#political consciousness

[trendynewsnow]

The Legacy of Activism: Lessons from My Grandparents

Five years ago, during my grandfather’s 98th birthday celebration, a curious guest posed a question that sparked a profound moment: “What is the secret to your longevity?” Even at that remarkable age, he possessed the vigor of someone half his years. With a twinkle in his eye, he replied to the family and friends gathered around his cake, “The ultimate thing is engaging in the social struggle of…

[russia-libertaire]

From social alienation to social purpose

"Many members of Russia's emerging educated elite found themselves alienated from the tsarist state as well as separated from most of Russian society by their education and their disdain for traditional values and relationships. [...] By formulating programs for social development which enabled them to play an integral part in overcoming Russia's poverty, oppressiveness, and backwardness, the intelligentsia provided itself with a social role that seemed to reintegrate it into society as spokesman, conscience, or guide. [...] Personal interest, social idealism, intellect, and cultural experience thus combined to produce in the intelligentsia a fervid, often self-sacrificing, and potentially authoritarian commitment to social transformation in accordance with an idea frequently carried to its logical extreme."

Michael Katz and William Wagner's introduction to What Is to Be Done?, by Nikolai Chernyshevsky

[mayasaura]

I do not now, nor have I ever, expected Gideon to take a principaled stance on the forever war. I just don't think it matters to her. Ostensibly she's on her dad's side because her dad has been on a parenting kick lately, and the best she ever got from her mum was goodbye with a stay of execution. But if she were confronted with the ethics of the situation? Asked her opinion? I don't think she'd have one. She may be a prince, but at heart she's still the abused eighteen year old girl who fought tooth and nail to join the army just for a way out

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

[odinsblog]

Donald Trump and his family absolutely positively knew what was happening on January 6th. Trump and his adult children and their inner circle—they all knew about the violence and the threats of violence, before during and after the fact. They actively celebrated and encouraged the violence in real time (particularly threats against the then-Vice President, Mike Pence).

Trump and the Trump crime syndicate actively sought to pressure Pence to break the law and override the votes of the American people.

Treason.

Tre45son.

Trump encouraged Pence to break the law, and threatened Pence with mob violence if he didn’t succumb to his (Trump’s) pressure.

Trump admitted that he wanted Pence to be dishonest. Trump’s actions and words are proof of consciousness of guilt.

👉🏿 https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148.252.0.pdf

👉🏿 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/02/us/politics/trump-jan-6-case-jack-smith-evidence.html

[just-your-average-cryptid]

most of us have heard of the red car game. you’re on a road trip, you’re bored, you start looking for red cars to do something.

and then they’re everywhere. you notice them nearly every few minutes.

there aren’t suddenly more red cars now, of course. you were seeing them already, but you weren’t noticing. you weren’t looking.

I am noticing things.

there is a plant I notice everywhere now, a small bushy plant in suburbs, along streets, by shops on the highways. dwarf umbrella bush is what the internet tells me when I look for it’s name. I did this because I wanted to know why,

every time I ever saw it, every place,

it was always dying. always the leaves turning yellow, the branches small and scraggly. inside out - nitrogen deficiency. their soil drained.

I am noticing how many of these landscaping plants are yellowing, how small and sickly they look in just a few years. I am noticing how often the grass outside the house is replaced when it once again turns brown and dry, how the type never changes and the cycle starts again. I am noticing how the unmowed, unkempt spaces on lakesides and roadsides look more alive than this. how the preserve I grew up next to was miles of “messy” unmanicured nature and the ground was covered in leaves instead of grass and there was life.

I am noticing the birds that come by the lake. there was a flash of blue wings and red chest - eastern bluebird, male, relatively common. I had never seen one before. there is a family of ducks that appear every spring; i cannot say if it’s successive generations or different ducks, but I can always look forward to ducklings. there are little brown birds with white heads whose names I do not know - are they some kind of piper? why don’t I already know?

why is it so hard to learn about my native plants (accurately, that is)? why are so many gardening sites littered with people who think a plants value is based on how pretty or useful it is to them, who think a tree shedding leaves is “messy”?

why is knowing about the world we live in so… odd? why is it a hobby and not vital knowledge? I learned about polar equations. I taught myself about mycorrhizal networks and species of insects.

(did you know there are shiny green bees? a special species of wasp pollinating figs? that white flowers bloom at night for moths? do you know? have you looked?)

I cannot look at a lawn and see life anymore. it is a wasteland, devoid of life, dying slowly itself. everywhere is grass, grass, doused in water that runs over into storm drains, soaked in fertilizer and pesticides and a hundred other poisons and sending one clear message:

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

I do not think I could live in a city. too loud, yes, too busy, yes, too many people, yes, but the plants would bother me. a tree allotted only a convenient square, surrounded by dead stone and metal.

a forest cleared for this, for burning asphalt streets and racing cars and shops whose bathrooms are “for paying customers only”.

this is a place of death. life is not welcome here.

and now I am noticing.

[sunbeamedskies]

I love Taylor Swift, but you all have got to stop falling for the media pitting women against each other.

Billie was most likely not shading Taylor- she was talking about how she personally does not want to do a 3 hour show, and she believes her fans don’t want her to do one either. She also emphasized releasing multiple versions of physical albums that aren’t eco friendly is a systemic industry issue.

I’m a huge Taylor fan, but not every comment another artist makes is specifically about Taylor.

The amount of people here who see anything that could vaguely be criticism of Taylor as a personal attack is not healthy. If you are prone to jumping to conclusions, you need to take a step back from the internet and chill. The media LOVES framing quotes from someone like Billie as being 100% about someone like Taylor because it gets them clicks.

Taylor is also not flawless. She is one of MANY musicians who release multiple versions of albums as part of cash grabs. She doesn’t need to do it- she’s the hugest musician on Earth- but there’s such a pressure to do so that she does. There’s nothing wrong with wanting her and all the other musicians who do it to do better

[spurgie-cousin]

god American politics is such a depressing place that I TEARED UP seeing pro-choice rallies in Kamala's ads. the one area it will be so fucking refreshing to have a woman in charge is healthcare. And like let's be clear, health care for esp vulnerable women has been historicallly atrocious but as a reproductive healthcare advocate it's really felt like rural/poor/minority women have been getting consistently beaten down by both the public and legislators and phew. to even think of possible help and minor relief in that area makes me very emotional.

i'm very glad Kamala's team decided not to take the "moderate" route and just avoid talking about it like so many men do. she isn't perfect, i will continue to be very very wary about her and i don't think people should treat her like the Savior of America, but god. it would just be nice to get a lady in there for so many reasons, wouldn't it?

[kingsleeeee]

FUCK— just kidding it’ll be okay we’ll take care of each other— fffuuuuuuUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKK — hey I love you all we are not alone — FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

[even-disco-baby]

YOU — “No. There is still a chance.”

DOLORES DEI — “You think so?” Her voice is weary.

EMPATHY — Everything about her is weary. She is the Innocence of weariness, of heroically borne suffering.

CONCEPTUALIZATION — That is the picture you have painted for yourself, at any rate.

YOU — “You looked back. That’s the memory, the moment, that I can’t stop returning to. You looked back. I had a chance, for just that moment…”

DOLORES DEI — She meets your eye, gaze still forever cast back over her shoulder. Time stops. The stars are stilled, the ocean silent. There is *nothing* beyond this memory. Nothing at all. All of infinity is contained in this single moment when anything and everything was possible.

“Oh, Harry…” She sighs, soft as eiderdown. “We never had any chance.”

And just like that, the wave of time collapses under its own weight, obliterating everything. This moment was six years ago. She is gone from here. Gone, gone…

PAIN THRESHOLD — You cannot leave. There was nothing outside of this moment, and now there is nothing at all. It’s all gone. There is no point. I’m sorry. I can’t do this any longer.

VOLITION — Please, don’t say that…

“Okay. Well, fuck me, then.”

“How would *you* know?! You gave up! You didn’t even try!”

“We *must* have had a chance, at some point… Doesn’t everyone get a chance, if nothing more?”

“How could you say that…?”

DOLORES DEI — “Because it’s true,” she says, matter-of-fact. “There is no moment in time that you can turn back to, no branching paths, no infinity. There is only what happened. I looked back… and then away.” She closes her eyes, turning her back to you.

“The moment ended. *We* ended. That is all.”

SHIVERS — A wave crashes against an unseen shore, ocean spray tickling the back of your neck. You shiver, but no one shivers with you. You are alone in this intersection. Why are you here?

“Why can’t *I* end?! Why can’t this all just stop? Please, make it stop…”

“Ended? I’ve barely even started! I got a chance to start completely over as somebody new! I don’t need you anymore! You’re just dead weight to me now.”

“No. That wasn’t the real ending. We’re a part of something so much bigger than this intersection, telling a story that encapsulates all of history! There’s *more* to this, it *means* something.”

“Then… What am I supposed to do now…?”

DOLORES DEI — “No, Harry.” She turns back to you again now, and she looks… sad.

“We were not metaphors. We were people. Our narrative was not intelligently designed. It simply followed the patterns of history, because those are the only patterns we *know.* We tried to create something new, but we failed. There is no narrative reward for our failure, no satisfactory ending. There is only the immutable past and the unknowable future.”

RHETORIC — There is no assurance of what is good or deserved or what may bring relief. There is no assurance of punishment, either. There is no assurance of anything. Not even of a future. I don’t know what to say to make this bearable.

VOLITION — Even so… As long as you live, *something* is promised. Can you live with that?

I can’t, I just can’t do this anymore…

I can. It’s enough.

I don’t know. I just don’t know.

I can at least try for a little longer…

VOLITION — That’s all I ask. That’s enough.

[fashionlandscapeblog]

A significant part of the U.S. population is just so unaware and oblivious of the responsability they have with their votes. It's not just about their country, it's about the whole wide world.

I am so confused by all the Americans who refuse to vote, allegedly because of some super bizarre concept of morality that is just a tad paradoxical.

So lemme get this straight: You won't vote to have a good conscience, amirite? Yet if you don't vote and let Trump win, everyone will be literally screwed (even the ones that don't think they are, i.e. his own supporters) and especially women, minorities, immigrants, LGTB people and everyone that has been scapegoated by the wacko Christian fundamentalist wing of the Republican party. Trump literally, literally caters to their every wish and that is his biggest and loudest fan base.

If Trump wins, please remember that he told Netanyahu that he would let him "finish the job in Gaza" and Netanyahu consequently supports Trump. So once again, what is this conscience thingy you were talking about? Your bizarre concept of a 'good consciousness in not voting' is the epitome of a paradox if you value your super weird sense of 'moral' comfort more than actual human lives counting on you actually voting. If you still didn't get a cognitive dissonance from this argument, you have no hope and ironically have no moral compass whatsover, regardless of what you think about yourself.

[nando161mando]

“I meant your collective conscience. You know, the status quo.”

[therealmackenson10]

If you have the time please check out my latest single. Now streaming on Spotify.

Napoleon stated, “History is a lie agreed upon.”Once you do your own research, you will see that what we call history has been re-written to fit a narrative. Break free and free your mind.

[unitedfrontvarietyhour]

"It's not our government. It's their government. The government of the rich. The government of Wall Street. Of the oil giants. Of the defense contractors."

- Mike Prysner

[cosmicportal]

[thashining]

Hindu priests performed fire rituals and prayed for #KamalaHarris' success ahead of the US election.

During Diwali