muscatmusic18

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pansies

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Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.

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Attention Pennsylvania voters!

Senator Bob Casey’s race is now at a margin of 0.53%.

An automatic recount in PA is triggered with a margin of 0.5%. That’s a difference of 0.03% or a little over 2,000 votes. We need to make sure every ballot is counted here, and there’s thousands of uncounted ballots right now due to voter error.

Did you mail in a ballot? Check to see it was accepted here:

If it says anything other than accepted/counted/etc, your ballot needs your attention. A mistake in filling it out means that your ballot will not count unless you “cure” it. Check your county’s curing policies:

See full instructions for curing by county here.

You have until November 12 to cure your ballot in PA.

Do you know someone who mailed in a PA ballot? Please pass these links on to them. You may be the difference between their vote counting or not in a super close race.

Everyone else, you can help PA voters cure their ballots. If you live in Pennsylvania, you can help canvass in your county (see links in this thread). If you are in another state, you can sign up to call voters and help them cure by phone.

Want to help another state? Sign up for a shift through November 19.

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Ramona Wultschner on Instagram

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my other grounding technique is remembering that the earliest abolitionists & the earliest suffragists had no proof that the world would ever make possible what they fought for and indeed many of them did not live to see it come to pass. and yet they did not succumb to despair so it would be disrespectful to their memory to let it overtake me

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We're Still Here.

Eight years ago, when the results of the 2016 election became clear, a group of us pulled together what we thought would be a mid-sized fanworks auction as a way to throw some financial support to progressive organizations in need.

Since then, that circle has widened more than anyone could ever have anticipated. Our ever-growing community has done amazing things together, showing up for one another and for organizations on the ground all over the country doing vital, challenging work for vulnerable people.

We’ll still be here next year, but there’s another larger point to be made:

In this terrible time, it is still possible to build things together.

In fact, it is more urgent than ever that we build things together in order to bring the world a little closer to the world we want to live in.

There are people in your community online who need you. There are people in your neighborhood who need you, even if you haven’t met them yet — and if you haven’t, now is the time. We can and will survive, and help one another survive, by showing up for one another.

Take some time to mourn; we will be, too. And then let’s organize.

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I hope none of you disappear in the coming days. Seriously don't do anything that can't be undone.

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hey. i love you all. always and forever

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Everything hurts and we need a miracle

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i hate viruses so fucking much. literally getting attacked by a fucking shape. a concept. consumes no energy. responds to no stimuli. its only existence is to fuck with you. like fuck offf

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Very proud.

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may we all wake up tomorrow with less heavy hearts

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Somewhere I saw a post that was like, "any state can turn blue if enough people vote."

This is very true. And with so much at stake here, you shouldn't assume that people won't turn out in droves to vote blue even in red states.

Project 2025/Agenda 47 isn't the kind of thing that normal, everyday Republicans actually want. Trumpers are a weird bunch. As we raise more awareness, your Republican swing voter types are going to be like, "hey uh, wait, this isn't what I want" and a lot of them are going to start eyeing Harris.

So even if you live in a red state, don't assume that your vote is meaningless. Do not. For one minute. Assume this.

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I hope November is good to you.

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What is your fav scene w Picard. I want to kno because I love hearing people talk about what they love ❤️

This is the best ask I’ve ever received, thank you so much 🥹

“Who Watches the Watchers” when Picard, after accidentally becoming a deity to the Mintakans, beams Nuria, their leader, aboard to try and convince her that what she perceives as his god-like "magic" is simply advanced technology.

It would've been so easy for Picard to show Nuria the grandeur of the technology at his hands, take her to the holodeck, to the torpedo bay, show her the replicators, etc. He could've bludgeoned her with his superior knowledge and power, and in effect, overwhelmed her with her people's obvious and humiliating blunder. But he didn't. Instead, he takes her to the empty observation lounge and shows her a view of her own world.

He thoughtfully, quietly, asks her questions that relate, once again, to her world. It's not even a speech, just a soft conversation. He humbly trusts her intelligence, trusts her as an equal, and trusts her to come to her own realizations. Which she does.

It's such a simple scene in concept, yet it's steeped in empathy, respect, and compassion. It illuminates one of Picard's greatest strengths: his innate desire for mutual understanding.

And even when Nuria still doesn't quite understand, he doesn't get frustrated, doesn't press harder, doesn't lose respect for her, he simply pivots and tries a new angle.

Picard is a man who faces responsibility head-on and unflinching and we see that aspect of his character in such a soft and gentle way here.

The whole episode is incredible and is, in my opinion, a pinnacle example of what makes Star Trek, Star Trek. But it's that scene in the observation lounge that elevates a fun sci-fi romp in bad wigs to something that cracks open your soul a little and makes you ponder the immensity of existence.

"Compassion is not a virtue, it is a commitment." - Brene Brown.

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Is there any plan for after Harris loses (which seems inevitable at this point)? People are pointedly not talking about after, so I assume that Trump winning really does mean everything is Over in a very final way.

...

Both of those assertions are wrong.

Polls are notoriously unreliable (and getting less reliable), and things are close. I honestly have no idea who's going to win. But right now, fivethirtyeight.com (which is the best overall politics predictor in the US, and has been for the last several election cycles) has Harris ahead by 1.3 points. So, no, Trump winning is not inevitable.

But especially with things this close and the election this close, this is the least likely time for people to be publicly talking about contingency plans for a Trump win. The more people think Trump is going to win, the less likely Harris voters are to show up at the polls ... which means that Trump is more likely to win. Talking about how awful a Trump presidency would be if he got elected can motivate people to vote, when paired with "but voting for Harris can help prevent that!" Talking about what to do after he wins (if he does) is much more concrete and much more likely to convince people that there's no point in voting, we need to move on to the next step of preparing for the inevitable. But it isn't inevitable! Not even close!

Organizations at all levels--political groups, advocacy groups, charities, legal aid groups, etc.--have been preparing all along. But the more you talk about those contingencies in public, the more likely you are to actually need them.

And the thing is, we know a Trump win would be bad. How bad, and in what way exactly ... depends on a lot of factors. His first term was bad, but he was prevented from achieving his goals because he is incapable of keeping competent people around, and nobody knew how to make the bureaucracy of government do what they wanted it to do. He may have fixed that problem, he may not. We know what his goals are and those of his closest allies. What we don't know is, would he be better able to carry those goals out this time if he wins, and if so, how many of them he will be able to enact. And what we, as leftists, can do in the event of a Trump presidencey depends on all of those things!

So it's much better to point out that the odds are in Harris' favor right now (even if not by much) and we need to go out and make sure they stay in Harris' favor.