I’ve been processing a lot since the election.
My latest take is that radical disruption often opens up the possibility for change that you normally really would not make. Things you’ve been putting off. Ways of limping along that worked okay.
But disruption shoves you out of the comfort zone and makes you do stuff—and sometimes that stuff is really good. It’s like people in the pandemic rediscovering nature or cooking or connection. Or rethinking their career choices.
This (the impending fascist takeover) is a fucking big disruption.
I’m not saying that people in general are going to dig in and find those good changes and make them.
I’m not saying at all that there won’t be widespread harms and horrors or that we should ignore that and whistle past the atrocities. Shit is going to be terrible, there will be tons of harms, and that has to be faced and fought and not normalized and not ignored.
I’m saying that I personally am digging in already and looking for every possible way to use this disruption to do things better. Better for me, better for my friends and community, better for the planet. There’s a whole lot of things the fascists can’t stop me from doing, and I plan to do a lot of them (already was, but now I will do that more).
To every extent possible, I’m determined not to be terrorized. Not to be cowed. Not to obey in advance. I’m determined to stop stress eating, get back to my regular exercise, spend time with my family, build joy around me and feed it to people like the breath of life that it is.
I’m determined not to let Trump or Musk or any of their boot-licking toadies live rent-free in my head. I’m evicting them and their bullshit and reclaiming my head for myself. I’m going to use it to write stories of a better world, to strengthen my connections with friends, family, and community, to live my life joyfully.
To not just survive but do the things that make my life better, in large ways and small.
Living my life well is part of my fuck you to the fascists.
I’m not gonna help them ruin my mental health or my life. They’re already doing enough damage—they don’t get to have my every thought or concern or elevated blood pressure. And not just because I’m better able to fight them when I’m not a broken wreck of a human (although that’s true) but because I’m one of the humans that deserves not to be a broken wreck because of them.
Everything they stand for is so anti-human. I’m going to be pro-human, pro-joy, pro-living and I’m gonna bring everyone along for that ride that I can.
Because we all deserve it. We all deserve so much better than them and their bullshit plans.
(Except these guys and all their Technofeudalist asshole friends: fuck them and everyone who is gleefully anticipating the harms they’re causing)
ETA: This great thread on Mastodon by Heidi Li Feldman (law professor, philosopher, progressive) about naming the psychic toll that fascism exacts.
Thanks, I needed this!!! I just got off the phone with a friend/neighbor. I’m going to try to send this to her✌
Thank you for spreading the word! I put these things out in the world (rather than let them hide in my journaling) so it has a chance to help people. 🙂 (FYI: there’s a subscribe button on the side of the blog for those who want to get these things in their inbox)
Right with you. The thing I keep reminding myself every time I process the latest headlines that make want to is that the biggest reason they do anything they do is to try to grab the new cycle, to enthrall us all, either just to pad their egos or to distract from the worse thing they’re trying to slip through unnoticed. I will not give them my horror and resultant shock, consternation, and paralysis. I refuse. Instead, I’ll just keep narrating stories of women overthrowing unjust regimes….
That refusal is so important right now. The media (and the fascists) are hell-bent on capturing our attention and demoralizing us and beating a narrative into our heads that’s primarily about obedience/submission but also about confusion/exhaustion. Refusing to sip from the poisoned well is a radical and positive act, especially right now.
(And yay for stories of women overthrowing unjust regimes!)
Yes! I love it. “I’m determined not to be terrorized.” I know you will be fierce and effective. Me, I’m 70 and fat and old and creaky and trying to figure out how to dig down into myself to pull up some energy and courage. I just spent November posting on Substack for the National Blog Posting Month challenge, and I spent several days covering my life when I really was an activist – ages 25 – 42. I’d forgotten a lot of stuff, so I spent hours on Newspapers.com combing through coverage of our work. I was reminded of what can be possible, although even in the era of Reagan/Bush they weren’t beating and gassing protesters. Who knows what we will face. I’ve read a couple times lately the suggestion to choose one or two issues to focus on, since there is so much bad shit and no one can do everything. My historical issues were no nukes, nuclear disarmament, and homelessness. Now I feel like I need to start with LGBTQ+, particularly trans, since I have a trans grandson. I don’t know where to start, but I will find out. Good luck to all of us.
I feel you on the “old and creaky (and fat!)”. And that integrating of the stuff you’ve already done is so important. You have a ton of experience to share. I keep forgetting that the youth, for all their shiny brightness and fervent hopes, haven’t lived through a life of experiences, like us with a few more miles on the odometer. That’s part of what we bring to the table. And they want it. So many older folks are unable to give the kind of wisdom the youth need. The kind we all need. If you got it, share. 🙂
(And yes to picking one or two issues: for me, it’s clearly climate and protecting queer folks, especially trans people, given they’re the white-hot targets right now, plus that’s my friends and family. As for starting: start right where you are, with what you’ve got, the connections you can strengthen right now. And go from there. You got this! 🙂 )
I’m with you!!
We are all in this together! 🙂
Yes to all of that! One way I’m fighting is to join very local fights with global effects. Keep steady!
Fighting local is super powerful: and what I’m doing as well. <3