George Takei lived during the Japanese Internment during WWII, so I believe him when he says that he’s been through worse and that the fight isn’t over, but I’m not convinced we haven’t fought a single skirmish yet. We’ve been on the back foot fighting the rise of fascism for 8 years. This is trench warfare and the enemy is perfectly happy to advance inch by inch. The election win for them was a massive defeat for us. Regaining the ground we’ve lost to xenophobes and racists will probably take the rest of my lifetime advocating for and voting for progressive candidates just to reach a point where things are kinda okay-ish again. It sucks and it feels bad to be in this situation.
A big part of the fight is asking yourself one simple question. How much of this defeatism is real? The bot/troll/fraud problem is massive and leading to the dead internet theory becoming reality. Anywhere there’s comments, there’s fake bullshit. Figuring out how to stop that is a huge priority.
People need to learn critical thinking. Feeling defeated right now is natural, and some of that energy here is organic. But I have noticed that you can find the bad actors by looking at how they explain themselves.
Good faith actors admit that they feel completely crushed by the current state of politics, fear for the future, and want to give up. They will tell you about their own anxieties, because that’s where that energy is coming from.
Bad faith actors will tell you that you are powerless to do anything to stop fascism, and that you should give up. They aren’t expressing their anxieties, they are telling you to give up. To fall in line with fascism, because you can’t stop it.
People need to start asking these defeatists why the feel defeated, and pay attention the the answers. They need to ask themselves if they are talking to a defeated leftist venting their frustrations, or a propagandist trying to demoralize the left.
don’t know what else I can do really. I’ve stopped spending money and cancelled all subscriptions. I’m voting with my wallet. Most big tech and big box stores support the repubs. All I can do is not give them any more money than I have to. I’ll continue to vote as long as have that option.
join a community organization, join a union, support local progressive community organizations.
If you get organized and start taking direct political action you can have an impact between elections.
If US labor was organized a general strike would bring the government to its knees. Build that momentum.
Yeah I have lost a lot of faith in the country (US) and don’t see or know a path forward. You have multiple generations not willing, unable or just plain don’t know how to fight back and now the males of zoomers and generation alpha are swerving into the new young nazi party territory. The population is less educated than ever before thanks to the constant attacks on educational institutions and social media and the environment is collapsing rapidly while govs ignore the causes.
I’m so over the folks sharing these hopeful platitude snapbacks - It’s pointless and really comes off as “I did my part” when people post and then proceed to do nothing more. The last protest I saw before Roe was overturned was a fucking depressing party of people instagramming their stupid, cheeky signs and saying “we will vote harder next time”. Making a sign for your instagram “protest” appearance where everyone shouts platitudes and posting to social media about it is clearly not an effective strategy for change or progress, but it seems like the only thing the left knows how to do… other than sit out elections and further ostracize young males so Rogan and Tate can scoop them up.
Continue to vote with your wallet and with your well… vote. But also do your best for community out reach for whatever matters to you. If you can do so safely anyway. Speaking with people is the only way to combat mis information and to build community.
That’s a good start. I would recommend also trying to form groups to pressure companies to no longer donate to republicans. Also work to get people away from misinformation platforms such as X and Fox News. I’m not in the EU but if you know anyone in there they could help with this petition: https://ban-x-in.eu/
The people giving up are the ranking officials of the Democratic National Party. What can you realistically expect people to do when the people they thought would lead them through this are rolling over and collapsing at the first sign of pressure? For fucks sake, they’re not even defending their own trans colleague!
Hey, Biden did come out to call the ICC putting out an arrest warrant for Netanhayu “outrageous”, and stepped in to stop Bernie’s bill from blocking arms shipments to Israel, so it’s not like they’re doing nothing.
You can really find a lot of same minded people and form a party.
Organizing now through the internet should be a piece of cake
This guy experienced what we can only read about. It shames me to say I was born less than a hour from where he was held in a camp. Few around there have learned anything from history. To most of them history began when they did and will end when they do.
I very much think we will be seeing something similar happen to immigrants soon. I hope I’m wrong.
And then he advocated for a candidate who vowed to continue the current genocide.
These neoliberals stand for nothing.
You so special
You’re not wrong. And I understand the sentiment. But we have to encourage others who have less understanding, so they might see the difference you do.
I’m fed up with offering understanding to anyone who only cares about crimes against humanity when it’s their rival committing them.
The Democrats gave up so easily and went “I guess we hate transpeople now? Is that why we lost? We didn’t hate transpeople enough?” so quickly, that I"m wondering if Trump’s election was part of the fucking plan to begin with.
I think at least part of the problem is that Democrats believe in The System. So when someone cheats and whines about fake votes and stuff, they can resist that with faith that the system is working, but when the system willingly chooses the other side they have no choice but to concede that this must just be the Will of the People. And who are they to stand against the system they uphold…
Don’t forget about big money. The Democrats, Republicans, Harris, and Trump all avoided pointing the finger at what’s to blame, it’s big money in politics. Trump and the Republicans have openly accepted all the money from the big donors and the power that gets them. Elon Musk was a huge part of his campaign while they blame immigrants. The Republicans know how to work a broken system, just get more money.
Meanwhile the Democrats and Harris have to thread the needle of accepting big money too but not showing it. They can’t outright say it’s the billionaires that are screwing you, so they say Trump is, and that he’s a fascist. All true but Trump’s second presidency isn’t the cause of America’s facist decline, he’s a co-morbidity of it. Then they are shocked when the system they refuse to fix is broken.
I don’t believe the Democrats actually wanted to win this election.
Losing, while upholding the facade of “fighting the Republicans,” means donations will likely go UP, their “underdog” status remains intact, and they won’t have to pretend to govern, nor offer the public the milquetoast accomplishments that only verify they capitulate to their oligarch/corporate backers. Losing IS their strategy.
A Billion dollars in donations. Outspent the Republicans twice as much and yet spent on campaign managers and the salaries of their rich friends kids working for them and nice lunches out to expensive restaurants.
They are the party of money. And saying whatever gets them more of it.
No no friend, the Harris campaign had 1.5 Billion dollars.
And the DNC just threw all their workers out on their asses without even offering severance, because they’re “broke?” People who had worked there for decades. THAT is their caliber of financial management?
The Harris campaign threw wasted dollar after dollar into Republican pits to gain exactly NOTHING, as 94 fucking percent of Republicans voted Republican (as one would expect of a cult). Meanwhile the top Harris consultants were people making millions a year from Uber who flat out steered the boat away from any negative messaging about the corporate hands that pull their strings.
They WANTED to lose. All the surface animosity is a facade; they’re controlled opposition.
Biden isn’t even using a tiny bit of his fucking brand new immunity to save the country. It’s like he said, “Oh no, but they meant that just for Trump.” I don’t know what there even is to save if no one is gonna do a goddamn thing that still has the power to.
I mean, that special immunity is just for Trump. It’s a gift from his supreme court picks to himself.
But that said, yeah, I don’t think the fact that the court would crucify Biden is a reason for him to just sit there twiddling his thumbs.
I remember after Roe v Wade, there was the question of what they could really do about it, and on one hand, maybe not much, some blue states can do their best, but on the other, I dunno, something? anything? We could run ads, build the narrative that Republicans are who did this, they’re the ones hurting you right now, and maybe we won’t lose in 2024? But instead they really, truly did nothing.
No, some of them were already transphobic but thought they’d lose an election for admitting it. Now they think they will win because of it. They need to learn a lesson.
dude they banned a trans congresswoman from the women’s bathroom and being a democrat she just went “ok, I’ll pee in the men’s room I guess”
If you ignore the urinals, there really isn’t much point in separate bathrooms anyways. Especially in posh bathrooms like I’m sure they have in Congress where they pay the extra bucks to have actual doors on the stalls. This is one of those cases where arguing with idiots just makes you look like the idiot. Going along shows how ridiculous the moral panic was in the first place.
idk why you’re downvoted, I agree. gendered bathrooms are pointless; it’s not like people get naked there anyway. and fuck urinals. they’re dumb.
that being said of you’re gonna have gendered bathrooms you can’t police genitals; gonna have to go with the honor code.
it’s all pointless and the security excuse is bullshit. it’s ridiculous that these rules would assume a rapist wouldn’t get deterred by the laws against rape but would totally be stumped by a fucking sign that says “biological”.
What’s wrong with urinals? They’re super quick and easy
it’s in the open, it usually allows splashback, also peeing standing up is not that good for you anyway. not washing after you shit is quick and easy too; doesn’t mean it’s good. speaking of which, I think urinals encourage people who don’t wash their hands because it’s quick and easy.
also peeing standing up is not that good for you anyway
I googled it and Google agrees with me: what?
while there isn’t much difference for healthy men (at least according to some research so far), for some people with urinary concerns sitting down is better for emptying the bladder and having a better flow. although I’d argue even with healthy men standing while peeing almost guarantees splashback so sitting down is superior either way.
That I get from a certain angle. There’s immense pressure on “firsts” to show that they’re not there to implement radical change. That they can just be a functional member of an organization. First woman in a fighter jet, first trans person in Congress, it’s the same pressure mechanism. They want to show they can do the job first and foremost.
how did that work out for Obama? he capitulated and capitulated, and removed progressive options from the table just to get them to sit on it, and negotiated with himself on their behalf, compromised on his compromises. what happened? radical Marxist. lol.
you think she’s suddenly going to be accepted because she basically agrees she’s kind of a man, a little bit, actually? no.
nah democrats just don’t have a spine. and that is a really bad thing to lack when the things the other side lacks are shame and honesty.
You’re conflating Democrats generally with “firsts”. This is something you can find all the way back to women entering the metal work space in World War 2. It’s about proving that you’re not actually special, you’re just a normal person whose capable of doing the job without special accommodations.
no. rashida tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman in congress. it would be fucked up if she never raised any concerns on Israel’s genocidal government just because she doesn’t want to rustle any feathers.
no, it is about democrats, not firsts. weird how democrats always have to seem normal when republicans go fucking weirder by the minute.
I didn’t say it was good pressure. Rashida Tlaib also catches no end of shit for her positions, as moral as they are. McBride is doing what she thinks is best for her job and for her voters. I highly suspect she’s right too because she represents Delaware. If she makes herself the story they will not vote for her again. They want a legislator who happens to be trans, not a trans person who happens to be a legislator. Rashida Tlaib represents a district that wants a progressive over anything else.
if her constituents will not vote for her for standing up for herself against bigoted and targeted attacks then they shouldn’t. also if getting reelected takes precedence over having principles I would hope you wouldn’t anyway.
it’s one thing to be practical and pick your fights. but if the fight is literally brought to you, personally… fucking fight back.
the fact that rashida tlaib catches no end of shit is my point, because that does not mean she should give up on her principles. and more importantly, she’d still be targeted if she did. that’s what republicans do. funnily enough though she gets censured by her own party for being anti-genocide. because that’s what democrats do.
You’re absolutely right.
The right move would be to make a big show of this, point out the absurdity, rightfully point out that you’re being accused of being a rapist without proof, and give a speech where you point out that you just need to pee.
The Right isn’t going to say “Oh, so you agree you’re a man. Maybe you aren’t a man, pee wherever, on my face if you want!”
They’re going to say “Glad you know your place [Insert Transphobic Slur Here] now if we can get the rest of your putrid kind to get the memo.”
By giving up this fight, she’s well on her way to go as far in her career as Ernst Rohm did in his.
Don’t know who that is? One of Hitler’s closest allies, a commanding officer of the Nazis, a leading member of the Nazi Party, on a first name basis with Adolf himself…
He was also a homosexual who agreed with carting the [Insert Homophobic Slur Here]s off to camp even though he was openly gay because “Me and Hitler are bros, he’s not going to…”
We’ll never know how that sentence ended because they put the chloroform over his face and then he found himself waking up in line for the gas chamber.
For fuck’s suck… Anywhere else in the country and that’s a discrimination lawsuit.
What the fuck?
Is it possible that males with penises should use the urinal instead?
Pretty sure McBride is post-op making the fact that SHE is a WOMAN being forced to use the men’s room even more asinine.
Not that pre-op transwomen or non-op transwomen aren’t valid. Rock the girl cock if you want to lady, it’s your body!
Rock the girl cock
Weird Al’s take on Rock The Casbah was WAY ahead of its time and also a lot more blue than his usual fare…
Sorry, you’re absolutely right about everything, but I had to 😁
I don’t know if she went into rationale, but this may be part of it. It’s only certain congressmen who are offended and they will be re-offended every time she joins them in the restroom. I’d expect this is a great way to get them to change their mind by making them uncomfortable that they got what they wanted.
Also perhaps she wants to do the job she was elected for rather than bicker over which bathroom she personally should use
they’re not offended by her bathroom attendance. they’re offended by her existence. bowing down to their fascism won’t change that. she’s a representative; she represents trans people too. extremely disheartening that she just takes jim crow bullshit.
imagine if rashida tlaib would go “I won’t object to Israeli government’s actions” because she was censured for doing so. she’s the first Palestinian American in congress, after all.
they’re not offended by her bathroom attendance. they’re offended by her existence.
Exactly. Now she’ll exist in their bathroom as a regular reminder. For whatever reason they’re uncomfortable, she’ll be reminding them in a regular basis, rather than that be something that just happens somewhere else.
imagine if rashida tlaib ….
Is a flawed analogy. You’re giving an example of giving up without repercussions. That’s very different. This could easily be a malicious compliance scenario.
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I’m not gonna shit in the urinal no matter how much of a penis I have
what does this sentence even mean
No.
Second time I’ve seen this commented, but I must have missed a headline - can someone point me to what this is referencing?
Exactly 2 out of 213 House Democrats spoke out against Trans Athletes.
Of course that means all DNC are transphobes. /sarcasm
So sick of inspirational posts from rich celebrities. As if any of this is going to affect them in any meaningful way aside from shifting more of the tax burden onto us.
This particular celebrity spent time in a concentration camp, though. Let him speak truth to power.
If I recall correctly, he was put in a Japanese-American detention camp when a child. So I’d tend to believe him on this.
I know what he experienced, but he’s insulated from whatever happens in the next few years, by virtue of being wealthy.
Okay? Do you disagree with him, or are you just whining?
I’m whining.
The rich in this country have nothing to bitch about. The entire government and social apparatus exists to support and promote their existence, and they band together every single election to make sure the poor and middle class don’t become a part of it.
So yeah, I’ll whine when one of them pretends to be on our side. Yes.
It’s easier to start a fire with a lighter than with two sticks.
I want to be more optimistic, but I’m looking for the ingredients we’d need to push back effectively on the creeping fascism any time in the near future, and they don’t seem to be here.
Democrats need a massively leftward and populist shift to differentiate themselves from Republicans in the eyes of uninformed voters, and I think there’s just too much pushing against it. All the biggest channels of information are controlled by billionaires. They are not going to present any progressive efforts in a positive light, and they’ve become really effective at setting people who have common interests against each other. That, or inundating us so much that people understandably become numb to it and tune out. Trump was about as blatantly awful as a candidate could ever be, and he still won.
I’m fearing all we have to look forward to is 10 steps back under Republicans then 1 step forward under Democrats before Republicans take control again. Democrat leadership seems to prefer losing to winning with a progressive agenda.
A foul-mouthed, shit-talking, no-bullshit pro union pro lgbtq pro healthcare ballbuster who’s sick of pussyfooting, eggshell walking, and capitulating could do wonders.
Trump’s irreverance, but paired with competence, a heart, and basic, decent, sensible views.
The DNC would never allow such a person to pass through their filters. In many ways, the Democrats themselves are as much an enemy of the people as the most extreme Republicans.
Tim Walz gives me hope, if he runs for president in 2028. He’s too big of a name now for the DNC to keep him under wraps. He might not even want to, though.
Tim Walz was very conservative for a DNC lawmaker. He was put on the ticket to balance out Kamala Harris’ Tax the Rich and Legalize Weed platform.
He was conservative as a congressman due to the demands of his deeply conservative district. As governor, he has been very progressive.
Even while running as VP he promised full undying support to Israel, almost explicitly saying they had the right to expand the war to Lebanon and Iran. Picking him was the Harris Campaign stepping on a goddamn landmine.
Source? I recall him remaining largely ambiguous on Israel, at least during the campaign. I don’t know what he said before.
If people actually voted in primaries then maybe we can actually choose somebody. The fact that you people still have these rigged primary conspiracies after successfully forcing an incumbent to step down is silly beyond belief.
The sad truth is millions more people voted for Hillary Clinton than Bernie Sanders in the primary in 2016.
It’s been what? Two weeks? We sure give up quickly.
Fighting against fascism is about constant small victories. Saying no. Suing at every step. Making it to the next election with things as intact as we can make them. Maybe it won’t work, though it is sure as hell better than expecting the Democrats to step up. If we want reform, let’s cause reform.
Trump won by 1.6% of the popular vote. Not a single one of us are as alone as we think. Yeah, sure, a break would be great. We don’t get that. Moreover, we are a young country and in that time there have been governments who to many people were fascist in nature, repressive on a good day. We came out of those times better than we were because we stood up together. It’s time to hold accountable those who deserve it once again. Freedom has a price and we are mostly here because of our apathy, make no mistake, and our unwillingness to engage in greater numbers locally and in midterms. However, from there it’s on the people near and at the top.
We are the ingredients. Every action we take, even something as small as standing up for a couple in a restaurant, is a small push back.
.Fighting against fascism is about constant small victories.
That’s not generally the way fascism is defeated. Sometimes yes, but it usually takes a somewhat more aggressive approach. We should take that possible future seriously as well, even as we work to avoid it.
Yeah, this “shavings make a pile” strategy is quaint, but fascists generally only understand one message, and it’s historically delivered at the end of a fist. And Democrats are proving themselves to very much NOT be a party of fighters.
Biden has essentially been granted a King’s powers and is showing the world exactly who he is by accomplishing exactly nothing, when there are no recriminations for pushing to do ALL that he claimed he would when he took the office. He is the worlds most self-impotent empty suit.
People are dealing with a serious fucking blow. Emotionally.
Probably a liiiitle soon to declare a give-up.
Demolish Citizens United. That would make a world of difference.
Democrats need a massively leftward and populist shift to differentiate themselves from Republicans in the eyes of uninformed voters
In the eyes of informed voters too.
Democrat leadership
It’s the Democratic Party.
The US just elected a child rapist, and convicted felon, who praised Hitler’s generals and said he wants to be a dictator. Oh, and he also wants to ahave everyone who ever stood against him murdered. Only 30% of eligible voters actively tried to stop it.
If you thought the Dems were conservative before, just wait and see how far right they can jump in order to chase the only group that will show up to the polls every damn time, no matter how stupid, or how fake and repeatedly disproven the reason is.If the Democratic response to a dumb plan failing over and over is going to be “do it harder” again, then I guess America is just over. Republicans are what Republicans are. Voters are what voters have always been. We can blame them all we want, but it won’t get us anywhere. We fix the Democratic party, or try to survive until reconstruction.
It’s obvious that they are paying attention and learning. You can see it in the candidates they offer election after election. They have learned that liberals can’t be bothered to vote and will always find an excuse not to vote, and if they do vote, it will be a “protest” vote that essentially cuts off their own nose to teach their face a lesson. The only people that they can actually get elected are conservatives that are not hard core conservative enough to be Republicans, but also not liberal enough to get conservatives to come out in mass to vote against them. So, that is who they will continue to offer up, conservative candidates with a chance get elected.
So, good job, you taught them a lesson, and you can be damn sure they took it to heart.I’d say it’s obvious that some members of the establishment are paying attention and learning.
They have learned that liberals can’t be bothered to vote and will always find an excuse not to vote
Then they (you) actually haven’t learned a damn thing. Hell, even fucking James Carville is suddenly saying that Bernie had it right.
Harris spent the last month+ of her campaign bragging about support from CEOs, promising to put a Republican in her cabinet, and touring with Liz Cheney. The idea that she made a real effort to engage liberals and leftists is pure fiction.
Even saying it’s liberals and leftists that didn’t show up is wrong. Leftists are the most reliable voters in the country. It’s working class Americans that didn’t show up for Harris or voted for Trump. Leftists tell the establishment how to get working class voters, the establishment ignores them, working class voters stay home, then the establishment blames leftists.
Are you delusional? Of course they engaged with conservatives and and ignored you. YOU DON’T SHOW UP. How many times do I have to repeat this for you to understand? You don’t show up for local races, you don’t show up for primaries, you really don’t show up for midterms, and you didn’t show up to stop a full on Hitler wannabe.
Why in the the hell would they ever cater to people who don’t show up, especially if doing so turns away the people who do show up? You don’t even show up to do your protest votes. If enough of you showed up to do protest votes, then trying to win your vote might be worthwhile, but you don’t show up. And that means that those people who do protest vote are not only wasting everyone’s time, but also effectively choosing the fascists.
If you want them to care what you think, you have to show up.
You want ingredients? I have a cocktail recipe
I wish all of you the best, but I can’t care enough about this country to want to fight for it. One reason being it’s a shitty place that put George Takei in a camp, among many myriad other crimes. I don’t want to save it. I want to leave and not be bothered by the bunch of racists, idiots, and racist idiots who run this country and who elect them.
I don’t want to save it. I want to leave and not be bothered by the bunch of racists, idiots, and racist idiots who run this country and who elect them.
And the people of color you leave behind. You don’t want to save them from what’s coming when you resign control of your country to the racist idiots that want them dead?
History never speaks kindly of the people who turned a blind eye to atrocities for a reason. Those people could have helped, and they chose not to. They let others suffer and die because it was more convenient than doing the right thing.
Yeah the ‘great America’ they want to return to, many others have lived through it a few times already
Im sure compared to the interment camps, this is nothing.
We don’t have internment camps again yet.
George Takei has been in one before, though.
Yes, I’m well aware. My point is that they’re literally already planning new ones.
Alright but it read as if you didn’t understand the relevance of the previous comment above yours, because maybe some people don’t know the complete history of George Takei or something.
Not really.
And if you care at all, you’ll do your part to make sure
We haven’t even opened the new camps yet.
But yeah buy a gun now before gun sales are restricted based on political affiliation.
We haven’t opened the new ones but Mr Takei did grow up in one being a Japanese American of a certain age
The very same people whose Election Campaign Strategy was “Not voting for us is the same as voting for a guy who will round up Transexuals and put them in concentration camps whilst turning America into the Fourth Reich” rather than, you know, actually having a list of measures to make life better for most people, have continued with the hyperbolic alarmism so as to keep their supporters enraged against the “other” lest they stop, think, and figure out that the Democrat Leaders could have done way more than they did to appeal to voters and hence have a large slice, maybe even most, of the blame for Trump getting elected again.
The reality is that people mostly have to wait and see, since there are a lot of ways to stop or at least undermine the most autocratic Republican tendencies, plus the most intelligent Republicans (i.e. the sociopaths at the top of the party doing it for their own personal upside maximization rather than the “true believer” useful idiots) are well aware that the system only works as well as it does (i.e. from their point of view, only produces maximum wealth for their wealthy patrons and hence they themselves) if people in general think they live in a Democracy and their vote counts.
Also keep in mind that the factions of the real power in American - the Wealthy - will carry on fighting for themselves as they’ve always been doing, no matter what the façade which is the Theatre of Politics looks like (they’re apolitical and buy, bully or swindle people on both sides of the aisle).
America is an experiment in seeing how far the squeezing machine can be made to squeeze the masses without breaking, but none of the real power of the land is interested in it actually breaking and stopping delivering them maximum wealth increases, and as a country which doesn’t have enough natural resources for the wealthy to extract maximum wealth without most of the population going along with it, they too are not interested in letting it get to the same kind of situation as for example Russia. Absolutelly, their process doesn’t deal well with systemic problems of the Tragedy Of The Commons kind - hence things like Housing Inflation starting to asphixiate the rest of the Economy - but it does work for stopping direct singular actions that would mess with the interests of Wealth, such as the kind of legislation required to establish an Autocratic Regime in the US.
I’m not saying that the Wealthy will save the rest because they care, but as it so happens it’s in the best interest of the real power of the land - Money - that the machinery that keeps the rest producing wealth to enrich them does not break, so their interests are aligned which those of common people who don’t want Autocracy.
Normally I would dismiss this as liberal/nationalist nonsense…
But George Takei is kinda cool. I’m with dude.
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Yeah, go into the post, copy the text, put it in a text post, and then awkwardly source it back to George Takei on BlueSky. Isn’t that a much smoother/robust post experience? Definitely don’t just screenshot the place with all that info that’s already in a clear and common format /s
