Microblog Memes

This is seriously one of the profoundest insights among our modern world, dammit!

To whomever prokopetz is, I owe you, Hoomin .. that is incisive understanding!

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( I'm typing-out all the text, as that is an image, which means it isn't indexed-as-text by any search-engine spidering this page, & I want that text spidered, getting into the search-engines )

prokopetz

Thesis: the narrow focus on public performance over substantive action in certain activist circles has less to do with the cynical schemes to game the system for progressive brownie points, and more to do with the fact that many folks basically think social activism is a form of ritual magic. Popular histories give us images of Great Men making speeches and leading marches and circulating petitions, and completely erase all the ground-level infrastructure that made all that stuff work; the end result is that a lot of folks seem honestly to believe that bringing about social change is a matter of performing the appropriate symbolic actions and waiting for reality to reconfigure itself accordingly.

#politics #activism #discourse

*upvotes

wikipedia/cargo_cult

A one day boycott is about as effective at sending some kind of message as taking off a condom after the first thrust is at preventing a pregnancy.

Americans are seemingly incapable of doing anything other than virtue signalling online.

I say this as an American.

I moved over from corporate tech work to take a pay cut to do tech work at a non profit helping the homeless, to actually, literally do praxis.

No one, none of my friends, none of my family, nobody seemed to understand why I believed that ones actions should align with ones beliefs.

Americans are largely performative, self-obsessed narcissists.

I am beyond disgusted with this country.

I spent a decade telling people what is currently occuring is not only possible, but becoming increasingly inevitable.

90% of people told me I was mentally ill.

10% said yes they agree, but what can you do?

Fine. Fuck it.

There is nothing we can do I guess, as doing something would involve actual planning, risk and sacrifice, and we're all a bunch of either vapid preening esoteric socialites, or murderously stupid death cultists.

Beam me up Scotty, no signs of intelligent life here.

As an old Canadian socialist with the lumps to prove it, I agree. There is so much performance, and so little action. I spend time on reddit, trying to get keyboard warriors to understand that posting an opinion will not magically cause the fascist Administration to collapse and get a lot of "The media refuses to cover us!" bullpuckey. There are thousands of newsrooms in the USA that are not owned by billionaire tech bros or MAGA devotees (see, for example https://www.trustworthymedia.org/ › list-of-independent-media ) and most social media is still wide open to pictures and facts about your actions. If you are acting, let the independent media -- most but not all of whom are progressive, check first -- know and post your pictures (faces blurred if need be) and stories everywhere you can reach people.

Meantime, buy Canadian, buy local, or don't buy at all, at least it's something!

I don't buy anything on most days normally. Days isn't going to do anything and stop telling yourself it will.

Stop it entirely or as much as you possibly can. Never order from Amazon again. Where you do need to buy stuff buy as little as possible. Stop visiting pubs and restaurants. If your goal is to damage the US economy. Avoid as much as you possibly can that goes towards it.

My favorite restaurant is not a chain, I'm a regular there, and they have a once a month special on one of these days. I would rather support them on one of these days than buy nothing.

To be fair any excuse to eat there is good. Greek food is awesome.

Look at what the right is doing. They go after targets with disproportionate force to force change. "Don't buy anything" is easy for a day and hard for long. "Refuse to purchase anheiser Busch products because they caved to bigots" is less difficult and leaves a message.

imho the chapter on "Tactics" in Alinski's Rules for Radicals provides a lot of ideas on how to avoid performative activism.

I see it as good practice and normalizing not shopping at those places