Sometimes I do forget though, my older sister still believes that she is supposed to obey her husband. She literally believes that she is supposed to value his opinion over her own & defer to him.

She has been living this way ever since she got married, & it's constantly reinforced by the people she talks to, the things she reads or listens to, & her church "authorities." This is fucking absurd to me, because she saw her sister & others get free & she chose chains. But it's where she's at.

This obedience is supposed to purchase her the freedom to never think & never to have to defend her choices. Because they aren't her choices. Have a problem? Talk to her manager.

So again, it is so fucking RUDE of me (according to my older siblings) to talk to them & tell them they need to make up their own minds & have some fucking moral courage.

Don't I know they don't make their own choices?

Children. Babies. That's what they are. They never grew up. I know 5 year olds with more autonomy.

There is an ex-Mormon I often watch who talks about cult dynamics, & lately she's been hammering how cult members abdicate their right to make decisions, they hand that over to their "authorities."

That's the same thing spouse has been pointing to with my older siblings. He keeps telling me "they don't make their own decisions about how they think."

I keep posting about this because I keep trying to process it & what it means for communicating with people & breaking brainwashing.

I keep seeing people saying the word "protest" about things happening in Minneapolis that are not protests.

They had a gigantic protest last Friday, & other protest events have been going on this whole time of course. But largely what you are looking at is not *protests* but people literally showing up & chasing ICE away when they begin to harass people or people going out & filming & documenting abductions, so that their people can't be disappeared entirely.

If you saw the murder of Alex Pretti & have NOT changed your mind about resistance, I have good news:

You're one of us.

If you've been talking about "resistance" but are now going "I didn't think there was going to be any risk for me," think about that for a bit & ask yourself what you thought resistance was.

You do not need to be eager to die. I fucking hope you're eager to live! We need you, & your life is precious.

But if you know you're not backing out, I'm so glad you're with us.

We do not need martyrs. We do not need you to throw your life away. We're in it for the long haul. We need everyone we can get, & we should all be trying to stay alive.

You do not need to be fearless either. In fact, fear can be a good thing.

You do not need to be a hero.

But we do need you. As long as you know that there are some risks worth taking for love & freedom, that's all we need.

Resistance takes many forms, but it's never risk free.

Even if all you do is share factual information, in a fascist regime that could be fucking dangerous as hell.

So not being sure you could be on the street doing what you see some other people doing right now does not mean you're not brave enough to help.

But you've gotta know, there is nothing you can do to "resist" that will not expose you to any danger at all, & if you've been lying to yourself about that, stop.

I think some people who used to be loud about "resistance" are about to get quieter & meeker as the risks increase.

RE: https://dice.camp/@artemis/115963293307920960

Someone called Alex "a barely noticeable speed bump", and I don't mean to call anyone out specifically here, but this is why I keep saying "don't call it a protest."

It's not fucking symbolic. It's not "for nothing". Minnesotans are protecting & caring for each other.

Alex Pretti didn't die trying to make a point. He died trying to help someone up. Renee Good didn't die because she was grandstanding. She died because she tried to make ICE's job just a little bit harder.

It's not a protest.

I don't think Midwesterners are the only people who would say "if offering my neighbor a hand & trying to get thugs to leave her alone comes with the risk of execution, I guess I'm taking that risk."

But I do know that at least in my culture, the idea that you would be threatened with brutal violence & even death because you offered a helping hand to another member of your community might make you more determined, not less, to help.

"Neighborliness" is sort of the ultimate Midwestern value. I think Minnesotans are embodying the best possible way that can be applied at the moment.

I can't speak to people from other cultural backgrounds, I guess, but at the risk of sounding a wee bit "provincial": where I come from, if someone falls, you help them up.

I don't think that's unique to us, but "I've got to be a good neighbor" certainly is a way a lot of us see things right now.

I know it's not a value unique to us.

I love how Sam Raimi's Spider-Man depicts NYC's version of this in a few different places. It's a little more brash than how we do it in the Midwest perhaps, but it's the same thing: we protect our people.

I don't think anyone should risk their life for no reason. I think all of us should do our best to be safe & help others be safe too.

But is it so hard to imagine that it's worth it to care for each other? Are we really going to call that meaningless?

I know it's everywhere.

The spirit & energy in Minnesota is so infectious to me in part because it is community care expressed through the paradigm that has the biggest emotional pull for me, but community care is not some strange, exceptional thing.

I think we've been alienated from each other so much it begins to feel unnatural, but if we can access & strengthen our care for one another, impossible things become possible.

But in any case, the action in Minneapolis is not symbolic. Real people are being protected. Real people are being sheltered & fed. And real people are helping each other.

I just watched a video of a woman who said she got out there as soon as she heard about the shooting & she helped someone else through a panic attack.

It was dangerous for her to go out. But her neighbors were out there. And because she went out, she was able to help someone. That's not symbolic either.

Recording the kidnappings isn't symbolic.

Yes, ONE purpose of recording is to be able to show the world what is happening, but that's not the main reason. The main reason is to have a fucking record when someone is brutalized &/or disappeared.

I said earlier today, if they lose track of these people, they could be lost forever. We know that disappearing people is the fucking idea. People are going out to observe because they want to make sure their neighbors come home.

Apollo is working with people who are trying to get in to see detainees.

There are several reasons that is important, but not least among them is just to see & document that people are alive & keep track of where they are & to let the Feds know that people are keeping track & that if these people go missing, there are people who will know.

I will repeat what I've been saying lately: there are lots of roles to play, some more risky than others, & everyone has their own risk calculus (I was just talking about risk with a friend who has kids. I may make different choices than she does, & I think that's totally reasonable, but even she admitted there are things she would *have to do* for others if push came to shove).

I can't tell you what the most useful thing for you to be doing is, but for the love of GOD do not belittle people for being willing to take risks to save lives & to bring people back home.

Making it hard for the fash to take people away & quietly kill or enslave them is hardly being "a barely noticeable speed bump."

Not turning your eyes away, not leaving someone alone to be taken with no resistance & no record is not a waste.

Don't talk about "protest": talk about direct action, resistance, solidarity, community care, mutual aid, etc.

I know y'all who are responding mostly get this, but I really appreciate you sharing it or taking it to heart to remind others when you need to.

A lot of folks in a lot of places who are not plugged in & not thinking in terms of serious resistance are seriously misunderstanding the situation in Minnesota.

The Feds are taking people. They are brutalizing people. They are destroying things. They are stealing from people (they've been caught reselling phones they stole off people they snatched).