EVHaste
Hey so uh, I’m just going to name the thing. January 6th is happening again.
An unelected oligarch and his mostly unsupervised, unaccountable friends have essentially barricaded themselves inside of a government building to make unknown changes, which have not been budgeted for or disclosed.
And we don’t have to play dumb, they’ve already told us they explicitly want to overthrow and unmake our democracy.
We have to do something.
EVHaste
Assume that movement will not begin until you, personally, choose to begin it.
EVHaste
My Rubicons are the abduction; the concentration camp. The moment physical violence begins agains my community, all bets are off. The rules are suspended. I riot until further notice.
If you’re out there saying, hush, keep that to yourself; no. You do not benefit from plausible deniability in a system in which the rule of law has already been suspended. If they want to jail me, they will. They don’t need a valid reason.
EVHaste
Since the 20th of this year, the same thing has been playing out in slow motion. And yet we seem paralyzed as a nation.
The fascists are fucking *memeing* about it our inaction, our supposed powerlessness. From the article:
“OPM has sent out memos that eschew the normal dry wording of government missives as it encourages civil servants to consider buyout offers to quit and take a vacation to a "dream destination."”
EVHaste
I understand that I can’t ask you, a fellow nerd doomscrolling mastodon right now, to get on a plane and prevent this. Let’s be honest; you’re tired. You’re exhausted. They’re flooding the zone with bullshit, and building a cage around us while we’re distracted.
But we need to organize.
If you don’t have the means to do that tonight, I understand. Neither do I. I’m in the emergency room.
Can I request that you at least be *ready* to act? Steel yourself now, instead of later.
EVHaste
This is the latest video from Innuendo Studios, “The Alt Right Playbook”.
In it, the author — who I think is brilliant— asks the viewer to identify one act to be their rubicon. The point at which, if it occurs, there is no turning back.
I’m begging you, give it a watch. Really think about it. Identify what that point is to you.
EVHaste
What will it mean for you to resist? What are you comfortable with? What can you offer?
Do you know CPR? Do you know how to program? Are you a nosy son of a bitch like me that likes to research? Name that thing and commit to offering it.
Knock on your neighbors door and introduce yourself if you don’t know their name. Build that connection, tell them what you’re worried about, tell them what you can offer and ask them what they need.
EVHaste
Do we actually have to wait until the damage has been done to acknowledge that it’s happening in such plain terms?
EVHaste
I remember where I was during the insurrection. Like a lot of you, I was at work— in my kitchen, sheltering in place from a mismanaged pandemic.
I was glued to a thread on Slack, as my colleagues posted videos of the attack. In that thread, all pretense of normalcy had been dropped. Click one screen back, and it’s business as usual. Clients, emails, assignments.
Do you remember how weird that felt? To answer emails while our world burned?
Rich Felker
@Haste @bippzy I like it but I don't think it's terribly likely. He'll be dead or mentally incapacitated before then. Elon & the broligarchs don't need him once they can establish control themselves.
EVHaste
@bippzy That’s a good line. I like that one.
EVHaste
And crucially, I’m not waiting for the Rubicon. I’m devoting all of my writing to antifascist work *already*. Every ounce of energy and every skill I can offer. I swear to god that I will oppose fascism even if, and until, it kills me.
Hopefully, the things I have written continue to do so even afterward.
I do not consent to *any* of this.
Bippzy
@Haste (not saying I don't have other rubicons) probably the easiest Rubicon for me is any form of amendment that allows a third Trump term.
I don't think Trump can be trusted to run a fair election and if we enable him to try again, he will cheat with legal immunity
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