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Pretending it doesn’t exist hurts the most vulnerable.
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Worth noting that iirc the lorax doesn’t actually do anything except speak up for those who needed help and protection. He didn’t win immediately but his efforts weren’t in vain. The lorax (or at least the movie?) shows you many ways you can be a part of changing the world. You dont have to be Ted, you don’t have to be the Lorax, you don’t have to be granny norma, or Ted’s love interest, or the people who spoke up first when Ted planted the tree. All of these people made the world better with their own contribution. You should consider it, though.
The Lorax failed as every single Truffula tree was felled. Then the person who destroyed everything passed the work of rebuilding off to someone else.
It is a great story as a warning, but a terrible example of avoiding destruction.
Pay attention to “events that actually happen” and “things that people in power say.” Pay far less attention to “kvetching and predicting.”
If you stop paying attention entirely, you’re going to end up with a whole lot of Shocked Pikachu Face in your future.
If you stop paying attention entirely
This is the part which normalization works to accelerate. Every message is crafted to rally supporters and repulse opponents; enough to get one to tune out and stop paying attention. Do it long enough and whatever they want to do will be done without any scrutiny.
This is one of the reasons the consolidation of mainstream independent media is a serious problem.
don’t tune it out. there are people being deported, people afraid for their rights and their lives. people not paying attention is how we got the Holocaust
I’ve literally seeing the rights of myself and other get taken away in the last week. I’m moving cross country to get out of the state I’m currently in because it does not recognize who I am.
They want to open up people like me to descrimination and hate crimes. I’m wondering what will happen with my job if this stuff keeps happening.
There are real world consequences to politics and people sticking their heads in the sand is the reason literal fascism is on the rise.
If you are privileged enough to feel you don’t have to worry about politics that generally means you aren’t the current target.
WA? DE? At least there’s a few states you can still be ok in…
If you “don’t do politics”, politics will do you. You don’t need to be the one to single-handedly fix everything, but please do what you can. We need everyone.
The very situation we are in now was greatly enabled because lots of people did what you are doing. Dont lose sleep and sacrifice your health (edit not help), but if you were ever an undecided candidate while Trump was running, or you don’t know what an oligarchy or nepotism is or why they’re relevant, or can’t recount what happened on Jan 6 2021, you NEED to pay more attention.
I’m genuinely worried it’s yet another deliberate denial of service against our ability to detect evil. I work extra hard to only pay attention to what is actually done that seems like it could stick.
Mostly I trust that good people in positions of trust (e.g. ACLU or EFF) will call out when there’s an opportunity for mass mobilization to make a real difference.
This is a great point. If we only have bandwidth to listen to a single news source, we could all do worse than choosing the ACLU or the Electronic Frontier Foundation!
Didn’t ACLU support Citizens United?
Technically yes. They are basically constitutional fundamentalists and have decided giving money to a political cause counts as free speech and are against any limitation of free speech.
That is dumb af. Why does Musk have more free speech than I do?
Join your local DSA and tend to local issues. The things that the national level are indeed serious, but spend your time and efforts where you can make the biggest difference.
Donate a few dollars to your local land trust to keep land out of the hands of big business.
Join local housing boards or City Hall meetings, wherever decisions on zoning and housing are decided. Anytime someone tries to blame something on bigger buildings designed for more people, and better public transportation, fight them tooth and nail. Single residence zoning, parking minimums, etc. are one of the reasons homelessness exists.
Show up to protests
Make friends with your neighbors
Please do anything but just vegetate. You are important. But only if you help.
Personally, I’m tunning it out. The only time I dive into it is around elections so I can make an informed vote. But, after that it seems like I’m utterly powerless to change anything.
I used to think being informed would come in handy to change people’s minds, but that never happens. People have to change their own minds.
See also: https://lemmy.today/post/22524765
This stuff matters and we’re approaching a point where you can no longer safely ignore it. Pay attention and within a month or two you’ll find your newfound political opinions appear obvious in hindsight. Make sure to fact-check stuff when you can to avoid getting tricked by disinformation. Remember to avoid common fallacies, especially that there must always be perfect equality between both sides of an argument-- sometimes one side is unambiguously right, and sometimes it actually is grey. Remember that “always” and “never” are usually incorrect, but that you can still make statements about what’s likely to be true or to happen in the future, and that those statements are still very important. And lastly, make sure that you’re confident in your opinions before arguing about them. Oh, and asking questions may get you downvotes, but it’s great for learning; just remember that people can lie. I know that’s a lot, but it’s better to know it now than later! Mostly I’m just trying to safeguard you against the common pitfalls people make mistakes around.
Life is political. Don’t bury your head in the sand.
People tuning out is why we are here. Pay attention as much as you can; it’s important to be educated and to participate in the process.
If you haven’t noticed that a lot of things in your life are political, I feel sorry for your lack of grasp on reality. The taxes you pay are political. The laws you have to follow are political. Decisions on how your kids go to school are political. How you work (you payment, your job- and personal safety) - guess what, it’s political. If the CDC will protect you against the next pandemic, if the FDA will protect you against being poisoned - it is all political.
Tune out reality at your own risk. You should have paid attention to this ages ago.
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You had an upvote until the doomerism. Now is the time, it’s never too late.
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I wouldn’t take it lightly tbh. One event that you ought to be on the lookout for is the night of the long knives. When Hitler rose to power, there was a night where a ton of his political opponents got murdered. If trump pulls that off then that’s full nazi and the camps will follow shortly after
