Very moving piece, Laura, thanks for this. I think most aware people wonder when the tipping point will come, as it came for the Germans, when you realize it is too late, we are already living in the nightmare and we cannot get out. Or, conversely, when enough people really feel the sting of the theft of their freedoms and begin to push back, with their votes, with their voices, with their actions, with their collective anger.
When the Germans conquered France during World War II, the French people were faced with this kind of dilemma. They did not rise, they took a “Let’s see what happens.” stance. “How bad can it be?” So most of the famous resistance was paid for and organized by the British. Most people just watched. Some collaborated. Some turned in their neighbors for a small cash reward from the Gestapo. When the Jews of Paris were rounded up in July of 1942, the largest single mass arrest of Jews in France during the Holocaust, it was French police who carried it out. This was not mankind’s proudest moment.
So I wonder if we are reaching a tipping point and if so, which way will we tip? How can we ignore the glove box full of stuffed toys and what it tells us?
Hugo Chavez had charm. He had charisma. He was a populist. He used to do a daily television show clowning on his opponents, and enough people loved him to keep him elected and support his reforms and allow him to systemically establish single-party rule. Maduro, his successor, didn't have much of the charm Chavez had, but what he did have was the levers of power that Chavez put in place and the ruthlessness to use them.
I think the Silicon Valley broligarchs who bought JD his position understand that JD doesn't have Trump's common-man charisma, despite his book that initially suggested he might. And I think they see that Trump's physical and mental acuity clock is running down, and the time available to lock down single-party rule is short. It feels like things are accelerating.
This isn't really helpful or relevant, so let me at least start by saying thank you for writing this. Thank you for continuing to write about all the bullshit. And thank you for continuing to fight it.
Anyway, I'm scared. I'm mentally ill-type disabled. I'm one of the people whose lives haven't materially changed, in large part because I'm a shut-in whose social circle (a genuinely good one) exists almost exclusively online, and the state, horrible though it is, provides for my existence. I don't know what to do or what I can do. I can't imagine a future very well, but when I do, I don't know what I would tell anyone who asks what I did in this time, because the answer isn't really anything. I know you can't tell me what to do. I'm taking actions in my limited capacity, donating what I can to organizations I feel are doing genuine good and trying to pay actual attention to my fairly responsive local politics. It just hurts. And I don't imagine for a second that this pain is worse than that of the people who are actually being actively targeted right now (rather than just being passively in the crosshairs) or those who are actively getting involved in the fight to such a great degree. But it does hurt.
Thank you for listening to this, to whatever extent you did. And again, thank you so much for writing and for standing up and for continuing to be in pain yourself. I can see it in your words, and it's obvious how hard you fight anyway. I'm grateful for that. And I hope that you're proud of yourself for it.
Very heavy and hard to take, but please keep shouting it.
Thank you so much for these words. You always help me see and feel much more deeply and clearly. I appreciate you!
We are coyotes. We don’t need no stinking’ permission to damn the torpedoes.
✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧
Like this can be slow like Great Britain or it can be fast and good for the billionaires like Russia or we do Syria
I've never known US to do things slow and the most powerful billionaire wants to live the law of the gun and serfdom.
Very moving piece, Laura, thanks for this. I think most aware people wonder when the tipping point will come, as it came for the Germans, when you realize it is too late, we are already living in the nightmare and we cannot get out. Or, conversely, when enough people really feel the sting of the theft of their freedoms and begin to push back, with their votes, with their voices, with their actions, with their collective anger.
When the Germans conquered France during World War II, the French people were faced with this kind of dilemma. They did not rise, they took a “Let’s see what happens.” stance. “How bad can it be?” So most of the famous resistance was paid for and organized by the British. Most people just watched. Some collaborated. Some turned in their neighbors for a small cash reward from the Gestapo. When the Jews of Paris were rounded up in July of 1942, the largest single mass arrest of Jews in France during the Holocaust, it was French police who carried it out. This was not mankind’s proudest moment.
So I wonder if we are reaching a tipping point and if so, which way will we tip? How can we ignore the glove box full of stuffed toys and what it tells us?
Thanks again for all the heart in your writing.
Hugo Chavez had charm. He had charisma. He was a populist. He used to do a daily television show clowning on his opponents, and enough people loved him to keep him elected and support his reforms and allow him to systemically establish single-party rule. Maduro, his successor, didn't have much of the charm Chavez had, but what he did have was the levers of power that Chavez put in place and the ruthlessness to use them.
I think the Silicon Valley broligarchs who bought JD his position understand that JD doesn't have Trump's common-man charisma, despite his book that initially suggested he might. And I think they see that Trump's physical and mental acuity clock is running down, and the time available to lock down single-party rule is short. It feels like things are accelerating.
Definitely on point....And yes this cabal is coming for the rest of the world.
Important post. I left for Sweden in 2019 because I saw this coming, but the distance doesn't make it easier. I'm doing everything I can from here.
Keep it coming Laura! Your writing is both courageous and well informed.🔥
This isn't really helpful or relevant, so let me at least start by saying thank you for writing this. Thank you for continuing to write about all the bullshit. And thank you for continuing to fight it.
Anyway, I'm scared. I'm mentally ill-type disabled. I'm one of the people whose lives haven't materially changed, in large part because I'm a shut-in whose social circle (a genuinely good one) exists almost exclusively online, and the state, horrible though it is, provides for my existence. I don't know what to do or what I can do. I can't imagine a future very well, but when I do, I don't know what I would tell anyone who asks what I did in this time, because the answer isn't really anything. I know you can't tell me what to do. I'm taking actions in my limited capacity, donating what I can to organizations I feel are doing genuine good and trying to pay actual attention to my fairly responsive local politics. It just hurts. And I don't imagine for a second that this pain is worse than that of the people who are actually being actively targeted right now (rather than just being passively in the crosshairs) or those who are actively getting involved in the fight to such a great degree. But it does hurt.
Thank you for listening to this, to whatever extent you did. And again, thank you so much for writing and for standing up and for continuing to be in pain yourself. I can see it in your words, and it's obvious how hard you fight anyway. I'm grateful for that. And I hope that you're proud of yourself for it.
Hard pass on 'obedience to god'.