Can we start a radical optimism thread? Because I need a #radical optimism thread. And I think you need a #radicaloptimism thread.
News. Quotes. Music. Thoughts. Whatever.
I'll start:
"You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time." --Angela Davis
If this gets any traction, please boost, especially the replies. You and I are not the only ones that need this right now.
@revoluciana oh, that's me?!
hmm… i think i should do some more of that optimism thing.
@meena oh, fuck! This is amazing because I literally almost made a joke about wondering if I should check up on the OP to see if they've transitioned yet based on the language of this post, but then thought, nah, I won't do that, lol
I am so glad to know the answer, though, in all of the best ways, and thank you so much for the optimism!
(also, sorry for the deadnamed post? Anything you want me to do? Crop? Edit? Delete? Repost? Whatever you need?)
@revoluciana oh no, that's not what I meant!
I meant the post very well describes me. physically, anyway, I wish i was as resilient mentally, as I am physically.
(my deprecated name is probably easy to find)
@revoluciana
[...] The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
3/(2+1)
The Shiner (Girl with Black Eye, The Young Lady with the Shiner), 1953 by Norman Rockwell - Buy The Shiner (Girl with Black Eye, The Young Lady with the Shiner), 1953 Paper Art Print - Norman Rockwell Museum - Custom Prints and Framing
"We have some very romantic and poetic notions of hope.…Hope is not an emotion at all.…hope actually is a cognitive thinking approach.…100% teachable.…There are three pieces of it—goals, pathway, and agency.…[P]eople who have high levels of hope in their lives, have these three abilities: they can set goals,…they can cultivate pathways to achieving those goals, and they have a sense of agency.…Hope is a function of struggle." ~ Brené Brown "Hope is a discipline." ~ Mariame Kaba #lumpentheory
Hope and rage are siblings.
@revoluciana I hope this is the kind of thing you are looking for:
I've been practicing vegetable gardening (as opposed to vaguely remembering the theory of it) since slightly before the pandemic started, and landscaping with native plants since before that. I have met lots of neighbors while out in the yard, and we have been pet sitting for each other, swapping vegetables and entire plants, taking folks' yard waste in for composting, and so on. It is small but good, and I like it!
@richpuchalsky Can you elaborate? I don't think I understand.
Ooh, I like that one!
Because of the tireless work of my wife's advocacy, we just learned that the hospital is again making bigger fixes to the pronouns and preferred name documentation in their computer systems.
Speaking up works. But you have to learn to be loud, even when people who wish society was a library keep pointing to imaginary "be quiet" signs.
When people ask me if I have any hobbies, I openly say that I like to use my Facebook to radicalize people who know me through use of leftist propaganda memes/agitprop, the visible joy on their faces is wonderful.
They're not angry, they're excited.
People are afraid to be radicalized, but they *want* to be radicalized.
People are afraid, and they're waiting for people like you to take the first steps toward change.
They don't know what to do, but they're looking to everyone else, looking for *someone* to take the first steps.
During my MA in International Relations, I was walking down the street with some US Republican classmates.
The street corners packed with people, and the streets were empty, but the light didn't say to go yet.
I said, "Look, it's my favorite part."
My classmates were confused and asked what I meant.
I said watch the people all looking at each other. No one wants to wait for the light, but no one wants to take the first step. In a moment, though, without a word, everyone is going to make a collective decision to break the law.
Sure enough, everyone paused, looked at each other, and as one they crossed the road.
It's a tiny bit of rebellion. Only barely worth considering as a crime, barely even breaking the rules. But that's what it was.
My Republican classmates thought I was nuts. They still do. I was nicknamed "The Dissenter."
But that moment is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see, because that is what the revolution will look like.
1. No one broke the law, because there is no such law in London.
2. Having lived here for nearly forty years, I'm calling bullshit. People often cross without waiting for the light, but not usually all at once.
3. If occasionally people do cross in unison, it's because it's just suddenly become safe to do so. This is not what the revolution will look like.
1. It doesn't matter
2. Fuck you
3. Fuck anyone coming onto a thread for people seeking radical optimism to be an asshat
@pozorvlak it absolutely had the intended effect with plenty of people. To focus on my mild mistake with regards to law is your problem because it really doesn't matter to the anecdote and doesn't change the meaning.
I think while an imperial monarchy still exists in the UK, I'm not going to cry a single crocodile tears for Brits who are annoyed that foreigners don't know everything about British law.
@revoluciana From the Specials last album Protest Songs (R.I.P Terry Hall) - a set of cover songs all with a revolutionary focus:
Fuck All The Perfect People
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvbm7_SUi9Q&feature=shared
@revoluciana I am working on the poster proofs for a climate hope conference, the pak choi and peas I grew on my balcony are lined up for dinner, and the informal network of downtown urban gardening fun people bartering our veggies and extra greens and gleaned fruit is just cheerfully getting bigger.
At least around here, acting as if I'm in the generous universe brings it halfway into being. Or at least does the good work of lighthousing for everyone else who's into it?
@leahbobet tell me more about this climate hope conference 💚
There are fascists marching in my city later this month. The fascists have been planning it for a while. They expect only a few weird anarchists and communists like me to come out to resist them, as usual.
This time, the mainstream unions are picking it up and organising against them. It looks like we'll have a huge mass of people.
More importantly though, it looks like the French elections have shown people that they can just stand up and oppose the far Right. That it isn't something that only a few weirdos in black hoodies can do. That it's not inevitable that fascism will capture the state and then kill us all. That we don't have to make compromises and let our friends and loved ones be dehumanised in silence.
I'm feeling radical hope. I'm an optimist. But suddenly it feels as if there are a lot of people around me who're feeling it too, and a mood of possibility is beginning to spread. It's intoxicating.
I hope this is the sort of thing you mean.
Thank you. Strength to your union and I'll see you on the barricades.
Police unions certainly aren't unions, because police aren't workers.
The police will be there on the day, I imagine, doing what they do best: protecting fascists *from* the workers.
We're working for the long vision, the seven generations, far beyond our current horizon.
"change doesn't happen on our timeline. Our timeline is to assess our own growth." ~Miriam Kaba
Betty Rearden, peace educator, always spoke about sowing seeds, knowing we would likely not see them grow in our lifetimes.
This always helps me to remember that I'm part of a larger group who are moving things along, taking care of something I will eventually pass on.
"Just do the next right thing" - Frozen 2
Whenever I'm lost at what to do, I think of this one line from a children's movie.
Lyrics in context:
Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don't know anymore what is true
I can't find my direction, I'm all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it's not you I'm rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I came to do
The next right thing
I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make
So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing
And with the dawn, what comes then
When it's clear that everything will never be the same again?
Then I'll make the choice
To hear that voice
And do the next right thing
Revoluciana
eena meena me
Polly Kraisus
Murdoc Addams has moved
epicdemiologist
"You do you" is Eu-gen-ics.
J. R. DePriest 
:EA DATA. SF:
Franchesca
Greg Haas
discovering nature
Bren
GinevraCat
Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝
Rhinos Worry Me
Semitones
Tashte
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@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNote
David Nice
Hilary
obw
Pozorvlak
💡𝚂𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗆𝖺𝗇 𝙰𝗉𝗉𝗌📱
D's lack of faith in humanity
Leah Bobet
Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱
Passenger
🔶Mark Nicoll 3.5%🏴🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳
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Havyhh2
Practical Lactation
em dee (they/them)
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