#anyway welcome to the dillema ye first-worlders

[airlock]

as the din of fascism continues to intensify in the US, there's a particular sort of online conversation that I keep seeing more of lately

it's the one where someone tries to jam the flow of radical thought by going "oh yeah? you think revolutions are all niceness and candy? well they're NOT, people die in them. you don't understand the scale of the violence you're pushing for". and lots of people will flock to whoever's saying this at a given time -- after all, what's a surer path to social media prestige than taking up the mantle of brave, outspoken defender of all things milquetoast and mainstream?

meanwhile, outside the comfortable confines of the imperial core, there were and are countless people backed up against the wall, forced to seriously address the question: knowing exactly how dangerous and costly revolutions are, do we have any other option right now?

there are always louts who want to push for violence at the drop of a pin; these types tend to accomplish little more than be loud. when an organized mass moves, it's full of people who have weighed their options, and seen that they're in a situation dire enough that the costs of revolting outweigh the costs of letting things stay as they are.

this thing that USamericans are doing in their conversations is like a first baby step towards radical thought more mature than disorganized rabblerousing. I'd maybe be more appreciative of seeing it, if it weren't so thoroughly laced with condenscension always. if, before opening their mouths about the nature of revolutions, the USamerican would listen to those who live in them, without dismissing those people as denizens of inherently chaotic shitholes; without ignorance of where their frustration with USamerican political apathy comes from.