US Politics, June 2018: This is a total goat rodeo.

Well you need to remain optimistic otherwise you just give up innit?

Is this just endless nihilism on the GOP side. I guess they're all oldish or whatever so they don't care what happens over the next 50 years BUt I'm still assuming there is a supposedly logical teleological end somewhere. maybe an epistemology that views dark skin as human is too out of step with this prevailing ethos.
BUt do have to hope taht something is going to stop this before whatever version of nazism, fascism MAGAism takes over completely.

so what's the alternative? yelling at people on the internets, doing nothing , having a bake sale ? xp

there is absolutely no reason to be optimistic given the chain of events, and optimism has been proven wrong daily since 2016, sometimes spectacularly wrong

xp there is no alternative, that's the worst part

optimism and nihilism are two sides of the same coin, swinging radically in either direction is not really helpful tbh

the joy is in the struggle, y'all - resistance is a valid end in and of itself

y'all know there are actual groups doing shit you can join or support, right

I mean, no? children are going to be carted to detention centers regardless of whether I stand in a street at 5:30 p.m. today, take a nap, or die

fuck that! there are all kinds of things to be optimistic about one being the amount of young people I encounter regularly that are out doing good things and fighting for what they believe in.

Leave the US.

the correct response is to figure out what needs to be done, find people who share your goals who are doing it, and work with them to get it done

wallowing in despair is counterproductive

there's plenty to do. ICE just got kicked out of Portland and right here next door to me last night the Springfield jail canceled their ICE contract because a fuckton of people showed up to protest at the meeting.

Seriously, other people have had to leave their countries for generations due to colonial violence, tyranny, political upheaval, etc., why not Americans?

xps

xp -- it's great how people just say "leave the US" as if that were a thing that were possible in today's world for most people without resources and incredible luck

because of the people that would get left behind and what would happen to them, that's why

xp

the only way to stop this shit is to win elections

I thought resistance fed on optimism that there is going to be a way of ending things. So would hope it was a spirit that kept people going since it is more positive than desperation.
I thought desperation was energy sucking.

I'm not saying optimism is the end in itself, just thinking it is something that helps drive people forward and not retreat into a corner.

xp -- it's great how people just say "leave the US" as if that were a thing that were possible in today's world for most people without resources and incredible luck

It is well known that only such people move to other countries ever.

and conveniently for them, the GOP is making that increasingly more difficult via gerrymandering, voter restriction laws and the like

Those with resources and incredible luck, that is.

xp

ah, mourning

xp -- yes, and it is well known that people without resources or incredible luck have great odds and a hearty welcome moving to other countries, as evidenced by (gestures broadly to the news)

so what's the alternative? yelling at people on the internets, doing nothing , having a bake sale ? xp

This Is Just the Beginning

I do not believe that Trump administration officials should be able to live their lives in peace and affluence while they inflict serious harms on large portions of the American population. Not being able to go to restaurants and attend parties and be celebrated is just the minimum baseline here. These people, who are pushing America merrily down the road to fascism and white nationalism, are delusional if they do not think that the backlash is going to get much worse. Wait until the recession comes. Wait until Trump starts a war. Wait until the racism this administration is stoking begins to explode into violence more frequently. Read a fucking history book. Read a recent history book. The U.S. had thousands of domestic bombings per year in the early 1970s. This is what happens when citizens decide en masse that their political system is corrupt, racist, and unresponsive. The people out of power have only just begun to flex their dissatisfaction. The day will come, sooner that you all think, when Trump administration officials will look back fondly on the time when all they had to worry about was getting hollered at at a Mexican restaurant.

Of course, I'm also in favor of working within the system where possible, but bombings (of congressional offices and the like) and assassinations (not the big man, but local and state level and above) are frankly A-OK by me.

Re leaving the US, I think about it every fucking day and am taking concrete steps in that direction which I opt not to share with the group. It's hard but it's not impossible. People tell you it is to keep you cowering in place.

I mean, precisely?

xp

I mean, just speaking for me -- very far toward the privileged/with-resources end of the axis here, compared to most people who might leave their country -- it would be impossible unless I married someone who lived elsewhere (getting to the marriage stage is difficult enough under normal circumstances) and/or found a job abroad (getting a job is also difficult enough under normal circumstances, and I have basically zero job skills anyone gives a shit about)

This doesn't read impossible to me. Pain in the ass? Sure. Impossible? Hardly.

quitters

this is my country, I ain't leaving it

my family's been here since the fucking 1680s, and in California since the 1890s I'm not ceding it to a bunch of fascist fuckwits

People being forced to migrate (often due to American musadventure) is not the same as voluntarily leaving the US. You have options.

my father's father moved here from Germany (after being imprisoned in Portugal) under a certain set of adverse circumstances around 1940, I have all the documents I need to apply for German naturalization, so

When I feel down and useless about the state of everything I try to keep in mind that there has suddenly been a mainstreaming of knowledge about things such as intersectionality, black culture, confirmation bias racism etc. I've been really hard on myself the last couple of years for being naive about so much of it. But on the other hand, I also think that growing old in the US is unsustainable for the majority of people. I don't want to spend the last decades of my life worried that getting sick will completely bankrupt me.

i'll admit i don't really follow non-US politics much at all, but my general sense is that Europe is...pretty much just as shitty? not every country of course but generally speaking there's plenty of incipient facism and demonizing of migrants/refugees.

xp — pretty sure writing a few reviews of american CDs from time to time does not qualify one for a freelance visa, and that is all I am capable of

Europe is v much just as shitty (and probably even more racist)

also xo yeah, Europe has its own far right resurgence

Incipient fascism in some places? Sure. Ubiquitous gun violence? A nonexistent healthcare system? Not so much.

so Canada it is then? I've made my peace with Drake.

Antarctica is looking pretty good to me tbh. Get in before it melts away.

but then the shoggoths will get you!

I think I might take my chances with the shoggoths.

I am in France/UK like 2 months out of the year. This trip I feel like there is more annoyance/hostility towards Americans (prolly some even from me, ha!)

Also I fully endorse shunning friends/family who are pro this shitshow and publicly shaming Trump officials.

I think Canadians' perception of the US deteriorated the most since fuckface-in-chief got elected.

My brother worked in Australia for a couple of months during Dubya's presidency, and the anti-American sentiment at that time made him miserable. I can't even imagine how much the world must despise us at this point. Thank goodness for my facility wrt accent mimicry, is alls I'm sayin'.

As a consolation prize, you can count on being welcomed with arms wide open in Russia, North Korea, Israel and the Philippines, among other stalwart bastions of human rights.

Israel is probably my best option lol

Not judging others here for their reactions/actions but: I am far less worried about myself (and what will ostensibly happen to my straight white male ass) than what is being done to other, less-privileged humans.

Given that my beef with the Trumpoid program is that it systematically degrades and oppresses people of color, women, the poor, the disabled, sexual minorities... what good does MY leaving for France (or whatever) accomplish?

tl;dr: Outic OTM