#we don't want a dictatorship

[infiniteglitterfall]

Hamza Howidy just posted, "Can we, for God's sake, stop using this shity talking point of "it didn't start on October 7th"? These attempts to open a back door to "justify" the atrocities that took place on that date are as disgusting as the atrocities themselves.

"If we expect others to sympathize with our suffering, we must equally acknowledge theirs, rather than try to erase it."

I'm just suddenly very struck by this.

Like, let's assume Amnesty International's historical narrative here is perfectly accurate and valid.

It's still the wildest possible argument for us to be using in the U.S.

My entire STATE committed its own genocide.

Our country ACTIVELY KIDNAPPED AND ENSLAVED people from a whole other continent for most of the time that it was forcing everyone here off their land.

Slavery was a cornerstone of the economy in the Northeast. Even after it became illegal there:

Shipbuilders, sailors, corkers, sailmakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, stevedores were all employed by the West Indian and Atlantic slave trades. Coopers made barrels that stored the rum which was exchanged for enslaved people, who were sold throughout the Americas. Clerks, scribes and warehouse overseers conducted the business of the trade. Outfitting even the smallest ship required a small army of tradesmen.

African slave-trading voyages also required additional crew to control and manage the human captives, usually twice as many than a commodity’s trade. Merchants, many of whom were slave traders, paid significant taxes to the cities for public works. For example, the duties collected on the purchase and sale of enslaved people in Rhode Island were used to pave the streets of Newport. So whether or not you owned a slave, you benefited from the business of slavery.

Our country's history is far worse than anything Israel is even capable of.

Like. Do we REALLY want to be ACTIVELY SAYING that if a people was displaced and oppressed, the appropriate response -- or to many people, the only possible response -- is for them to try to kill everyone around them? To mutilate and burn and blow up everyone they can reach?

Not even the government. Not after making a demand or a threat. To focus on civilians.

To booby-trap their dead bodies in order to kill first responders too. To -- everything Hamas did.

We're just gonna hope no one here has both the desire and the technology?

[rawliverandgoronspice]

for no fucking reason: real life dictatorships in the 20th and 21th centuries are almost always allowed to thrive because of some empire's interests. If not, they get heavily demonized then dismantled by said empire over a relatively short period of time (unless exceptional circumstances, tho it's almost always applicable). the examples are countless; please read declassified reports and interviews from the CIA/KGB/other intelligence agencies across the world to lose your mind about it, especially those involving what happened during the Cold War and what happened in the Middle East (and still does).

characters like ganondorf are the epitomy of the fantasy that colonized/"exotic" countries naturally spawn evil incarnate and must be controlled/stumped/imprisoned/destroyed by the "responsible ones" while the perfect good place is perfect and utterly blameless about what went down and how the local population suffered (which, in real life, the empires of the world are most definitively not that --the amount of dictators that were ushered into power by western interests is staggering and we fucking love to see it don't we). And also, a blameless victim to whichever retribution eventually comes back their way.

It is a rethoric that denies interconnectivity and historical responsibility.

this is what I criticize about the narrative choices of a fictional conflict that *does not exist in real life* and has been entirely made up by human beings: the cowardice of blamelessness, and what little this kind of narrative brings to the table --especially today when we should be looking at the root cause of broken systems of violence instead of endlessly scapegoating minorities.

and well, especially given how effective this narrative apparently seems to be.

[olipeaksforever]

Yesterday I saw someone on Twitter complaining about how the recent killings in Venezuela will make people forget about Gaza. Like shut the fuck up, please.

You know you can care about multiple causes, right? You know that the people who have crappy governments don't deserve to die, right? You know that Maduro lies about being pro-Palestine, right? And that this isn't a left vs right situation but against a dictatorship of over 20 years and how it killed people, right?

Why is it excuses when it comes to the government of your country but when it comes to Venezuela, Bangladesh, Argentina and others, the first response is: "Um, they deserve it. Venezuelans shouldn't be worried because Maduro is pro palestine, Argentina is white and nazi land, and idk what's happening in Banglade-"? Maybe then just shut the fuck up forever and ever ❤️

[asiminthering]

IF FOUND: RETURN TO SPIDER-PUNK (AFTER LISTENING)

You know who has never made a fanmix and doesn't know how they work? Me. You know who made one? Also me.

Imagined as a C60 cassette tape, A side 30 minutes/12 songs, B side 30 minutes/11 songs Because. A side is more solidly just punk music (esp older stuff), B side has some more alternative rock-ish stuff, newer stuff, etc Because.

Listen here on Spotify, OR if you are into the old-fashioned fanmix things, you can download it here (mostly with shitty 192 bitrates but whatever) with the album art, divided into 2 "discs" (A side/B side), etc. There was also one specific version of one song Spotify didn't have so the uploaded version has the correct one but the version Spotify does have is. Fine.

Disclaimer: I haven't been really into punk music for 15 years or so, aside from a few favorites that are in the regular rotation, but it was a chance to listen to a lot of different stuff incl new stuff and pick some songs so uh anyway I had fun.

Tracklist & album art credits below the cut (warning for uh. language in band names and track titles? It's punk music.)

A side:

Punk Is Dead - Crass

C.I.D. - UK Subs

Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill

Should I Stay Or Should I Go - The Clash

Attitude - Bad Brains

International News - National Wake

17 Years Of Hell - The Partisans

Gimme Gimme Gimme - Black Flag

Shitlist - L7

Wankers - The Exploited

Rancid - Roots Radical

Hard Action - Pure Hell

B side:

Don't Follow Me - Rebelmatic

Coming Down to Beijing - Brain Failure

Criminal - Generacion Suicida

Black Union Jack - Half/Time

Uraraka - Amano Tsukiko

Provoke You - Sihasin

Crudo Soy - Los Crudos

Voice of Memphis - Negro Terror

Fly - Cherry Filter

Rock-N-Roll Victim - Death

Fuck These Fucking Fascists - The Muslims

Album Art Credits:

Expose42 "Checkers" Textures (I cannot find these specific textures anymore - they were apparently downloaded in 2011 - but my credit file says they're by Expose42)

Miss Minn - Bleeding Love Tutorial Textures (I apparently downloaded these in 2007 and can't seem to find this person anymore, if anyone has a current link for them, let me know)

Official Hobie Brown/Spider Art

Kyle's Brushes

Sony Cassette Tape (product image from yahoo search)

[perry-88]

WTF

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

[bbcphile]

This FB post by Rebecca Solnit is the thing keeping me sane this morning,so I’m sharing it here in case it helps you all, too:

“They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I. The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving. You may need to grieve or scream or take time off, but you have a role no matter what, and right now good friends and good principles are worth gathering in. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. Remember in this tide of hate what love is. The pain you feel is because of what you love.

The Wobblies used to say don't mourn, organize, but you can do both at once and you don't have to organize right away in this moment of furious mourning. You can be heartbroken or furious or both at once; you can scream in your car or on a cliff; you can also get up tomorrow and water the flowerpots and call someone who's upset and check your equipment for going onward.

A lot of us are going to come under direct attack, and a lot of us are going to resist by building solidarity and sanctuary. Gather up your resources, the metaphysical ones that are heart and soul and care, as well as the practical ones.

People kept the faith in the dictatorships of South America in the 1970s and 1980s, in the East Bloc countries and the USSR, women are protesting right now in Iran and people there are writing poetry. There is no alternative to persevering, and that does not require you to feel good. You can keep walking whether it's sunny or raining. Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

read julius ceasar and good gravity i have several questions

[box-is-real]

It's almost like we want to make america a place that is actually a land of the free instead of just leaving it so those who can't afford to leave, or can't leave for medical reasons, etc. can actually live somewhere.

we can make a better country, but we can't start making a better country by abandoning it.

[artfulstar]

Woah woah woah. Twitter is shutting down in Brasil? I'm thankful for your mental health but what?

Yep.

TLDR: Elon fired everyone in the Brazilian offices of twitter but legally Twitter can't continue existing in Brazil WITHOUT a legal representative. So now our Federal Supreme Court subpoened him to apoint a new representative or the website is getting shut down in the country

The long version with the context about the fight:

It all started when the supreme court started to shut down in the country profiles of brazilian people who had commited crimes using the website (an example is Monark, a dude who literally used his profile to say we should give n*zis and racists unlimited freedom of speech [he fled to the US to escape prison btw]).

Elon caught wind of this and decided to threaten our constitution and said that he would get the profiles back on because he wouldn't accept a government restricting "freedom of speech" on his platform. The supreme court issued a statement that if he did that, he would face a fee everyday for every account reactivated. It was money so he didn't do that (or maybe turns out he couldn't do it anyway and he was just lying for his lil fanboys).

This was all back at the start of the year but suddenly almost two weeks ago it was reported he fired every single employee in the offices of brazil, including the legal representative.

Then tonight, around two hours ago the official profile of STF replied and tagged elon with the doc of the subpoena because since they didn't have a legal representative, they couldn't do it in the proper way. The subpoena says that Elon has 24 hours to appoint a new guy for the job or the social is getting shut down in brazilian territory.

So we have 3 options for whats gonna happen in the next 24 hours:

Alexandre de Moraes (The guy who Elon started a one-sided beef with) backs down and doesnt shut down the website (highly unlikely)

Elon backs down and appoints a new guy so he doesnt lose the 4th biggest public of his site

Twitter gets shut down until Elon's manchild's ego gives in

thats all <3

Edit:

This was Elon's reply to the tweet. YES he is pathetic like that

Edit 2: it's currently 17:38 brasilia time of 30/08 and Twitter is bound to get disconnected soon, the order has been given by Moraes. People who use a VPN to access Twitter will get fined 50k reais (almost 9k dollars).

Yesterday a note was posted lying about Brazil being a dictatorship and saying that one of the people being censored is a 16yr old girl. The truth is that it's a grown ass man that use his daughters account to promote attacks on delegates, ministers, judges and other politicians. They also call orders to ban n*zi accounts "illegal orders" (WHICH ARE VERY LEGAL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL). They also say "we don't want every other country to have the freedom of speech laws the US has" meanwhile they've been trying to impose them in a sovereign state.

I would say what I want to say to Elon but unfortunately my mother taught me to keep those kinds of thoughts inside. Just know they're three letters <3

edit 3: twitter was officially unavailable on brazilian territory by the time it struck midnight of the 31st

Edit 4:

Translation: 🚨 NOW: Elon Musk is looking for executives to represent Twitter/X in Brazil, to negotiate the platform's RETURN in the country, reports Correio Braziliense.

he's going to do what cellbit said kkkmk he purposely let them suspend it, then after a few days he'll come out and be the savior of the brazilian people and say he only did it for us

Don't let elon fool you. He doesn't care and is probably only doing it because his investors are threatening him with money

[heroesneedalancer]

Post by u/DJConvex to r/AskReddit on Nov 6, 2024:

People who work in DC for the government, what is the vibe?

Comment by u/Meduselde:

Resigned. We are generally very good about not discussing politics in the workplace but the vibe was obviously off. My more conservative colleagues who were happy Trump won were extremely respectful. There wasn't smug gloating and they were very obviously being cognizant of others' feelings even more than normal. It was extremely appreciated. Ultimately, we survived the first administration and will survive again. It's not necessarily Trump who was the problem last time, but his inexperienced senior appointees. The world isn't going to end nor do I feel democracy will crumble at his feet. It's just gonna be chaotic, and that's the worst part as a worker bee. At least with Biden we had consistent leadership and clear guidance, even if you didn't agree with it. Under Trump, your "yes man" says "no" and that's how you rotate through four SECDEFs. But as a sign of hope, it also means that even the most loyal DO say "no" sometimes, especially when businessmen are finally confronted with the realities of governance.

They chill out REAL quick on their dismantlement plans when they see the work these agencies do and what's at stake if they don't stand up for their people. It's easy to say you will dissolve or cut funding for something when you do not truly understand it. And as much as people say we can ALL be magically replaced with "yes men," even the most stone-hearted appointees recognize that the last thing you ever want is to lose the entirety of your skilled workforce. They learn it's best to get the skilled people to work towards their vision and not hire enthusiastic but stupid people to attempt the same. If they do, they risk looking inept themselves. You don't get skilled federal workers in a blue portion of the country to work for you by being a fucking Nazi. We're cranky and will make your life hell if you behave like that. I'm not talking about some sort of organized resistance movement because we feel like it. That's wrong. But just imagine hundreds of thousands pissed off at you. If that's the Deep State at work, then we aspire to be the quality of swampy Deep State your racist uncle thinks we are. If implementing dictatorship was that easy, Trump would have taken out every agency his last term and fired us all. I am actually extremely proud of the resiliency and checks and balances that the American federal government has in place to prevent most of the shit he says he can achieve by waving a magic executive wand. (He's done this once. He knows he can't. He just lets the majority of the population believe he can.) Us feds will make it, as we always have.

And we will live up to our oath to serve the Constitution, not a president. We serve every official of every party faithfully within the bounds of legalities and our oath. Working for administrations you may not like it's just a part of the job that we all recognize. Public servants at the federal level generally hold that extremely close to their heart. The ones that don't (I'm talking to YOU, WaPo "informants!") put us to shame. We're just tired, man. I can't believe it has already been four years since the last round. There's going to be some waves, no doubt, and some people definitely are going to be hurt at upper levels. But grab a Twisted Tea and buckle up. We'll at least pretend it's meant to be a roller coaster and ride it. TL;Dr Democracy is not going to die. But a drink and "thanks" would go a long way.

EDIT: Woah! I woke up this morning and am surprised by how much traction this got. I'm sad that this was the most positive thing some people had read. I'm sorry it's been that bad. I am not predicting outcomes. I have no idea how it's going to go. It's going to be bloody. But the hope I am trying to get across is that we are a resilient people and a group of (generally) good people. It will be okay, okay? The people that really make or break your daily life are those around you and your local government. Hold those around you close to your heart and always be kind. Everybody go outside, take a deep breath, eat something you love, and hug your grandma (even if she voted differently). The world is still turning and the sky is still blue. Being surrounded by spiraling anger on the internet only makes us the losers, not those we disagree with. The only thing we can do right now is wait. We have a few months to cool off! Enjoy your holidays!

EDIT 2: I think everybody has forgotten about this, but go check out the memorandum signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the end of Trump's first term after January 6. The feds basically said "fuck that" when people were scared that the government was going to turn the military on them to help Trump in some way. While it was specifically addressed to our armed forces members, it was spread throughout the DOD and beyond. Partially as a result of federal workers' fear (not actually ordered, to be crystal clear) that they would be asked to turn on citizens. This sentiment was echoed across the entire government via internal emails (from Trump appointees!) as well to the civilian workforce. That's one of my proudest moments as an American and why I know we will get through it.

Emphasis mine. Link to original Reddit Post. Link to an article about the aforementioned memorandum signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Don't give up. We will get through this.

[shotofstress]

Coming back after being almost a week without electricity, phone, and internet connection. Huge storms with lightning and rain, and winds. We have never have winds like that here and the roof of so many houses were ripped off, stuff flying, etc. All this bc global warming, and the deforestation and mining in our lands. At this rate, in 5 years we will have tornadoes, a thing we have never ever have here. Nor our lands, infrastructures, states, and culture are prepared for this. Areas of the country are devastated, ppl have died, many are without electricity nor Internet connection so they are isolated. The houses are flooding with water, and the ones that not, are leaking from the ceiling. Too many neighbours and compatriots don't have roofs and the streets are full of fallen trees and pieces of roof material, no electricity, no signal, food rotting, but suffering at the same time for the cold of this terrible winter, and trying to do something, patching even when its gonna go to hell when the storm comes again this next days. More than 33,200 people affected and 41,500 isolated due to 5 days of rain and windstorms. In just a couple of days there were 170,000 homes left without power due to wind and rainstorms and even more as time went by.

If u want to help me to fix the roof, walls, to buy food and being warm this winter please check my PayPal. If u can't donate, please reblog bc thats the only way to make this being seen by ppl thus receiving help. I'm really not being able to keep living like this, i can no longer cope, so please share.

Here are in my PayPal or MACH . I took the kofi link bc they were charging me a fee.

Please, educate about global warming and the effects on Global South, specially for working class, chronically ill, autistic, disable, and long covid survivor ppl like myself.

Edit: I added links and pics

Edit: the weather is better (is finally spring at this current date 24th nov), but I still need to fix were I live/sleep bc the walls are broken and one of the walls is not a wall, but like 1cm wide stuff and all was bad build so even the door is twisted and dont work correctly, there is black mold that i think is damaging my ears, the paint is falling, the lamp has fallen, everything is broken and ugly, etc. I still need to buy food, meds, and everything so please, please, share or donate if you could. I don't want to survive like this and here, no one mask even when they were the ones giving me covid and they have making me also catch flu the other day bc they cogh over everything and don't care if they kill me, they are abusive and really violent people and are working to put me and everyone in danger. I dont even want to be in my country bc we will have a dictatorship soon, but I have nowhere else to go nor money to migrate (i need like $10.537 dollars or € 9.760,95 euros to pay all the documents, the bank money I have to show to prove I am a human being deserver of rights, the tickets, rent money and stuff to migrate).

I currently have $100 dollars donated (coz i spent 40 in food and meds this past month)

I know i will die here, but at least help me to survive in a less dehumanising way.

Edit: tumblr has blocked me from recive or send messages from the chat and comment of posts, so if you are trying to reach throughout there I can't see it, sorry, I'm cut from any communication (cant even see past messages from chat or asks), except send asks. I'm waiting that tumblr do something, but still hasn't even answered the help file I sent to them.

[staticespace]

[ID: Part of a report on the White House website, made June 26, 2024. The image has some of the sentences cut off at the beginning and the end.

"—military feels safe and respected.

Accordingly, acting pursuant to the grant of authority in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution of the United States, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to persons convicted of unaggravated offenses based on consensual, private conduct with persons age 18 and older under former Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as previously codified at 10 U.S.C. 925, as well as attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations to commit such acts under Articles 80, 81, and 82, UCMJ, 10 U.S.C. 880, 881, 882. This proclamation applies to convictions during the period from Article 125's effective date of May 31, 1951, through the December 26, 2013, enactment of section 1707 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66).

The purpose of this proclamation is to pardon only offenses based on consensual private conduct between individuals 18 and—"

End of visible text.

End ID]

Looks like Biden's actually trying for reelection.

Biden just pardoned every person who was court martialed for getting caught being LGBTQIA+ under Don't Ask Don't Tell.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/06/26/a-proclamation-on-granting-pardon-for-certain-violations-of-article-125-under-the-uniform-code-of-military-justice/

[valhalla-awaitsfor-us]

We must eradicate this gringo thinking that left and pro-Palestinian = good. Because of those black and white opinions, becuase of that bi-partisan stands, we have so many gringos supporting the dictator Maduro, without even understanding a minimum of Latin politics.

News for the people from united states: the majority of people who don't want maduro in power are pro palestine. Because we are all against dictatorships. So if you dont know about history, if you dont know about OUR politics,and especially if YOU NEVER SAT DOWN WITH A VENEZUELAN REFUGEE AND LISTEN TO THEM, then shut.the.hell.up.

You guys, we want it or not, have a ton of global influence. Don't waste it making uneducated comments on the internet while kids are dying in a country you don't even know where to place in a map.

[boreal-sea]

I don't care who you are or what other marginalized identities you have.

For me, the danger of a Trump presidency is MUCH MUCH higher than the danger of a Biden presidency. I won't be safe if Trump wins. He wants to harm me. He wants to harm my family. He wants to harm my friends.

If you can afford a Trump presidency, you have privilege over me. You have privilege over a LOT of people. If you can sit here and pretend Biden and Trump are the same, you have privilege. If you can sit here and flat out lie and claim Biden has not done concrete things for marginalized people, you have privilege.

Has Biden done everything I wanted him to do? No. He has fallen short in a lot of ways. So have the Democrats in general. I am absolutely beyond frustrated that I have no other choices. US politics fucking suck.

But refusing to participate in the system won't help anyone. Letting Trump win out of some weird sense of vindictiveness will not help anyone. America will not collapse if Trump wins, we will just become a fascist dictatorship. People will be harmed and people will die, MORE than they are dying right now.

Laying down and letting these people kick me to death doesn't seem like the best answer here.

[ceilidhtransing]

Having spent pretty much the entire year immersed in studying Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and genocide more broadly, my heart is bursting with the need to stress how much you should take Project 2025 seriously. This is a long post but please stick with me.

Don't take this post as an attempt to concretely predict anything. We can't ever fully know the future and I think it's silly to say with total certainty “if Trump wins then America will become just like Nazi Germany” - not only because the future isn't written yet, but also because Germany under the Nazis was a very specific regime with its own quirks and peculiarities and I don't think that even a worst-case-scenario Trump regime would look exactly like Hitler's Germany. No two regimes ever look exactly alike: it would use the same colour palette as all far-right dictatorships but be constructed from a different medium, like what a watercolour is to an oil painting.

But just because Trump is a very different person from Hitler, and a worst-case-scenario Trump dictatorship would not literally be “Nazi Germany all over again”, that doesn't mean that what happened in Germany isn't instructive here. Forget the specifics of whether or not Trump as a dictator would organise a state identically to how the Nazis organised Germany or whatever; on a far broader and more relevant level, there is a distressing number of similarities. And too many people are falling into the same thought traps as they did then.

Please don't assume that Trump is “way too incompetent” to achieve what's in Project 2025 or Agenda 47. They said the same thing about Hitler. They said that there was no way this showman could govern effectively - holding big rallies and making speeches that get people riled up isn't the same as being good at running a functioning state and achieving what you want. The New York Times even wrote after he became Chancellor of Germany that this would only “let him expose to the German public his own futility”. And in many ways Hitler was pretty incompetent. But that didn't end up mattering. The greatest crime of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust, was masterminded mostly by a whole load of people besides Hitler, who were delegated the nitty-gritty task of actually orchestrating it. Hitler's personal incompetence didn't prevent war or genocide.

Please don't assume that Trump is “just a wacky nutcase” who “can't possibly be a real risk”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The mainstream media gave constant coverage to all the crazy extreme things Hitler said as if he was merely a bit of a joke and not a massive threat. The Nazis were quite happy with this. To quote Goebbels repeatedly in his diary, “The main thing is they're talking about us.”

Please don't assume that being in power will “moderate” Trump and that “of course he won't be able to do all the crazy stuff once he actually has to govern”. They said the same thing about Hitler. It was a common sentiment in the early 1930s that all the sensible politicians around him would force him to moderate his stances. Fritz von Papen, the last Chancellor of Weimar Germany, persuaded President Hindenburg to make Hitler the Chancellor by assuring him, “In a few months, we will have pushed [Hitler] so far into the corner that he will squeak.” It turns out that power doesn't “moderate” people who are openly talking about a dictatorship.

Please don't assume that there's any truth to the whole “Trump has nothing to do with Project 2025 and trying to link it to him is just liberal hysteria” line. They said the same thing about Hitler. People repeatedly asserted that Nazi street violence wasn't really representative of the party leadership; it wasn't representative of Hitler. He was even subpoenaed by a very brave lawyer in 1931 in a bid to prove that recent violence by Nazi stormtroopers was committed with the knowledge and encouragement of the party leadership, with part of the prosecution's argument hanging on a pamphlet by Goebbels that promised a violent overthrow of the state if the Nazis couldn't come to power legitimately. Surely no legal political party could be publishing that. In a successful attempt to escape criminal charges, Hitler repeatedly lied that the pamphlet was not official Nazi Party material and that he didn't know anything about it. No Trump didn't write it, no it isn't an official GOP manifesto, but the links between Project 2025 and Trump, the previous Trump administration, and Trump allies are extremely well documented. Just the other day, Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought was caught calling Trump's disavowals of the document “graduate-level politics” and saying, “what he's doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand ... he's in fact not even opposing himself to a particular policy.”

Please don't assume that “there's no way something like that could happen here; we're way too educated and advanced”. They said the same thing about Hitler. The Germany of the 1920s and 1930s was one of the most educated and most scientifically and industrially advanced nations in the world, and its cities were some of the most progressive in the world. People were stunned and horrified that it was in Germany of all places - Germany, land of music and art and science and literature! - that fascism took root. Germany's economic and social advancement didn't stop about 40% of its voters choosing the Nazis. It didn't stop them taking power.

Please don't assume that Project 2025 is “just a wishlist” and “not actually a serious plan”. They said the same thing about Hitler. As is hopefully very clear by now, plenty of people did not think that the Nazis were capable of, or would dare to try, putting into actual practice the horrific ideas about race that undergirded so much of their ideology. “I like Hitler; he talks sense economically and I think all this stuff about Jews is just bluff and bluster.” “Every party has a loony wing, right? You have to understand they're not serious when they talk about this stuff; they're just telling their base what they want to hear.” “God have you heard this crazy race science shit about head shapes and stuff? It's hilarious! I'm sure none of them at the top really believe that; there's no way they'd be that nuts.” When a group of people like this tells you what they believe and tells you what they want to do with power, believe them. No matter how ridiculous they seem, they're not joking.

In the words of Hans Litten, the lawyer who subpoenaed and cross-examined Hitler in that court case in 1931, “Don't listen to him; he's telling the truth.” Litten was arrested on the night of the Reichstag fire in 1933 and spent the rest of his life being tortured in concentration camps before dying in Dachau in 1938 at the age of 34.

A tyrannical dictatorship can often be seen coming a mile away. I don't want to imply for a second that what the Nazis did came as a surprise to everyone and couldn't possibly have been predicted. There were people who saw this coming in the 1920s and 1930s and tried to sound the alarm while they still had a chance. But they were too often in the minority, taking the threat seriously while others had convinced themselves that there was no need for concern because the Nazis wouldn't really do all the things they repeatedly talked about wanting to do. Everyone should have seen this coming, but too many people wanted to believe it couldn't be true.

Don't let this scare you. Let it energise you. Talk to the people in your life about Project 2025 and Agenda 47. Push back against people who assert that “they'd never actually do all that stuff” or “Trump didn't even write Project 2025” or “it's not a real plan, just a list of crazy shit to get the base riled up”. Have conversations with folks you know who are on the fence about voting or about who to vote for and who seem persuadable. Make sure you're registered to vote, and keep making sure, especially if you live in a red state where people keep mysteriously dropping off voter rolls.

Now, again, please don't read this as some confident prediction that Trump will be a Hitler figure. I want to stress that is a worst-case scenario. If a Trump presidency is what happens, I would much prefer the best-case scenario: that he spends four years fumbling around and not really accomplishing anything and then gives up power at the end without much of a fight. But it would also be a folly to be smugly overconfident that the worst-case scenario “won't” or “can't�� happen. It could. It has happened before. There is no reason it couldn't happen again.

[missanathea]

She makes very interesting points. Language is a very powerful tool for influence and we should better equip ourselves to decipher manipulation attempts, and to recognize the intent behind the words used, because that will tell you just as much about a situation, as the actual words will.

But I can't agree with the journalists bashing. Because while I do agree that some journalists are bad and some are maybe getting manipulated or not seeing (and so presenting) the real situation, the work journalists do is very important. They are just as much a part of the truth as the people on the ground. It’s just that you have to be aware that you shouldn’t trust them blindly. You should never trust anyone blindly, because no one has the whole story.

Even people on the ground.

Of course it’s very important to listen to them to know what’s happening. What it’s like. How Israel is treating them. But they don’t have the whole story, just like you don’t have the whole story of your life. You make assumptions and sometimes those assumptions are wrong. Again, I’m not saying dismiss what people on the ground are saying. I’m saying listen to everybody and compare notes. Compare what the people on the ground are saying to what the journalists are saying to what the politicians are saying to what your moral values and compass are telling you is right and acceptable. And then you’ll have your truth (but it will still not be The Truth, although this is getting philosophical).

What she says about Palestinians being hostages is very interesting too, but I don’t take issue with the word prison like she does. I’ve never seen it as "they are there so they must have done something wrong". I’ve always seen it has "prison is a place were you are denied most of your rights (most of all your right for freedom) and this is the situation they are in". And because I know they are here because of the people they were born into, and not for anything they ever did, I can tell it's unjust. So the term has never presented the Palestinians in a negative way to me. Rather, it's presented the Israeli state as an abusive state that doesn't respect the right to freedom and free ownership of their land of the Palestinian people. (But I can understand that to someone completely uneducated about the situation, "prison" could present the Palestinian negatively.)

Finally, the last thing I take issue with is "when they start writing this, that's because they want you to disconnect". I feel like this is akin to the academic bashing that we've seen in recent years. Because hiding from the complexities of a situation can never be the answer. The issue is not that media going into specifics will make people turn off their brain. The issue is that we don't go into specifics enough, as individuals. The issue is that we turn off our brains in the first place. Expecting media to just give you simplified, ready to consume "truths" will not help us prevent this from happening again. Going into the specifics, and understanding Israel's history, and the history of the Jewish people, and why the state of Israel says to have claims on Palestine is how we can identify the warning bells in future similar situations to prevent history from repeating itself. So next time the media goes into specifics, don't just assume they are trying to send you to sleep. Turn your brain on, dig in, think, and research using varied sources.