#fuck fascism forever

[greaterblogston]

There's a little preview of The Perfect Sentence on the GB main thread today, including the first single - Fortune Cookies. Let me know what you think, and then if you're interested: Please help fund my Indiegogo campaign for this project here: the Perfect Sentence Indiegogo! Or help spread the word however you feel comfortable!

I know there's a lot of terrible, awful things going on right now. If you don't have the mental space to even be on the internet, let alone give money or attention to some weird guy and his art, PLEASE take care of yourself.

[onlyifyoubadd]

rick was about to be like "we promise" and michonne shut that shit down with "AHT AHT! we killing all those crm bitches!"

[yeahlikethebird]

.

[attila-werther]

sometimes I'll see a post cross my dash where they refer to women as females in a specific kind of tone, and I'll check their blog, and 9 times out of 10 they're a deeply rancid anti-porn/sex can only exist as exploitation preacher, and just a little bit further and bam! the bioessentialism! and I'm like. damn! my batting average is pretty good. what a bunch of freaks.

[canonically47]

want you to know that my history teacher (with very high studies) follows me on instagram & i shared a post regarding this on my story and he reacted. not very well. so i feel it’s safe to say nobody is dramaticizing or overreacting 😓

what do you mean elon musk did a nazi salute on live tv at the united states presidential inauguration twice and is now erasing the evidence off the internet by replacing the footage with the crowd cheering instead?

would be a shame if people reblogged this, wouldn’t it?

[coffeeandoranges33]

not to spoil 2025 for anyone but if we're doing this whole thing again, i can already tell you re: sexual assault allegations... anyone who is accused while being Jewish, Black, or trans (etc) will go to jail. Doubly so if antifascist. Accused WASP cis men will be fine, and their career prospects may actually even improve afterwards, with bonus points if they're fascist.

[ricoka]

this is so depressing and infuriating

[antikate]

I see the occasional piece of discourse slide past me on this website (but also in other places) that goes something like this:

Every four years the democrats tell us our democracy is in danger and we have to vote for them or else! When will the centrists liberals stop holding us hostage like this! Why don’t they fix it for once and for all?

Here’s the thing: you can’t permanently get rid of fascism. We had a WORLD WAR that killed 75 million people to try to get rid of fascism and it just keeps on popping up again. It’s a weed that will always come back because it grows in the fertile soil of human misery, and until we end human misery for good, our soils will be rich and productive for a long time. Fascism flourishes when people are scared, unhappy, and suffering, because it gives humans easy solutions to complex problems.

Anyway… We! The Royal we! Need to stop thinking of voting as one weird trick to fix things forever and start thinking of it as weeding. Every four years you’re going to have to weed this fucking garden. For the foreseeable future. Now put your gardening gloves on and get to work, otherwise you’re going to end up with a fascist garden growing nothing but the thorn bushes of oppression and subjugation.

[emilianadarling]

You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into is a really, really important message that needs to be internalized.

Feelings don't care about your facts.

In Doppleganger, Naomi Klein characterizes conspiracy culture as often "getting the facts wrong, but the feelings right". And when there are real unaddressed issues, real things people are feeling, it leaves a vacuum. And that vacuum leaves a lot of space for misinformation and disinformation to take hold; for right-wing strategists to speak to those feelings, even if the 'solution' they're offering will actually make the problem worse.

And it's very hard to combat that problem with facts, especially when the act of doing so is interpreted as telling someone that what they're feeling isn't real.

If facts don't work, what does? There is no easy answer, but here are some learnings gained from others who have lived through or studied similar challenges:

Narratives: Hannah Arendt was a German-American Jew and political theorist; after WWII, she wrote extensively about totalitarianism. She argued that narratives can be more compelling and convincing to people who are more moved by feelings than they are factual data. For those people, the consistency of the narrative built by lies/propaganda is more compelling; once they have bought into that narrative, they will go to extreme lengths to ignore facts that contradict it. When lies are repeated over and over, it enforces that sense of consistency over time. A compelling narrative grounded in truth can be more compelling and effective than 'facts'.

Stories, Not Silence: Naomi Klein, a Canadian author and activist, has written about various topics over the years but most recently published "Doppleganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World" about COVID-era political polarization and conspiracy theories. She argues that to drain conspiracy theories of their energy and power, we need to be better at telling stories about topics and concepts that have become dominated by the right rather than ceding that space with leftist silence. She also argues that we need to become better at connecting in person, or at least connecting in a way where we are less vulnerable and susceptible to lies about each other.

Connection and an Envisioned Better Future: Timothy Snyder is an author and leading scholar on tyranny, freedom, and Soviet Russia. He argues that authoritarian regimes depend on people getting used to hearing the things they want to hear, and in moving people further away from shared facts we all agree on and towards emotion - either emotion to divide us, or to bring us together. Over time, the strong emotions and repetition of what you want to hear changes you: from a person who cares about facts and can function in the public sphere/democracy to a person who can't. Authoritarians argue that no one can be trusted and there are no facts - but if there are no facts, it's all emotion. It's all what feels right to us -- and we cede the field to people who are good at making things feel right to us. Fantasy becomes better than facts. Changing this means both a positive vision/fantasy for the future of the country and collective action. Collective action is hard, but possible: it means connecting with people in real life, talking with people we disagree with -- and it doesn't have to be everyone all at once. "If 10,000 little groups do 5,000 little things, that will make a tremendous difference."

This isn't comprehensive by any means, but there are some shared themes. Other important elements -- like trust and how to rebuild trust that has been damaged or broken -- are also critical, but would warrant an entire post of their own.

Thanks to OP for the hard but worthwhile prompting thoughts. The road ahead will not be easy, and it can be hard to understand or grapple with perspectives so different and detached that it can feel like we're living in alternate realities instead of the same country as each other. When the things that seem to have such wild appeal to a certain portion of the population are so viscerally repellent to others. But at least we are gifted with the learnings and hard-won insights of other who came before or walk alongside us.

The article 10 Ways to Be Prepared and Grounded Now That Trump Has Won provides good advice here. First, trust yourself. Find others you can trust. Grieve. Release that which you cannot change. Find your path to resistance.

But then, at minimum -- even if you yourself don’t want to engage with them (which is fine) -- we’ll all have to give space to those who can and do experiment with new language to appeal to others who don’t share our own worldviews.

I think it's important to understand that the vast majority of voters do not spend much time thinking through their political decisions because it's simply not something that occupies much space in their minds. You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into, and it's extremely difficult to fight feelings with facts.

Now that the Democratic party's inner core is highly-educated cosmopolitan urbanites, it seems to have lost the ability to deal with that reality.

Most people do not feel like trump is a fascist, or that he wants to be a dictator. Most people do not feel like any of Biden's massive legislative/executive accomplishments improved their lives at all. Most people do not feel like Harris's platform would've actually gotten done or helped them. Most people feel like Trump ran a better economy and that it's Democrats' fault that inflation got so bad.

In an individualistic, selfish nation with one of the worst education systems in the industrialized world, a political party cannot win by serving up a charcuterie board of various poll-tested policies that it then tries to explain to people who could not care less and don't understand anyway. It needs to create an overwhelming feeling, a feeling that changes the minds of people who don't give a fuck about anything but themselves and their wallets. Trump found that overwhelming feeling. Through bravado, cruelty, and levity, he created this zeitgeist of blunt, confident grievance that countless prideful people who feel left behind by the economy could grab onto. This feeling inspired people far beyond his cult of enthusiastic fascists and self-identified bigots.

The country chose trump because Trump's brand, vibe, and message inspired compelling emotions in more people, especially in people who have no interest in civic engagement, don't follow the news, and have been given little understanding of government/economics by our failing education system.

This problem wasn't fully apparent in 2022 during the midterms, when more low-propensity voters stayed home and highly-educated, highly-engaged people made up more of the electorate.

[qqueenofhades]

I just feel like even if we all vote and Biden wins, Trump won't accept the loss, and eventually they'll just put him in anyway. And then there won't be another real election. Even if Biden wins and somehow is actually confirmed (which again, I think is unlikely) we're going to have to do this for 30 more years because of the SC, and that isn't at all sustainable.

All this isn't to say I won't vote but I just think people are being way too optimistic about what happens if Biden wins. I don't think him winning will keep Trump out or the horrible fascist future at bay.

Look, I get the fear. I do, I do... but this is also one of the times when you have to ask if it's actually telling you something true, or if it's just preying on that generalized feeling of doom to make everything seem hopeless even if we win again. And that is... there is absolutely no actual mechanism for Trump to be installed as president if Biden wins the Electoral College (since as we have repeatedly seen, the popular vote is immaterial). SCOTUS is horrible and evil and are trying to interfere as much ahead of time for Trump as they can, but part of that is because they can't simply issue an order for Biden to be removed and Trump to become God King By Fiat. That is not how it works. If Biden wins in November, he will be president until his term ends, he steps down, Kamala takes over, or anything else.

Trump tried a coup with all the entire overwhelming might of the US government as the sitting president last time; fortunately, it failed. Reforms to the Electoral Count Act have been made to prevent another January 6. The Department of Defense and the military are still under (and would be on another January 6) Biden's command, not Trump's. That's not to say that Trump won't try some shit with his insane cult followers, but he is just a late 70s conman from Queens out on bail and under sentence for a criminal trial, who is already the biggest and most disgraced loser and asshole in American political history. He is so desperate to cheat his way back into power because in a real sense, this IS the last-chance saloon for him. He can't put off the legal proceedings, however long they take, for another four years. He's losing his marbles at a rapid rate. I'm just saying: we don't know what or when, but there will be (and already have been) real consequences for him. That is why he is scrabbling so hard.

"Even if we vote, nothing matters and Trump will win anyway" is another of those insidious lies that works to make you feel as if the battle is endless and pointless and none of its victories matter. Of course it will not all be magically fixed forever if Biden wins. We will still have to figure some godforsaken fucking way to expand SCOTUS or kick Alito and Thomas off it. But we will have bought ourselves, our democracy, our country, and the world time to do that, and put another nail in Trump's coffin. That matters. It matters a lot.

Fascism wants to present itself as overwhelming, irresistible, inevitable, and ready to happen no matter what you do, and that's what your brain wants you to buy in now. But that's not the case, Trump is not inevitable or some all-powerful monolith (in fact, another of the debate takeaways seemed to be that Biden looked bad but people still hate Trump too much for it to really shift anything). He is a loser, a fraud, a conman, a liar, and a crook, and he WANTS you to fear him like an almighty god. Don't give him or the MAGAGOP the satisfaction.

Frankly, having to endure another four months of this might kill us all, and I know that we are tired and scared (me too). But IT IS NOT INEVITABLE THAT WE ARE DOOMED. Not at all. Let's hang onto that and tell that anxiety doom voice to shove it.

Hugs.

[technofeudalism]

everything Trump is doing and will do is historically horrific. that said, i'm always taken aback when i see someone post some shit like "we are officially living under fascism now."

the key thing it exposes is that some people were genuinely under the impression the entire time that you can vote fascism away and that we did it in 2020. online liberals get so mad when people share this meme but it actually happened.

we did not "beat" fascism 4 years ago and it just magically came back because we didn't vote it away this time. but i think that is the conclusion some are coming to. even if Trump lost, geopolitics has been forever changed as a result of what he's managed to do in the last decade. you cannot eradicate fascism via electoralism. it is not going to work. fascism has been here. as with so many other things in life, it is a scale, not a binary.

in the slim chance that we get another fair election in 4 years, if Trump actually loses or leaves office, fascism still is not "gone." it is still on the rise. it sounds corny as fuck, but any activist will tell you the fight against fascism is a lifetime fight until it is dead and buried, not one you engage in every four years.

even then, you HAVE to stay vigilant. forever. that is what the "anti-fascist" label in your tumblr bio means. it is not like "Democrat" in the sense that it only determines what ballot you're handed in an election primary. it is not simply a personality trait.

this is what many activists have been trying to explain to so many for so long. but people have refused to hear it because those activists, who came to these conclusions on their own and have been trying to explain these concepts to people for decades, aren't always able to articulate this point without losing their patience and wind up being cast as bitter or condescending. it's been a constant losing battle.

[preggomancer]

real quick.

I've seen a lot of people on here responding to the recent news that america has decided to fuck everyone forever, and here's my two cents.

I completely understand if people feel personally uncomfortable engaging with pregnancy content considering what's on the line. Much love to all who can't engage in this space right now, truly.

At the same time, it's important to remember that literally all sexual content is, and always has been, politicized. You are not a bad person for engaging with a fetish. Sexual fantasy does not represent your morality and indulging in those fantasies in a safe and consensual manner is not an immoral act.

You are not a bad person for being horny while bad things are happening. You are not a bad person for not feeling bad 100% of the time because bad things are happening. The world sucks shit and it is your duty to wrest joy out of its slimy grasp.

Most importantly: we must not self-censor. Fascism relies on at-risk groups preemptively giving up ground that hasn't even been demanded of them. It's scary out there, but there is also a lot of fear-mongering going on. We can't throw everything out the window now. We are here, we are queer, and we're staying put.

[homiro]

It was okay before. It was okay when Bush was elected twice. Yes, more people will die again but when has that stopped happening especially in Muslim countries? It will be okay. It won't be good but it will be okay. Humanity has been fighting and killing each other for millennia. There was I think maybe less than month of peace since 1945.

Remember all the times it was hard and it was okay. Not good, the word really is 'okay'. Remember boarding schools and assimilation. Remember slavery. Remember segregation. Remember Emmett Till. Remember the Civil Rights Movements. Remember that the Native-American Self-determination Act only dates back to 1975. It will be okay. Take this time to reconnect with nature and spirituality. I'm not saying 'go to church' but by all means if that's your creed, go for it. It helps. Even if you're a minority or marginalised and that creed says you're going to hell, I know there are ways to see the original intentions of love and kindness. "Fazer o bem sem olhar a quem" (do good without caring to whom). But now more than ever it's a time to connect with nature and see that there's more than money and greed and the 1% that keep the 99% looking down. Fuck, find strength for an uprising in the power of connecting with nature and your ancestral roots. Even if you're white. White people were indigenous once and that's still in the genes and people forget that. It feels like most people are so removed from the natural ways of human existence that they don't remember anything anymore. Maybe that's why people are so tired and lost and the energy of the world feels so gloom and heavy.

Just some thoughts and more in the tags because I'm a goofy kinda weird tree hugger.

Take care of yourselves. Take care of others. Remember your ancestors. Read about history. Read about spirituality and how good it can be. Don't take my word for it, check Durkheim's theories on the importance of belief in well-being. It doesn't have to be Jesus. It can be that one tree you like to look at. It can be a rainy day or a sunny day. It can be the smell of coffee or something like that. I guess what I'm on about is that for it to be okay you need to find what makes it worthwhile for you.

It will be okay.

it will be okay.

[lylahammar]

I think a vastly underrated form of anti-capitalism/fascism/discrimination is radical self acceptance. Like just accept being “ugly.” Fuck beauty standards fuck beauty products fuck trends fuck diet culture fuck fitting in fuck “beauty is pain” mindset fuck “healthy things have to taste bad” fuck skin care fuck plastic surgery fuck filters fuck trying to appeal to beauty standards that profit off of your insecurities just exist outside of what the system demands of you. Leave your acne gain weight wear the same clothes forever learn to view what society deems as your “flaws” as an anarchist symbol of power and freedom

[kadytimberfox]

fuck I'm thinking about the last page of unveiling again and how it's literally The Point of The Video Game Destiny condensed into like maybe 8 paragraphs

like THAT'S IT!!!!! THAT'S WHAT WE LEARNED!!!!! THAT'S THE POINT OF IT ALL!!!!!!!

the interesting thing about this passage is that you absolutely can just replace the word "Darkness" with the word "Fascism" in the last graf there but the Darkness in Destiny is NOT synonymous with fascism. Mara Sov is absolutely NOT saying that "a balanced world needs a little fascism in it to keep things honest". In fact, that kind of thinking is what allows for unchecked, thriving Darkness in the real world.

No, the Darkness is not fascism. The Darkness is Memory, which is co-opted by fascism. "Remember when life was great?" "Don't you want to just live in that great moment forever?" That's exactly what the Witness offers, in the end: to be frozen in time in the exact moment of your greatest joy, dead but never dying, trapped in amber and never permitted to live again. Because to live would be to acknowledge the impermanence of that moment, the reality that existence is not and cannot be one single glorious moment. One Final Shape, you might say.

What is it that Riven said? "Even paradise is a prison if you can't leave." She was talking about a literal paradise that was a literal prison for her but that's okay, the metaphor is good too.

I think that Destiny thinks that Memory is necessary and good for humans to have. But Memory is not an ideology. Memory does not grant the power to end suffering. Memory isn't even real. Not the way Life -- existence -- mortality -- Light -- is real.

Anyway that's why Destiny is anti-fascist. There are also a lot of other reasons why Destiny is anti-fascist like the Worm Gods and the Hive and Sword Logic as an extended metaphor for late-stage capitalist society but that's for a different post. Plus someone else who's better at writing than me has probably already said everything I would've said about that.

[fembot-y2k]

ill never forgive gamer culture for boiling down genuinely well made/told stories to "oo-ra I like to kill fuck yeah man guns and explosions" gamerbro shit, just for being action games. I do admit that I think action games are STILL over permeating in the gaming landscape, but that doesn't mean that action games, yes even shooters, cant have well made and/or fun stories. This post is about HALO and GEARS OF WAR. Both of these games have genuinely well considered and well crafted worlds for different reasons and good stories to tell, but are only ever remembered for their multiplayer "fuck yeah shooting" impact. Gears of war is remembered for being gory and having good multiplayer, Halo is remembered SOMETIMES for its story, but more often than not for its revolutionary multiplayer. MULTIPLAYER is not the enemy, its not a bad thing, but fuck do these games have some potent writing in their CAMPAIGNS, which were the main focus of the game being made in the first place.

Gears of war has a potently written critique of fascism, living under it, those who are used by it, and its cyclical self destructive mode of existence. Gears of war is *sometimes* about big dudes with big guns screaming and shooting big monsters, but every other time its about how fascism eats everything it creates alive including the people it so proudly proclaims it will protect as the chosen ones. Halo is a space opera featuring a religious alien superpower that experiences a schism so great it almost destroys the galaxy. It has philosophical zombies that cause the FIRST galaxy destroying event. It has a united earth military that acts in spite of its secret fascist government that kidnapped 6 year olds to make supersoldiers and killed upwards of 60% of them in the process, you play as one who survived. Its a rich world full of stories and well written characters, interesting world building, dont even get me started on ODST and its side logs you can find from the fall of New Mombasa.

These games are more than just, shooters. Every game strives to be more than its genre. Sometimes they are, and they get to end being that. Sometimes they end up like Halo and Call of Duty, trapped forever in the cycle of annual franchises and upholding a legacy that was created by people who aren't allowed to work on the game anymore.