You were just unsatisfied with the simplicity of the solutions. Because we’re neck deep in capitalist bullshit the solutions actually are that easy. Just install renewables. Its that easy. Stop electing silver spooned babies who just feed corporations more power, its that easy look into who you are voting for, its literally that easy. Make unions, its that easy to get worker power back. Just have fucken unions. None of this shit is rocket science and you are floundering in learned helplessness like our situation actually IS insurmountable. It is not, not by any means of the word.
I get the impression that you want these things to happen. I agree that doing these things would improve the situation.
If they are easy and simple, why haven’t you done any of them?
- Renewables are not everywhere; why haven’t you done that?
- Silver spooned babies who just feed corporations more power keep getting elected; why haven’t you stopped that?
- Unions are still not as ubiquitous as they could or should be; why haven’t you formed them?
None of this shit is rocket science and you are floundering in learned helplessness like our situation actually IS insurmountable. It is not, not by any means of the word.
Great! What’s your plan?
For sure, but I think they mean it in a “one average person” kind of way.
Join the other people who are working to dismantle the billionaires and shitty capitalist system? There’s lots of us and lots of different ways to get involved. One average person can’t really do it alone, which is probably why they feel so tired if that’s been their approach so far. (I mean, aside from all the ways the system works to exhaust us)
… how do you do that though?
There’s a number of ways we can build counter power, and not only does it materially help our situation, it also reduces the feeling of helplessness and despair dramatically, and you’ll likely meet some friends along the way.
Here’s a handy guide on how to get involved in that sort of stuff.
Part 1: The big picture
The protests are good ways of meeting like-minded people in your community to form connections, as well as spreading awareness of local mutual aid groups so more can join or form ICE resistance groups who can join an encrypted chat to coordinate, alert neighbors, and talk strategy. It also is a good place for unions or union members to encourage others to unionize their workplaces, which can also ultimately work toward a national general strike, which is our most tangible and powerful collective action.
The country would be brought to its knees if suddenly deprived of profit and labor, allowing us to directly demand real changes (such as ending the war in Iran, ceasing support for the genocide of Palestine, and Abolishing ICE).
The General Strike was extremely effective in Chile in 2019, and had they not fallen for the trick of liberal reform, they would’ve had a successful revolution on their hands with virtually no bloodshed.
There are some concrete steps all of us can take toward enacting that hard-core general strike to make it more viable and bearable for us all. (the titles below expand if you click them).
Part 2: Learn First Aid
Violence is being used against those who resist and it will only continue. It extremely important to have the skills to be able to keep yourself and others alive if they get hurt.
Tacticool Girlfriend provides a great introduction to building a personal first aid kit, called an IFAK, which can deal with things like bullet wounds and other serious bleeding wounds. I also want to emphasize her recommendation of only buying medical gear from reputable sources (not Amazon!), such as North American Rescue to avoid fakes that could cost you your life.
But you’ll need to learn how to use that equipment, too. The best resource for that is to take a local Stop The Bleed class, which are pretty widely available in most places. They may cost a small fee, but can also sometimes be free. Alternatively, if you cannot access a local class, this video by PrepMedic will give you a solid understanding of how to use Tourniquets and Gauze for wound packing.
Injuries are less harmful if they are tended to early. Learning first aid can help conserve resources when healthcare becomes unaffordable. Having several medics in case of harm by police is an extremely powerful morale booster during a protest that may become a police riot. When you become comfortable with the basics of first aid, riot medicine is the next suggested step.
Part 3: Establish or join local Mutual Aid networks
If you haven’t already, get to know your neighbors. Mutual aid is a willingness to support and grow your community. This can include informal networks through friends, tenant/renter organizations, solidarity groups, and industrial unions.
These are groups using direct action to solve each other’s problems. Building strong communities makes it difficult for fascism to take root. The actions of the government are going to hit every community hard, and the ones who build trust in each other and work together are most likely to survive. We’ve been building a list of resources in [email protected] to help you on your way. Also check out this handy guide to find existing groups in your area.
This isn’t only for your own community protection. Your ability to organize today will change the political landscape tomorrow. When revolution occurs, the social organizations that show the greatest resilience through the regime are the ones typically calling the shots when the dust settles. When it comes to elections, get out the vote drives are useless if most of the voters are fascists. At some point, you have to do grassroots political education if you don’t want fascist candidates winning elections. Mutual aid networks are excellent forums not only for teaching each other good political ideas, but demonstrating them in practice.
There’s also some projects you can do that help build community (and can be fun in themselves!), for more info, go here, and scroll down to the “Fun Projects to Build Community) section”
Part 4: Join a Union to help prepare for a General Strike
If you aren’t in a union (or even if you are, it’s worth dual-carding), consider joining the IWW to unionize your workplace (bonus: you’ll get higher wages, better benefits, and more time off if you succeed!) to make a general strike possible.
Once you are in a union you and your coworkers will need to pressure your leadership to prepare for a general strike, as well as pressure them to organize with other unions to enact a general strike. This is especially true if you are in a more traditional union that isn’t the IWW. Your local shop may need to organize directly with other unions if your union leaders are too cowardly to do so.
Most unions have a strike fund that can supplement your income during a general strike to make it more financially bearable (you should also save as much money as you can reasonably do, so it can also be used to keep yourself afloat during a strike). A General Strike is officially planned by the UAW for May 1st 2028, but it was planned before Trump was elected, and by then will be too late, so prepare now for one that may start sooner.
You can contact the IWW with the link below:
And for our international friends, you should join one as well, as fascism is gaining momentum globally. If your country isn’t listed below, just contact the IWW directly in the link above, and they’ll help you set up a new local branch.
Part 5: Adopt Security Culture and Digital Camouflage 🛡️
Sometimes benign seeming efforts can turn into unexpected personal data collecting traps. Like an obscure website for exchanging contact info with other students turning into a global ad-tech surveillance network (Facebook), or innocent seeming online personality tests being use to harvest character profiles. Even Etsy, Reddit, Tinder, and Duolingo are feeding information to US Government Agencies like ICE.
Security culture is commonly used to describe the general awareness of such potential traps and how it can affect groups or entire communities. This goes beyond mere individual privacy efforts, as without joint efforts these often fail to work.
Especially in activist circles, security culture is paramount. For opsec reasons not everyone in the group might be aware of what clandestine efforts others are involved in, but with a general security culture many potential data leaks can be avoided.
Movements are made by the volume of their participants, and the easier and less dangerous it is to participate, the more people will get involved. As more people get involved, individual involvement becomes even less dangerous, creating a virtuous cycle.
We’ll start it off with some General Advice:
- Mentally wall off personal uniquely identifying info from your online presence, actively build a habit of opsec so that withholding information is your default mental state
- Be careful about who you meet online
- Use different, unrelated usernames, passwords & emails for every account. And try not to connect to those accounts with your real IP address (use Tor or a VPN)
- Be mindful that anything done online leaves a trail
- agents provocateurs may seek to find patsies willing to perform an ill-advised illegal activity in order to legitimize police repression. If someone is trying to pressure you, especially if you don’t have a long and proven history with them, be extremely wary.
For a full guide on what encrypted communications platforms to use, and how to stay off the radar, read the Digital Camouflage section within the Monthly Meta post here (you’ll need to scroll down. I’d add it here, but it won’t fit in this comment).
I’d also highly recommend Full Spectrum Resistance to anyone who wants further info on how to resist (audiobook version here).
I have been reading full scale resistance.
And other ways. I try not to spend on just ‘ stuff’ of for the sake of it. I have very few subscriptions. (Vpn tor etc only). For products I try to thrift/repair etc. I advocate for feeling happy and positive. We don’t have to feel powerless, we are not. Empower others.
It’s not a lot but I’m growing.
It’s not your job to solve everything for everyone. Find one or two things you really believe in and put your best into that (and your best will vary).
Remember that you can’t and shouldn’t try to do it all yourself. Find other people who share your values. This is all a group project.
It is definitely a group project … one or two people doing all the work and two to four other with varying levels of input including but not limited to: the bare minimum; ignoring all requests for input and turning up on presentation day assuming everyone else did the work and ready to accept full marks for the groups efforts; and my favourite, actively sabotaging group consensus to push for their own agenda.
Humans be humaning unfortunately
I had a long discussion about this with some friends today. At what point is it too far gone? Day by day it seems like things devolve even further. The injustice is overwhelming. I ask myself why do any of us put up with this bullshit? Am I the odd man out? Is everyone else just okay with this shit show? We are endlessly exploited to make the rich richer while being squeezed for every penny we have to give. Our healthcare sucks, wages suck, the cost of almost everything sucks, and the scouts is hard at work chipping away at fucking voting rights amongst other things. I despise this fucking country at this point but I still wonder how much do we have to lose before the majority people actually give a shit?
Organise. Even if it’s just mentally. They want you in despair. They want you scared to lift your head. Remind others of their worth, as that message won’t come from upwards.
You be the magnificent human you are and do the jive turkey dance.
The people who are satisfied with status quo are the beneficiaries of it.
People like Epstein can’t exist without a universe of assholes who figure it’s not their problem.
I’m not writing policy. That makes all of my solutions to fixing the world brilliant. And pointless.
No, not really. But I’m also lost as to what you mean.
Just this political system and how its devolved. We use to have experts that would postulate a path forward and we would kind of follow along. Those guys got some shit done but then power shifted out from under them and information age hit us. Now we are all taking turns on the mic and the shit people are saying is just way too wild…
this political system
You’ve not mentioned what continent you’re on, let alone what country, it’s hard to know if we share a similar experience or not.
I don’t have any experience with Namibia’s political system, nor Chinas, though I do have a bit more touchstone knowledge of a few European systems here and there.
Anyway to answer your original question, no, I don’t tire of trying to help my fellow humans improve our overall living situation. That’s our duty as good, caring people, right?
I also don’t guess at solutions. I’m not very smart, but I still believe in using the scientific method over guessing.
You seem like an empathetic, mindful, caring person. Those are fantastic traits :-)
No.
Yeah. I’ve been trying not to worry to much about social issues that are far behind my control. Too much of that is just anxiety-inducing for me.
The main function of a democratic republic is to elect leaders who are supposed to worry about solving problems so that we, as individuals, dont have to and can instead focus on doing other things.
The sad truth is that we all have so little faith in the people who are in charge that we take it upon ourselves to try to figure out the answers to society’s privilege, but for what? Even if we think we have the answer, we don’t exactly have the means to enact it when we aren’t anywhere near the levers of power.
If we really want to make policy, we have to get more politically involved and maybe even run for office. Everything short of that is just venting or an intellectual exercise.
Nup! It’s the only thing that keeps me going. It helps me get out of bed and fills me with hope and purpose.
